Oats are very important constituents of foods in the cereal category as they provide fibre beta glucan to the diet.
It is an integral part of health-conscious consumers. So there is news to cheer now as they can now get more of the soluble oat fiber called beta-glucan in their diets. This variety of oats has been developed by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and North Dakota State University (NDSU) scientists.Beta-glucan can help lower blood levels of so-called "bad" cholesterol therefore oats are useful in diet. They diminish the risk of heart disease.
"HiFi," is the new variety of oats developed and it is a new spring oat bred specifically for increased beta-glucan content.
HiFi boasts 50 percent more beta-glucan than whole-oat products now sold in grocery stores said Doug Doehlert, a cereal chemist with ARS' Red River Valley Agricultural Research Center in Fargo, N.D
It can be interpreted as a consumer could eat less of a whole-oat product made with HiFi to get the same health benefit.
The oat also had good agronomic characteristics and excellent disease resistance, so its seed was made available for production in the northern Plains region. There, farmers grow oats primarily to feed livestock, and they prefer varieties with high fat content rather than high fibre.
Advertisement
