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Fda Chewing On Claim Of Oat-Bran Health Benefit

Daniel P. Puzo Los Angeles Times

Remember the rise and fall of oat bran?

Well, get ready for the second coming.

A new government proposal would allow food manufacturers to say on product labels that diets high in oat bran and oatmeal “may reduce the risk of heart disease.”

Quaker Oats Co. asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last March for permission to use the heart-disease claim on products containing sizable portions of oats.

Health claims on food products were authorized in 1990 by the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act. Since 1993, the FDA has approved eight such statements after extensive review of the supporting scientific literature.

The previously approved health claims involve general regimens such as diets rich in fruit and vegetables, which may reduce the risk of some cancers. The proposed oat bran claim would be the first that associates a single food with health properties.

Oat bran rocketed to popularity in 1984 following several studies indicating it helped to lower cholesterol levels. The studies led to a best-selling book titled “The Eight Week Cholesterol Cure.” Sales of oat bran, oatmeal and foods containing oats - whether nutritious or not - soared. Several analysts proclaimed oat bran the major food trend of the 1980s.

The party ended abruptly in January 1990 with the publication of a controversial research study that seemed to indicate an overall low-fat diet, not oat bran alone, was responsible for cholesterol reductions.

Subsequent studies have borne out that oat bran and oatmeal do have cholesterol-lowering properties and, when consumed regularly, could reduce the risk of cardiovascular heart disease. The FDA, following 10 months of scientific review, concurred.

However, the agency also proposes that products carrying such a health claim must also provide more detailed language elsewhere on the label saying that the effect of oatmeal or oat bran on heart disease is particularly evident “when these foods are consumed as part of a diet that is low in saturated fat and cholesterol.”

“Oat bran and oatmeal are not magic bullets,” the agency’s proposal says. “Diet is only one factor that influences whether a person will get a disease.”

The FDA is accepting public comment on its proposal until April 3. A final regulation will be issued later in the year.

Chicago-based Quaker Oats and other grain manufacturers hope the health claims will restart the oat bran bandwagon.

This time, however, there will be strict requirements for products to qualify. An individual serving, for instance, would have to contain 20 grams of oatmeal and 1 gram of beta glucan soluble fiber, the active ingredient in inducing the cholesterol reductions.

Steven L. Ink, Quaker’s director of nutrition research, says the minimum requirement would be equivalent to one-third of a cup of dry or uncooked oatmeal.

“All (qualifying) products must be low in total fat and saturated fat as well,” Ink says. “They will truly deliver a health benefit. Something with just a sprinkling of oat bran on it will not qualify.

“We’ve been in the oatmeal business for over 100 years and don’t benefit from a craze. We do benefit when solid nutrition information is provided on labels that consumers can bank on.”