Nowadays, oats are favored by people because of its unique health care function, but there must be many blind followers. When you finish reading this article, you will eat oats clearly.
β-Glucan —— The Special Contribution of Oats
There is a soluble fiber, which is a non-starch polysaccharide polymerized by a series of glucose molecules. This is β-glucan, which has many unique health care functions:
. Prevent colds. β -glucan can enhance the vitality of immune warriors-macrophages, quickly kill invading viruses, bacteria, fungi and other pathogenic microorganisms, and help you stay away from infectious diseases such as colds.
. Cancer prevention. β -glucan can kill sarcoma cells, melanocytes and other malignant cells, and its inhibitory rate on liver cancer and breast cancer is comparable to that of anticancer drugs, and it has no toxic side effects, so it has certain anticancer effect.
. Lower cholesterol. American experts' research shows that a patient with hyperlipidemia can reduce "bad cholesterol" by 8% and the risk of heart attack by 10%~ 12% by taking 3-4 grams of β -glucan every day.
. Regulate blood sugar. The high viscosity of β -glucan can inhibit gastric emptying and delay the absorption of glucose by small intestine, thus effectively delaying the increase of postprandial blood sugar, which has certain inhibitory and preventive effects on diabetes.
. Protect the intestines. β -glucan can not be absorbed, and it can ferment in large intestine to produce short-chain fatty acids such as propionic acid and butyric acid, which can inhibit spoilage bacteria, promote probiotics, maintain the balance of intestinal flora and prevent diarrhea or constipation.
. Radiation resistance. β -glucan can promote hematopoietic function, increase the production of white blood cells and red blood cells, and reduce the harm of radiation to human body. Experiments at the Radiobiology Research Center of the US Air Force showed that mice were treated with lethal doses of radiation, and it was found that 80% of the mice were completely unaffected by radiation.
How to choose oat products
What foods contain β -glucan konjac, mushrooms, beer yeast, Ganoderma lucidum, highland barley, bitter buckwheat, barley, beans, corn and oats are all on the list. If you arrange a seating chart according to the content, then the owner of the top spot must be oatmeal. According to estimates, as long as you eat100g oats, you can get at least 6 ~ 8g of β-glucan. Therefore, oats have become the best source of human β -glucan
But there are many oat products on the market, such as oats, instant oats, oatmeal, nutritious oatmeal, oatmeal, oatmeal noodles, oatmeal mixed powder and so on. Which product is good?
First of all, read the ingredient list carefully to identify the true and false oatmeal. The nutritional value of oat products is directly related to the content of oats. For example, 100% pure natural oats are better than ready-to-eat products with other ingredients. Read the product ingredient list carefully when buying. The ingredient list of pure natural oat products only contains "oats", and the ingredient list of products with poor nutrition also contains non-milk powder, white sugar, maltodextrin, food additives and other ingredients.
Second, cook as much as possible. Cooking is better than cooking. Because β -glucan is a water-soluble fiber, it can only play a health care role after being dissolved. Even if boiled for 3 minutes, the dissolution of β -glucan will be greatly increased, while the dissolution of β -glucan in directly brewed oatmeal is relatively limited.
Third, the more sticky oats are, the better. In the cooking process, oatmeal will become more and more viscous, and this viscosity comes from β-glucan. The higher the content of β-glucan, the greater the viscosity, the better the health care effect and the smoother the taste.
Fourth, don't be superstitious about imported goods. Imported oats have no nutritional advantages, and some are even worse than domestic oats.
Tips for eating oatmeal
Among oat products, people prefer oats because it is an instant product and does not need long-term high-temperature cooking. For example, raw oatmeal only needs to be cooked for 20 to 30 minutes; Cooked oatmeal is only cooked for 5 minutes (3 minutes with milk is enough), which is more suitable for office workers who are in a hurry to make breakfast. However, in order to obtain the maximum supply of β-glucan, you must master several tricks:
1. Don't treat cereal as oatmeal. Oatmeal is made of rolled oats, flat, equivalent to the size of soybeans, and complete in shape (instant oatmeal has a sense of fragmentation, but its original shape can still be seen). Oat is a mixture of wheat, rice, corn, barley and other grains, and oats only account for a small part or contain no oats at all. It is better to add dried fruits, nut slices and bean slices to foreign cereals, which can at least enrich dietary fiber; Domestic grain is not. Most of them are maltodextrin, sugar, creamer, essence and so on. And sugar and dextrin will increase the speed of blood sugar rise; Cream contains partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, and the "trans fatty acid" in it will promote the occurrence of heart disease, so we must choose it carefully.
2. The unsweetened ones are the most expensive. Natural grains are not sweet. If you make a small bag (40g) of oatmeal, it will have obvious sweetness, which means that it contains 20g of sugar, which means that half of the oatmeal you buy is actually white sugar, and the health care value will be removed by half. In addition, we should also be alert to "sugar-free products". Sugar-free and sweet must be due to the addition of some high-efficiency sweeteners, such as sodium cyclamate, acesulfame, aspartame and so on. Most of these things are chemical synthetic products, with few advantages and many disadvantages. To make matters worse, a little high-efficiency sweetener is enough. Usually, starch hydrolysate such as maltodextrin is used to make up the number, and maltodextrin, like white sugar, is in danger of rapidly raising blood sugar. Therefore, people who need to control blood sugar should not be confused by the word "sugar-free", and it is wise to buy pure oatmeal without sugar.
There is no need to strengthen nutrition. Oatmeal itself is nutritious enough, and the oatmeal with high calcium, high iron and high protein claimed by merchants has little synergistic value. If the "cereal" product itself contains a small proportion of oats, even if other nutrients are added, it is just a name. Don't be tempted by it.
4. Don't judge the quality by the package. Some brands with simple packaging, ordinary appearance and no added ingredients, which taste light, sticky and even a little prickly, are the real natural oatmeal and should be listed as your first choice. Don't take the quality of packaging as the standard of purchase.
Cooking is better than eating. Oatmeal products in supermarkets are used for cooking as well as washing. Weighing the two, cooking is healthier. On the one hand, sugar, cream, maltodextrin, essence and other ingredients are not added, on the other hand, it can provide the greatest satiety and the blood sugar rises the slowest. Although instant products are convenient and delicious, sugar or creamer (including trans fatty acids) is often added, which will not increase the efficiency, but will offset its disease prevention effect.