F. H. Webster, Francis Webster & Associates, Branson, Missouri, U.S.A.
OATS: Chemistry and Technology, Second Edition
Pages 347-361
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1094/9781891127649.017
ISBN: 978-1-891127-64-9
Abstract
The nutritive value of whole-grain oats has been recognized for thousands of years. Early records provide evidence for both a nutritional and a medicinal basis for oat utilization. Records of oat cultivation date back to the Early Bronze period, about 2000 B.C.E. According to Findlay (1956), the first records on oat usage described their medicinal properties. The authors included Hippocrates (∼460–360 B.C.E.), Dieusches (∼400 B.C.E.), Dioscorides (first century C.E.), and Galen (130–200 C.E.). Dioscorides characterized oats as a healing agent, a desiccant for the skin, a cough reliever, and a natural food for horses that humans consumed when food was scarce. Pliny (first century c.e.) was the first to reference human consumption in his treatise, Natural History. He stated, “the Germanic tribes of the first century knew oats well and made their porridge of nothing else.” In those early years, oats were also consumed in breadlike products.
Despite early acceptance as a food crop, oats' primary usage has been as a forage crop and a feed grain. Their superior nutritional content and ready availability made oats the feed grain of choice until the mid-1900s. However, changes in farming practices, improvements in knowledge regarding animal nutritional requirements, and increased availability of low-cost ingredients that could be blended to provide high-quality feed formulations have caused oat usage as a feed grain to fall dramatically. Additionally, the low nutrient density resulting from the high hull content has been a significant factor in reducing oats' usage as a feed grain. Feed ingredient usage is beyond the scope of this chapter, and those interested in that area should consult Cuddeford (1995) and Chapter 3.
Before the nineteenth century, the only areas where oats formed a significant part of the human diet were Ireland and Scotland. The most famous quote about oats (according to Sir Walter Scott) was attributed to Samuel Johnson and Lord Elibank. Johnson described oats as “a grain which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people.” To this, Lord Elibank reportedly replied, “True, but where can you find such horses, where such men?” Based upon the recently documented health benefits associated with oat consumption, these men were truly visionaries.
Scottish settlers were credited with bringing oatmeal to North America. During the early nineteenth century, most oatmeal was imported from Scotland and sold primarily in pharmacies. U.S. cookbooks from that era either omitted oatmeal recipes or suggested it as a food for the infirm. As a result of this modest beginning, oats developed an image as a wholesome and nourishing hot breakfast cereal. This image was further bolstered by the fact that oats are considered to have both the highest protein and highest lipid contents of the cereal grains.
Late in the nineteenth century, three key developments helped to establish oatmeal as a staple breakfast item (Webster 1986). These were large-scale domestic milling; movement of oatmeal from the druggist to the grocer's shelf; and development of packaging equipment, brand names, and product promotion. These changes, pioneered by Ferdinand Schumacher, a German immigrant to the United States, established oatmeal as the premier hot cereal in the world. The introduction of ready-to-eat (RTE) cereals and other convenient breakfast items caused hot oatmeal consumption to fall late in the twentieth century. Per capita oat product consumption reached a modern-day low of 3.8 lb in 1980–1984. However, the per capita intake of oat products increased to 6.6 lb in 1998 (Kantor et al 2002), most likely because of public recognition of the health benefits associated with oatmeal and oat bran.
Research conducted in the twentieth century supports the early indications of the nutritional and medicinal properties of oats. Oats' image, as wholesome product, has been significantly advanced by an immense body of studies that highlight the nutritional benefits associated with oat consumption, as well as by the signing into law of the 1990 Labeling and Education Act (Public Law 101–535). In 1997, in what was a landmark event, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorized the first food-specific heart-health claim, based on the association between a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol that included soluble fiber (β-glucan) from oats and the reduced risk of coronary heart disease (see Chapter 13). This event and the more-recent recognition of the health benefits of whole-grain consumption have increased the consumer's interest in oats and other grain products.
This chapter focuses on commercial oat products and their utilization as food products and in specialty applications. In addition, the opportunities for new oat products as a result of the developing body of nutritional studies and associated health claims is assessed. Special attention is placed on the applications suggested by the authors of the individual chapters in this monograph.
