Oats are a great way to start your day, especially during particularly chilly mornings. They are warm, rich in fiber and a great source of whole grains and nutrients. In addition to this, researchers from the Loviseberg Diaconal Hospital and University of Bergen in Norway and Karolinka Institutet in Sweden say that oats are also an excellent prebiotic.
Prebiotics feed the microbiome, or the healthy bacteria in your gut, while helping maintain a healthy mircobiome population.
After feeding 22- to 49-year-old test subjects 60g of oatmeal for a week, researchers found decreased inflammation levels in their subjects’ gut. They also found that the consumption of oatmeal decreased the amount of urease, a microbial enzyme that can have several toxic effects on the host and has been identified as a marker of undesirable bacteria in the gut.
The study concluded that oatmeal is a likely prebiotic, while its ability to boost microbial functions of intestinal flora and reduce the numbers of unfavorable microorganisms should be further investigated.
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