In the cereal family, oats can be called “old star”. Its protein, dietary fiber, vitamins B1, B2, minerals calcium, magnesium are really rich, whether to keep fit or control the three highs, the popularity is very high.

However, if you look at the market, you will find that there are a lot of oatmeal “peripheral” products, such as a lot of oatmeal that can be “chewed and eaten” is especially popular among office workers. Relative to the traditional cooking or soaking, “chewing” is really convenient, and all of a sudden, oats and everyone closer to the distance.

So chewing oatmeal is how to process? How about the nutrition? Is it recommended to eat it?

To this end, I basically look at the market oatmeal, found that “chewing” oatmeal is mostly cereal oatmeal crisp or puffed oatmeal, its processing technology is mainly baked or puffed made. There are mainly three problems:

(1), “chewy” oatmeal beta-glucan content has decreased

We know that oatmeal dietary fiber, especially soluble dietary fiber is very high, and the health benefits of soluble dietary fiber than insoluble dietary fiber and some more, especially in slowing down the rise of postprandial glucose and control of blood lipids is more prominent. Among them, the most “famous” is the soluble dietary fiber of β-glucan. β-glucan is also the main ingredient that gives oats a viscous texture, the more viscous means the higher the content, especially in the hulls of the grain is very high.

Chewable oatmeal will lose its hull during processing, and the beta-glucan content will naturally decrease, and the viscosity will be significantly reduced. Coupled with the fact that most of this oatmeal is not pure oats, but will also be mixed with corn, wheat, rice and other puffed grains or cereal crisps, so it is difficult to fully play the health effects of oats itself.

(2), “chewing” oatmeal, many sugar and oil content is not low!

Simple oatmeal texture is relatively boring, many commercially available chewable oatmeal will often add some oil, sugar (sugar, maltose syrup, etc.) and flavoring, so that the texture is more crunchy and sweet, capturing the taste buds, which is obviously a big nutritional pit.

(3), in addition to directly added sugar and oil, some will also add more dried fruit and nuts.

The right amount of nuts and dried fruit is good for the body, if you add more will greatly distract the value of oats as a staple food, and lead to increased calories, fat content, not suitable for eating as a staple food often.

In short, if you want to buy some chewable oatmeal to enrich your life, it is best to choose sugar-free, oil-free products, on the basis of which it is appropriate to bring instead of part of the staple food or eat as a snack or can. In addition to replacing part of the staple food, if there are nuts or dried fruit, you also need to deduct a portion of the daily share of nuts and fruits, in order to maintain a balanced dietary structure.

However, for those who want to lose weight and slim down or control three highs, it is still more recommendable to use whole oat grain or oat rice as staple food, so that the nutritional and health value of oats can be obtained to a greater extent. The second is pure raw oatmeal made from whole oatmeal or oatmeal flattened directly. The role of chewable oatmeal can only be regarded as an occasional supporting role to regulate life and enrich the pattern.