Experts are still unsure whether oatmeal will make you live longer, but a new study suggests that to get much good from it, you'll have to eat an awful lot of it.
In theory, at least, the water-soluble fiber in oatmeal, oat bran, psyllium and some other foods will lower the body's cholesterol levels.This idea catapulted oat bran to one of the hottest food crazes of the 1980s, as bakers and brewers offered oat bran doughnuts, oat bran potato chips, even oat bran beer.
But even if it might do some good, a new study suggests that the often minuscule amount of oat bran in many of these products is probably worthless.
The study found that to noticeably lower their cholesterol, people had to eat two bowls of oat bran or three bowls of oatmeal each day.
And although their cholesterol levels dropped while eating this much cereal, the study left open the possibility that they might have benefited simply because they were too full to eat other high-fat foods.