THE MIGHTY OAT

Last week when the Food and Drug Administration ruled to allow food-specific health claims on the labels of certain products containing soluble fiber from whole oats, oat product manufacturers went wild.

Now they can tell consumers that “soluble fiber from foods such as oat bran, as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, may reduce the risk of heart disease.” The oats do so by reducing cholesterol levels.

So, what can those oats do?

First, a little oatography lesson.

To qualify for the label, a whole oat-containing food must provide at least 0.75 grams of soluble fiber per serving, according to the FDA. (Soluble fiber dissolves in water and is the most effective kind to lower cholesterol; insoluble fiber, also found in oats, aids irregularity and may reduce the risk of intestinal disorders.)

Products must also have three grams of fat or less per serving, so don’t expect the new label to show up on your favorite high-fat oat bran muffins.

Oats help reduce cholesterol in two ways, says Dr. James Anderson, professor of medicine and clinical nutrition at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine who has researched oat bran since 1977.

The soluble fiber binds to cholesterol-rich bile acids in the intestine and increases their loss from the body; the fiber also slows down cholesterol production in the liver by blocking enzymes.

“About half of our cholesterol is made by the liver,” Anderson explains. The other half is dietary. “On average, people get a 6% or 7% reduction in cholesterol [with oats] and it happens very quickly over two or three weeks” before leveling off, he says.

“Every 1% reduction in cholesterol results in a 2% reduction in the rate of coronary heart disease,” says a representative for the National Institutes of Health’s National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

To lower cholesterol, you should take in about three grams of soluble fiber per day, according to the FDA and heart disease experts.

That translates to a big bowl of oatmeal--”1 1/2 cups cooked or about three-quarters cup dry,” says Ron Bottrell, spokesman for the Quaker Oats Co., which petitioned for the label change and submitted more than 37 research studies. About 10% of the 200 or so cereal choices on the market will carry the new label, he estimates.

Oatmeal lovers, Anderson says, needn’t even feel guilty about adding brown sugar or raisins, although he says skim milk is the best topper.

Oatmeal haters? Shake oat bran into soups, pasta and chili. Or, wait for the next big things expected on the cholesterol-lowering front: cereals with the fiber psyllium or products with soy.