page_title: Oatmeal
section_title: Health benefits
hierarchical_section_title: Oatmeal / Food uses / Health benefits
caption_attribution_description: English: A dish of oatmeal porrridge.
context_page_description: Oatmeal is a type of coarse flour made of hulled oat grains that have either been milled or steel-cut. Ground oats are also called "white oats". Steel-cut oats are known as "coarse oatmeal", "Irish oatmeal" or "pinhead oats". Rolled oats can be either thick or thin, and may be categorized as "old-fashioned", "quick", or "instant", depending on the cooking time, which is shortened by the size of the oats, precooking, and sometimes the addition of enzymes.
  The term oatmeal is also used in the U.S. and parts of Canada to describe a popular oat porridge made from either ground, steel-cut, or rolled oats.
context_section_description: Oatmeal and other oat products were the subject of a 1997 ruling by the Food and Drug Administration that consuming oat bran or whole rolled oats can lower the risk of heart disease when combined with a low-fat diet via the effect of oat beta-glucan to reduce levels of blood cholesterol. A similar conclusion was reached in 2010 by the European Food Safety Authority.
caption: Oatmeal cooked with water to create a runny bowl of porridge
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