Oats have been the staple diet of some of the hardiest races including the Scottish Highlanders and the inhabitants of the Hebrides. What Makes Oats Such a Splendid Food? They are richly nutritious 100g 3½oz protein.
They also contain polyunsaturated fats, a little vitamin E, and plenty of the B complex vitamins. Furthermore, they are spectacularly high in calcium, potassium, and magnesium. Which, like the B vitamins, are system, as well as strong bones and teeth that supply plenty of silicon for healthy arterial walls?
This cornucopia of nourishment comes packaged in food that is also singularly digestible. Oats have a demulcent quality that protects the duodenal surfaces and soothes the stomach and intestines. Oats have an impressive reputation in traditional medicine.
The Possets and caudles made from oatmeal with water, lemon juice, sugar, and spices, and perhaps were for centuries a standard prescription for any sick room, while gruel or porridge was often on the menu.
Herbalists turn to oats for one of their most reliable remedies for depression and general debility — a tincture of the whole plant, or just the dehusked oat. So potent is its tranquilizing effect that it is now being used by a number of health practitioners to wean people off the man-made tranquilizers to which so many thousands are addicted.
The role of oats in combating high levels of blood cholesterol, and in regulating blood fats, is causing great excitement in medical circles today, thanks to the pioneering research of Dr. James Anderson of the Veterans Administration Hospital in Kentucky, who has been studying oat fiber for over a decade.
In many studies, the cholesterol levels of patients fed a daily dose of oat bran have come down to an average of 20 percent. The glutinous fiber in the oat bran seems to eliminate bile acids that would or else be converted into cholesterol. Rat porridge for breakfast, and you are doing your arteries a real favor.
Oats should certainly figure on the diabetic’s menu too since they appear to have a very favorable effect on sugar metabolism, In another fascinating study, Dr. Anderson found that 11 out of 20 diabetic men eat about 100g/ 3½oz  oat-bran daily stopped needing insulin shots.
