3 replies to this topic

[shifter]

First off, I have never soaked oats overnight or 24 hours before eating them and I digest them seemingly fine. They have always been 'Rolled Oats' so they have been processed somewhat already.

 

I'd like to try Oat Groats (the least processed as possible).

 

I've been reading about the need to soak oats (especially groats) with some apple cider vinegar and a little rye flour to neutralise phytic acid because it's not all that good for us and blocks absorption of minerals.

 

But then there are IP6 capsules from rice bran available (basically phytic acid). So you can buy this stuff as a supplement people tell you to neutralise before you eat it.

 

So is it bad?? Would eating even raw oat groats be detrimental to your health because of its phytic acid?

 

My main concern about soaking oats and I haven't been able to definitvely find the information on is if it affects the beta glucan in anyway. My wife has hideously high cholesterol and I give her as many foods known to lower it naturally but I dont want to destroy the beta glucan for some phytic acid which may not be a big deal.

 

I have no problem with the little time it takes to soak them. Even if the phytic acid is no harm, if it makes digestion easier and more effecient, why not (so long as it keeps the beta glucan).

 

I also love nuts and blend a lot of pistachios and raw almonds to throw in the porridge. Then I hear nuts have a lot of 'anti-nutrients' like phytic acids and enzyme inhibitors too. :(

 

I have a good serving of porridge with the nuts EVERY morning, every day. Is it too much grain and nuts? Too much phytic acid? is all the goodness of my porridge being blocked from getting to me?

 

I dont mind all the soaking and pre preperation before hand, thats easy, just want to know whether it's as 'bad' as it's made out to be.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by shifter, 12 June 2014 - 04:21 AM.

[Luminosity]

Probably depends on the person.

 

Since no one eats raw oats, or other grains, it's probably a bad idea to do that.    

[timar]

It is very common in Central and Northern Europe to have muesli for breakfast. Originally muesli, as devised by the Swiss physician Birchner-Benner at the end of the 19th century, is prepared by soaking rolled oats in water and lemon juice overnight but today, muesli is usually eaten without soaking but straight with milk or yogurt and it contains not only oats but also other rolled grains (e.g. wheat, barley and rye), cornflakes, dried fruits and nuts. Like me, millions of people eat such an unsoaked muesli each morning and - lo and behold! - it hasn't caused an epidemy of mineral deficieny. In my opinion the need to soak grains before eating because of the phytic acid is a myth probably originating in the writings of Weston A. Price and perpetuated over and over in the Paleosphere. Once there was a need for soaking grains simply because you didn't get them tenderly rolled from the grocery store. They were whole or coarsely crushed and hence soaking was the only method to make them chewable* and thus fully digestible besides grinding them to flour - and in tough times, when food was often in short supply, you really needed to get the maximum amount of calories out the those precious grains. This seems like a much more crucial incentive to soak your grains than to suggest that people noticed some subtle health benefits of the improved mineral bioavailabiliy of the grains. Even if that was another reason for soaking grains, in was in the context of a monotonous diet that heavilly relied on grains as a staple crop - hardly comparable to a varied diet of today's (First World) standards with its diverse sources of minerals.

 

* and don't forget that was before the advent of modern dentristry and oral hygiene...

Edited by timar, 12 June 2014 - 07:25 AM.

[Gerrans]

I agree with Timar about all this soaking of grains and nuts, etc. It seems like fetishistic, time-consuming fol-de-rol to me. I speak as someone who drank the bean water and survived.

 

But my experiment with eating oat groats was brief, for they verily gave me a sore arse.* They were a bit rough, maybe, for a delicate chap like me---better for horses, in my opinion. (I only soaked them overnight--maybe they needed a week.) Rolled oats are not over-processed, when you look into it--they are probably less refined than oat bran--so they remain my favourite among the oat fraternity.

 

*One of the benefits of oats is that they form a gel that profits the digestive system. So it seems counterproductive to me to eat them in such a crude form that they might resist digestion altogether. Rather spend a penny than a groat.

Edited by Gerrans, 12 June 2014 - 08:58 AM.