My understanding is that:

1. When someone consumes fat, bile is released into the gut.

2. Oatmeal (and other soluble fibers like psyllium husk) capture this bile and it is excreted in stool.

3. In order to create the bile, the liver needs LDL. Because the LDL it used to create the bile was lost when it was captured, it exposes more LDL receptors and pulls LDL out of the bloodstream, thereby lowering LDL levels.

It seems to me that in order to maximize the effectiveness of this LDL-lowering approach, one must not simply consume psyllium or oatmeal, but rather consume them in conjunction with fat. Not saturated fat, obviously, which raises LDL, but perhaps unsaturated or polyunsaturated fats. My expectation is that this would trigger the bile secretion required in order to actually sequester it.

It's well known that an oatmeal diet lowers cholesterol (the article itself cites a 1907 'oat cure' in its intro). The new finding here is insight into the exact mechanism- a short-term, high-dose oatmeal diet (300g/day for two days) had significantly greater LDL-lowering effect than a medium-term, moderate-dose oatmeal diet (80g/day for six weeks), and they associated the difference with increases in several plasma phenolic compounds triggered by specific changes in the gut microbiome.

Been trying to get into overnight oats (home made) for breakfast but its been hard to hit protein numbers, even with protein powder.

Working link https://web.archive.org/web/20260124061041/https://www.uni-b...

300 grams of oatmeal a day, basically nothing else, and your LDL only goes down 10%.

Oatmeal is food of the gods - BUT only if you don't pollute is with all sorts of add ons.

Oatmeal and milk, nothing more. No fruit no nuts no sugar no honey no sprinkles of whatever. Perfect.

In hindsight, I would destroy the entire discipline of nutrition if it meant that literally every educated American woman growing up in the 70s (i.e., the non-immigrant grandmas) would no longer have an eating disorder or eating fixation related to weight loss. It would really improve the quality of the lives of many grandmas that are close and dear to me. Oatmeal is great, but truly, 70 year olds having more energy and being less weird is better.

That’s nothing. You should have seen me on my Halo Top ice cream only diet. One point of the ice cream, nothing else. Lost way more weight than these losers. Halo Top, guys, it’s the key.

This isn't news it's be known for decades?

I think the main thing is to understand why oatmeal works: soluble fiber and the gut bacteria feeding on the carbs.

That can be achieved within many other diets too. I wish they were more specific in saying what's special about oats, if anything.

I also get upset when I see a ton of junk options at the grocery store. They are talking about plain cut oats and whole fresh fruit, but based on the way shelves are stocked I imagine a majority of people get the kind with all the added sugar. You might as well be eating honey smacks at that point. Yogurt has the same problem at the store.