Oat grain—a wonderful reservoir of natural nutrients and biologically active substances

Abstract

Traditionally, the largest use of oats has been for animal feed. The beneficial nutritional and physiological effects of oat products has generated an increased demand for oats in human nutrition (e.g., reduction of serum cholesterol level by beta‐glucans and other dietary fiber components, high tocopherol and natural antioxidant level). The growing interest in the use of oats and its components for food purposes, together with the advantageous effects of some oat constituents in nutrition, resulted in an increased interest in the study of chemical composition of oats. Our knowledge concerning the oat constituents, particularly biologically active minor components, has rapidly increased. A summary of these results is given in this review.