Flakes prepared from the oat plant by pressing oats into ground grain are an integral food popular in Central and northern Europe. Moreover, oats have stimulating effects on the nervous system.
- Botanic Choice’s high-quality oat fiber provides a generous 1,000 mg of benefits in each tablet. This is a wonderful daily source of fiber which supports digestion and overall health
- Oat Fiber Powder- Dietary fiber nutritional supplements can do a lot to support gut health, which plays a role in many health issues throughout your body
- Plant Based Fiber Supplement- All parts of the oat plant are used for food, fiber supplements, and skincare products. Oat fiber supplies naturally occurring B vitamins, manganese, phosphorous, calcium, potassium, and more
- Adults Natural Super Cleaner- Fiber speeds up stool processing, helping avoid blockage and occasional constipation for better digestive health
- Trust- Founded in 1910, Botanic Choice is a family owned and operated business located in the USA. We believe in unlocking the miracle of mother nature through plant science and specialize in herbal health and wellness
Healing Properties
Oat grains contain about sixty to seventy percent of starch and other sugars (carbohydrates), about 14% of proteins, about 7% of lipids (fat). Among other substances, they contain a significant amount of lecithin, B vitamins, pantothenic acid, enzymes, minerals, mainly calcium and phosphorus, certain trace elements, and an alkaloid (avenine), which have balancing and invigoration effects on the nervous system.
The use of the oat plant is very advisable in cases of depression, insomnia, and physical or nervous fatigue. Those people suffering from stress or sexual impotence, students—mainly during exams—athletes, and breastfeeding women, will find that oats from the oat plant are an excellent medicine food. Because of its practical use in poor digestion, it is also suitable for convalescents and those experiencing gastritis, colitis, and other digestive problems.
The bran of the oat plant contains silicon and vitamins A and B. It possesses soothing effects on the nervous system when taken orally as an infusion and used externally during bathing. Some research has demonstrated that oat bran reduces cholesterol in the blood. This decrease only affects the so-called “noxious” cholesterol (LDL). Still, it does not influence the level of “good” or protective cholesterol (HDL), which, as recently discovered, acts to help avoid arteriosclerosis.
This action of oat bran on the cholesterol level is common to all products containing vegetal bran, especially when the bran is soluble, for example, apples.
Oat Plant Scientific Facts
- Scientific name: Avena sativa L.
- French: Avoine.
- Spanish: Avena.
- Environment: Originally from southern Europe, its cultivation has spread to all five continents.
- Description: Annual plant of the Gramineae family, growing up to 1 m in height. The oat plant’s flowers, and its grains, are grouped in pairs in ears.
- Parts of the plant used medicinally: Bran and grains.
Oats and Cholesterol
Dr. James Anderson of the University of Kentucky was working with diabetic patients, trying to find out whether there was a grain that was efficient in controlling the level of sugar in the blood. Dr. Anderson found out that when these patients ate oat flour, not only did the level of sugar in the blood improve but so did that of cholesterol.
When studying the issue in detail, he concluded that the agent which caused these decreases was the bran that oat flakes had. The soluble bran that makes oat bran acts by absorbing bile acids in the intestine and expelling them with defecations.
Bile acids are formed in the liver from the blood cholesterol and are poured into the intestine along with the bile. Most of the bile is usually reabsorbed in the ileum (the third portion of the small intestine), passing again to the blood and serving as an essential element in the production of cholesterol.
Oat bran forces the liver to produce more bile acids, which are essential in digestive processes, by absorbing bile acids and eliminating them along with feces. Thus, the liver must use the cholesterol that blood contains, which decreases its level. Hence, the consumption of whole oat flakes (with bran) is an excellent way to reduce cholesterol.
Oat Straw
Oat straw tea is beneficial and recommended for kidney and chest ailments. It acts as a restorative nerve tonic and an antidepressant. The plant also increases sweating, which helps to reduce fevers. For cases of bed-wetting, oat straw tea is an excellent remedy for children. It is also perfect for treating stomach problems, nervous diseases, weak muscles from nerve exhaustion, occipital headaches, heart palpitations, epilepsy, stress, depression, colic, and insomnia.
In external applications, oat straw tea is used in Europe for various baths and, when utilized regularly, helps treat several ailments. Adding a gallon of tea to a full bath is good for kidney and stone problems, gout, liver ailments, lumbago, paralysis, and rheumatic pains. A sitz bath can help treat bed-wetting, intestinal colic, bladder, and abdominal problems. A local wash treats eye problems, chilblains, wounds, flaky skin, frostbite, and skin diseases.
An extract from fresh oat berries picked when the milky substance is in the grain is excellent for body and brain functions. It is a specific treatment for weak nerves and can be utilized as a tonic for the nerves. It can overcome most diseases due to physical exhaustion and nervous issues, including uterine and ovarian disorders.
Infusion: Steep for five to fifteen minutes and take six ounces three times daily. Tincture: Take thirty to sixty drops three times daily. Fluid Extract: Take one teaspoon three times daily. Powder: Take up to ten #0 capsules (60 grains) three times daily.
How to use the Oat Plant
- Flakes (pressed seeds) cooked with milk or vegetable broth.
- Infusion. Prepared with a tablespoon of oat bran per cup. Drink two or three a day.
- Relaxing bath. Oat infusion may also be added to bathwater, in a proportion of one liter per middle-sized bath, to achieve adequate relaxation
REFERENCES
- George D. Pamplona-Roger, M.D. “Encyclopedia of Medicinal Plants.” George D. Pamplona-Roger, M.D. Encyclopedia of Medicinal Plants. Ed. Francesc X. Gelabert. Vols. 1 San Fernando de Henares: Editorial Safeliz, 2000. 150, 151. Print.
- Vance Ferrell Harold M. Cherne, M.D. The Natural Remedies Encyclopedia [Book]. – Altamont, TN: Harvestime Books, 2010. – Vol. Seventh Edition: 7: pp. 170, 171.
Last update on 2023-10-01 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
