Naturally rich in fibre and protein, and classified as a complex carbohydrate, oats have long been praised for their health benefits. A small trial found that eating a diet largely based on oatmeal for just two days led to a \u201csignificant\u201d improvement in cholesterol levels, highlighting just how effective this everyday food could be.<\/p>\n
The trial study found that consuming a diet consisting almost exclusively of oatmeal for just two days could improve cholesterol levels “significantly”.<\/p>\n
![\"Plain](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/e6148e30-0994-11ed-a9ff-4e8c82ebc17c.jpeg\"\/)
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The participants ate a diet of oats cooked in water for all three meals over two days.<\/p>\n
(Arx0nt via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Whilst it was a small-scale study involving just 68 participants, scientists found a “substantial reduction” in levels of harmful LDL low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol among those who followed the oat-exclusive diet.<\/p>\n
The diet consisted of 300g of oatmeal cooked in just water for all three meals a day, and participants were only allowed to eat some fruit or vegetables with their dishes.<\/p>\n
Commenting on the results, Marie-Christine Simon, junior professor at the Institute of Nutritional and Food Science at the University of Bonn, said: “The level of particularly harmful LDL cholesterol fell by 10% for them \u2013 that is a substantial reduction, although not entirely comparable to the effect of modern medications.<\/p>\n
“They also lost two kilos in weight on average, and their blood pressure fell slightly.”<\/p>\n
LDL cholesterol becomes deposited in the walls of blood vessels if there is too much of it in a person’s blood, and these deposits are known as plaque.<\/p>\n
The plaque narrows blood vessels, leading to higher blood pressure. The risk of deposits rupturing and forming blood clots that can block the blood vessels is also high, and can lead to deadly cardiovascular problems.<\/p>\n
How oats could help![\"Oatmeal](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/3d2ce540-fd0d-11f0-b6fd-7d86ae880e46.jpeg\"\/)
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Scientists found that oats could help lower cholesterol by increasing the amount of a certain gut bacterium.<\/p>\n
(YelenaYemchuk via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Oatmeal helps reduce cholesterol by increasing the number of certain bacteria in the gut, said Linda Kluempen, lead author of the trial. The bacteria produces phenolic compounds, including something called ferulic acid, which “has a positive effect on the cholesterol metabolism”, she explained.<\/p>\n
The study also found that eating an oat-based diet short-term, but regularly, was more effective than eating a smaller volume of oats over a longer period of time.<\/p>\n
The positive effects of the two-day oats diet was still evident even after six weeks. However, the study showed that participants who consumed 80 grams of oats per day over six weeks saw only a small benefit in comparison.<\/p>\n
“A short-term oat-based diet at regular intervals could be a well-tolerated way to keep the cholesterol level within the normal range and prevent diabetes,” Simon said.<\/p>\n
“As a next step, it can now be clarified whether an intensive oat-based diet repeated every six weeks actually has a permanently preventative effect.”<\/p>\n
10 cholesterol-lowering foods to add to your diet<\/p>\n
Wholegrains, including barley and quinoa<\/p>\n
Oily fish, such as salmon and mackerel<\/p>\n
Beans, like chickpeas and kidney beans<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cholesterol is one of those health issues that can quietly build up over time. You might feel perfectly…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":582040,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[33059,2934,97,255107,5493,208617],"class_list":["post-582039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-cholesterol","tag-getty-images","tag-health","tag-low-density-lipoprotein","tag-lower-cholesterol","tag-university-of-bonn"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582039","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=582039"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582039\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/582040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=582039"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=582039"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=582039"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}