Robert W. Welch, Northern Ireland Centre for Food and Health, School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Ulster, Coleraine, United Kingdom
OATS: Chemistry and Technology, Second Edition
Pages 95-107
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1094/9781891127649.006
ISBN: 978-1-891127-64-9
Abstract
Oats (Avena sativa) were the dietary staple cereal in northern parts of the British Isles into the nineteenth century. However, the increasing availability of wheat and advances in technologies for milling and baking led to the displacement of oats by wheat as the dietary staple cereal in all regions by the end of the nineteenth century (Welch 1995b). Although oats retained a major position in the traditional agricultural systems of Europe well into the twentieth century, the oat crop decreased very substantially as increasing mechanization in agriculture and transport led to the decline in demand for oats for draft horses (Moore-Colyer 1995). However, oats have been traditionally viewed as a nutritious cereal for infants and adults, and there is substantial evidence that oats, usually consumed as a whole-grain cereal, may help to prevent or alleviate several chronic diseases.
