Does Oatmeal Cause Inflammation?
Until recently oatmeal was considered to be a super healthy food with many potential benefits. But lately, more and more people are claiming that oatmeal is overrated and could even have negative effects, such as causing inflammation in your body.
Is any of that true? What does science have to say about this?
Oatmeal has anti-inflammatory effects
Recently an international group of researchers conducted an large analysis to investigate if oatmeal really increases inflammation (1).
The study included 23 randomised controlled trials and investigated a wide range of inflammatory markers. The majority of these studies, either showed no change, or a reduction of inflammatory markers. Only one of the studies demonstrated an increase in inflammation.
This is very strong evidence that oatmeal can reduce the inflammatory response. Interestingly, the less healthy participants seemed to benefit more from the consumption of oats.
Nevertheless, not all studies show these anti-inflammatory effects. Sometimes oatmeal can cause inflammation in people, especially those suffering from IBS, gluten intolerance, or celiac disease.
Sometimes oatmeal does cause inflammation
However sometimes oatmeal can cause inflammation. Some people are more susceptible to it than others. Here are the top reasons why oatmeal causes inflammation:
Why does oatmeal cause inflammation only in some people? Is there a way to avoid inflammation from oatmeal? Let’s dive deeper into the ways oatmeal could cause inflammation and what we can do to avoid it.
1. Oatmeal contains avenin
Oatmeal contains avenin, a gluten-like protein that can cause inflammation in some people (2).
If you have a gluten intolerance, celiac disease, IBS, or suffer from other kinds of bowel inflammation, you are more likely to experience increased inflammation from avenin. In reality, only some people with celiac disease have the specific T-cells that react to avenin and cause inflammation (3).
For most people avenin from oatmeal is not inflammatory. Several scientific studies have tried to find proof if avenin really increases inflammation in patients with celiac disease. Most studies did not find any proof for that.
Researchers from the university of Rome conducted an in-vitro study, which showed that avenin did not increase the production of certain antibodies, specific for celiac disease (4). Therefore the scientists concluded that oats do not appear to have a harmful effect on celiac disease patients.
Interestingly, research shows that some varieties of oats contain more active avenins and could be more inflammatory (5). So not all oats are the same.
More specifically, oats from the Lampton and Ava variety seem to be more immunogenic, than oats from the Astra and Nave variety (6).
2. Oatmeal is not always gluten-free
In theory oats are gluten-free, but in practice that is not always the case. Sometimes oats are contaminated with gluten in the factory where they are processed. Eating these oats could cause bowel inflammation in people with gluten intolerance.
So if you have gluten intolerance, it is a good idea to check on the package if your oats are certified gluten-free. Otherwise, there is always a risk they could contain some small amounts of gluten.
3. Flavoured instant oatmeal
Flavoured instant oatmeal packages often contain too much sugar and other additives. These ingredients do not only improve the taste of the oats, but can be inflammatory as well. The same is sometimes also the case with oatmeal from fast-food chains.
One easy solution for this is to make overnight oats. It takes a minute or so to combine all the ingredients and put them in a mason jar or some other container. Then, on the next morning you have your oats ready to go. The main advantage here is that you can control how much sugar and other sweeteners you add.
If you prefer instant oats, it is a good idea to check the labels, and make sure your oatmeal does not contain too much sugar and other potentially unhealthy ingredients.
4. Agricultural chemicals in oatmeal
Oats can be treated with different agricultural chemicals and pesticides. Trace amounts of these chemicals could end up in your food. Whether or not these chemicals have bad effects on your health, is a subject of intense public argument.
If you want to minimise the amount of pesticides and other chemicals in your oats, you could go for the certified organic option.
What kind of oatmeal is anti-inflammatory?
The less processed types of oatmeal, such as oat bran and steel cut oats, contain lots of fiber and are considered more anti-inflammatory. In addition to that, oatmeal from the Astra and Nave varieties, are likely less inflammatory than oats from the Lampton and Ava type (7). But more research needs to be done to confirm this.
Is instant oatmeal inflammatory?
Oatmeal has numerous health benefits and anti-inflammatory effects. Despite that, instant oatmeal often contains too much added sugar and other additives. This could undo many of the beneficial effects of oatmeal and cause inflammation.
Wrap up
Oatmeal has many anti-inflammatory properties.
People with food allergies, intolerance to oats, or other health issues, are more likely to experience inflammation from oats.
Adding too much sugar to your oatmeal, can undo many of the beneficial effects of oats.