The trial was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), the German Diabetes Association (DDG), the German Research Foundation (DFG), the German Cereal Processing, Milling and Starch Industries’ Association (VGMS), and RASO Naturprodukte."

I'd be quite suspicious of this study for this reason alone.

"They also lost two kilos in weight on average and their blood pressure fell slightly."

Two kilos in two days?

Edit: Oatmeal is great. I have some most mornings, either as porridge or letting it soak for a bit in "viscous mesophilic fermented milk", as Wikipedia suggests it can be called in english. Lots of starch but it takes a while for it to sugar the blood, and some fiber and protein.

1. When someone consumes fat, bile is released into the gut.

2. Oatmeal (and other soluble fibers like psyllium husk) capture this bile and it is excreted in stool.

3. In order to create the bile, the liver needs LDL. Because the LDL it used to create the bile was lost when it was captured, it exposes more LDL receptors and pulls LDL out of the bloodstream, thereby lowering LDL levels.

It seems to me that in order to maximize the effectiveness of this LDL-lowering approach, one must not simply consume psyllium or oatmeal, but rather consume them in conjunction with fat. Not saturated fat, obviously, which raises LDL, but perhaps unsaturated or polyunsaturated fats. My expectation is that this would trigger the bile secretion required in order to actually sequester it.

Current recommendations are to get 15+ grams of fiber per 1000 Calories, but we know from, e.g., hunter-gatherer populations that humans can eat far more than that.

Building a diet around whole food sources that are high in fiber and protein is basically all you need for a healthy diet, constrained by however many calories you need to support a healthy weight.

Fruits, veggies, legumes, whole grains, nuts, seeds, etc. should make up the majority of your diet.

I realized this when tracking micronutrients with an app (tracking every gram I put into my body), and realized my 600 calorie steel-cut-oats breakfast was often outdone by soybeans I'd eat later in the day. The soybeans had more fiber.

And I think they're easier to eat. It's pretty boring, but I microwave a bowl of frozen soybeans and then just eat them plain. They're clean, you could eat them with your fingers without causing a mess (I use a spoon though), and their cleanliness means I'm comfortable having a bowl next to me at the computer or wherever; if they spill I would just pick them up with my fingers and that's it.

If you are eating any kind of snack cracker or refined wheat product, I would suggest replacing with oats and then reporting back on results after one week.

I think the beneficial effects are strong enough to completely offset the impact of things like occasional bowl of ice cream and package of nerds gummy clusters. This is what gets me to power through. If there wasn't some kind of strong upside no one would be eating this stuff willingly.

Try assuming that the target audience for this research is clinicians and nutritionists working with general population patients - particularly patients who really need cholesterol-reducing interventions. The medical system has limited resources; patients have limited attention spans and compliance curves. The patient may be in your ER or hospital after a medical incident, or in your clinic after a bad test result. If the hospital kitchen, a family member, or the patient himself can get through two days of this relatively easy oatmeal diet, the research say that his short-term and intermediate-term numbers should (X fingers) improve by [details]. If, two real-world days later, both a follow-up cholesterol test and (hopefully) the patient's daily symptoms and perception of his health are greatly improved - that's a clear win, both for him and for the medical system. And (hopefully) the patient's perception of the medical system - because high cholesterol is a chronic health problem, and you need him to readily seek care, show up for appointments, and comply with prescribed treatments.

It's unbelievably easy, genuinely tasty, and was the result of me trying to make a concerted effort at trying to lower my cholesterol.

If somebody wants to start a company. I would suggest a steel-cut oats (rice) cooker, that has an overnight timer that will have the oats prepared when I wake up. With one compartment for oats, one for water, and a refrigerated compartment for frozen berries (even just insulated with ice cubes). I'd pay good money for that.

Breakfast: overnight oats with milk (half and half) and a bit of yoghurt and a banana mashed in.

Lunch: Oatcakes with tahini/hummus and a salad??

Dinner: Skirlie with spinach and a couple of poached eggs on top. Along with some roast carrots/courgette/aubergine.

The eggs would be outside the OA diet I suppose. I think I might try this.

I much prefer steel cut oats to rolled and/or instant.

1/4 cp is good for breakfast for one person.

It's much more interesting if you mix in a small amount of other grains. I like to add a large pinch each of farro, barley and buckwheat. Very important: also add a pinch of salt.

Add plenty of water and cook on low while you take your morning shower and get dressed. (20-30 mins)

I don't even cook it, simply soaking it with water overnight in a refrigerator does the job. Preparation takes 2-3 minutes (except for the overnight soak). Not boiling it also saves all the vitamins.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-68303-9

I was curious what the implementation looked like:

> In the short-term intervention study, participants assigned to the oat group (OG) consumed three oat meals daily for two days instead of their habitual Western diet. Each oat meal comprised 100 × g of rolled oat flakes (Demeterhof Schwab GmbH & Co. KG, Windsbach, Germany) boiled in water. To ascertain potential long-term effects, the two-day intervention period was followed by a six-week follow-up period during which the participants returned to their habitual diet without oats. Subjects assigned to the control group (CG) consumed three standardized control meals without oats on each intervention day, which were macronutrient-adapted to the OG, instead of their habitual Western diet.

> In the six-week intervention study, participants in the oat group (OG6w) replaced one habitual meal per day with an oatmeal comprising 80 × g of rolled oat flakes (Demeterhof Schwab GmbH & Co. KG), while maintaining their habitual Western diet. Participants in the corresponding control group (CG6w) maintained their habitual Western diet and remained abstinent from oats during the six-week study period according to the inclusion criteria.

This is pretty remarkable:

> Since cholesterol levels tended to remain below baseline during the six-week, oat-free follow-up period, persistent effects on lipid metabolism might be assumed (Fig. 3d). This assumption is further supported by the high compliance observed during the follow-up period, as all participants abstained from oat consumption and returned to their habitual Western diet, with no significant differences compared to their pre-study dietary patterns (Supplementary Data 2). Thus, our results indicate clearly that a high-dose oat diet improves lipid metabolism by decreasing serum TC and LDL-C levels, even after two days, which is consistent with the known cholesterol-lowering effect of oats. In addition, beneficial effects on anthropometrics and glucose metabolism were observed within each diet group (Supplementary Data 2), which we attribute to the diet-related calorie restriction.

I gotta say though, 100 grams of oats (three times a day) is a lot. That's over a cup (dry). A typical serving is less than half that (40 grams dry).

It's not necessarily equivalent but I think that losing fat can dump cholesterol into the body, and gaining body fat can sequester it.

And I don't eat rabbit food. I still have pasta and pizza and other stuff.

And I do like oatmeal but don't eat it too often.

Eating a low sugar breakfast does feel pretty healthy.

I tried to get into rolled or cut but the prep time was hard to keep up with.

That can be achieved within many other diets too. I wish they were more specific in saying what's special about oats, if anything.

I also get upset when I see a ton of junk options at the grocery store. They are talking about plain cut oats and whole fresh fruit, but based on the way shelves are stocked I imagine a majority of people get the kind with all the added sugar. You might as well be eating honey smacks at that point. Yogurt has the same problem at the store.

its more effective than daily oatmeal consumption (80g per day)

Oats only! (with some fruit and veg garnish ok)

ymmv- Tested on people with high cholesterol only

meta: expect to see "cholesterol cleanse diet" in your ai generated ads?

Oatmeal and milk, nothing more. No fruit no nuts no sugar no honey no sprinkles of whatever. Perfect.