Oats

Oats has been widely known for its health benefits and its high nutrition value. It has the property to lower the cholesterol and has therefore made into the human diet. The outer covering of oats is called oat bran and is claimed to lower the low-density lipoprotein cholesterol which increases the risk of heart attacks. Oats are also not easily digested and that results in a feeling of fullness for a longer period. A trend of consuming oats began after there were reports that claimed oats reduce cholesterol. Oats contains globulin and contains the maximum amount of protein among cereals. Globulins give oats the property to dissolve in water and hence its ability to turn into milk but not into bread. Oats are the source of coeliac disease, a bowel-related disease when one cannot digest gluten. Although some studies suggest that the gluten is present in oats due to the fact that it is grown along with wheat, rye, and barley. There is a high risk of contamination of the oats and hence the presence of gluten in them. Post World War II it was suspected that gluten found in wheat was the cause for coeliac disease. As the common contaminants of oats are barley, wheat, and rye - which have high concentrations of gluten – oats were considered toxic to human beings.

There are the different steps for processing of oats:

Cleaning and Sizing – The oats are cleaned of all the foreign materials like rocks and other grains.

Dehulling – The outer hull is separated from the inner oat groat.

Kilning – This is a process to balance the moisture content in oats.

Sizing of Groats – The oats are sized and separated.

Final Processing – This process involves flaking, oat bran milling, and whole flour milling.

Oats is widely used as cattle feed and horse feed; some include it in the diets of dog and chicken too. Humans consume oats in the form of rolled oats and oatmeal.