A bowl of oatmeal or porridge oats in diets for gout? Yes. A bowl a day – or three to five bowls a week

But ensure you get the right kind of oats!

Oatmeal or porridge oats are an excellent food for diets for gout! First a definition is needed. We are talking about whole grain oats. In North America processed oats are called oatmeal or oat bran; in Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and sometimes in Canada, they are popularly called porridge, or porridge oats. In Britain, they are often called Scots porridge oats, because of their long-time popularity in Scotland. In Ireland – Irish porridge oats or porridge oats.

The word porridge is used in many other countries, for example for rice porridge, but we are talking about whole grain porridge oats, or oatmeal, or bran for diets for gout.

What on earth is the connection between oatmeal (porridge oats) and gout pain and inflammation treatment? Read on.

We are definitely not talking about many brands of oats that line supermarket shelves. The way they are processed may affect the amount of linoleic acid (LA) and gamma linolenic acid (GLA). (See below). We are talking about whole grain oats, and oat bran in diets for gout. The sugar, or honey coated etc, instant, fast cooking oats probably won't have enough of the nutrients you need. (See below for What To Look For On The Nutrition Panel). They may be rolled and steamed oats, but the ones we are surest about for diets for gout are slow cooked oats.

How can you tell? Look for the packaging words "whole grain oats" plus oats that need about 30 minutes cooking time, not the do-it-in-5-minutes, fast cooked, instant variety, although some brands of instant oats do have the required nutrients. That's why Americans call it slow cooked oatmeal.

Look at the nutrition label on the packaging. It says polyunsaturated fats (oils). These are the omega -6 oils. The two most important ones are linoleic acid (LA, some which is converted in the body to gamma linolenic acid(GLA), and GLA in its original form.

(Never forget LA is also converted to arachidonic acid, see the omega -6 page). The labels will not say linoleic or gamma linolenic acids, but they are polyunsaturated oils. The GLA is there. The other polyunsaturated oils you need are the omega -3 ones, EPA and DHA. These are not in oats. For EPA/DHA read our fish oils for gout page.

All nutritionists wax lyrical about oats because they deliver other health benefits, which are relevant to gout sufferers. But we are going to be gout specific at this point – for diets for gout we have a slightly different take on oats, but we also explain the usual healthy points at the end of this article – see What To Look For On The Nutrition Panel.

So why do you eat oat meal or porridge for gout?

GLA is not found in any adult foods, except it is in oats. The other best sources are the dietary supplements evening primrose oil and borage oil (also called starflower oil), and mothers’ breast milk. Oats, two flowering herb plants, mothers’ breast milk. Isn't nature amazing? There isn't so much GLA in oats, so why do we bother to write about them?

The theory, and some testimonials, why you need GLA in diets for gout is on the omega -6 page. We won't repeat it here. But when you read it, you'll hopefully understand why this is not incredible. Basically, GLA, with other omega oils and insulin control can be used for gout pain treatment, and gout inflammation treatment.

The omega -3 page, and the Omega -6 page are all about using quality omega -3 and -6 oils to improve eicosanoid balance to reduce gout pain and inflammation. GLA is part of the treatment. The theory is popularised by Barry Sears in his "Omega RX Zone" and "The Anti-Inflammation Zone" books.

(Dr.Sears' Zone diet is the only non-low purine diet that has been studied in gout patients, and it had significant success). The key point about slow cooked oatmeal (whole grain porridge oats) for gout is that you will get enough GLA if you eat just three to five bowls of these oats a week, as long as you follow the rest of the Sears' program (programme), as fully explained in the above books.

Do you want to read testimonials where the theory has been put into practice for gout pain and inflammation?

Read our omega -6 page.

Eat these for breakfast, instead of other breakfast foods, and you might save money on dietary supplements such as borage oil or evening primrose oil. True, slow cooked oatmeal (whole grain porridge oats) is more expensive than the do-it-in-5-minutes sort, but even so oats are not expensive.

Cooking tips for 30 minutes oats

Yes, they can take 30 minutes to cook in the morning for breakfast, but there are ways of avoiding this if it's a problem for you. Make a big batch for a number of days and freeze. Cook in a microwave, or thaw overnight and heat them again, for your own home-cooked instant oats, but made from whole grain oats, where the flavour and healthfulness is better. And do something else whilst they are cooking.

Or, add boiling water the night before, stir until the water's absorbed, cover the pan, turn off the heat, and they slow cook over-night. Heat up in the morning until they are ready to eat. Anyone can organise themselves to do this and so get oats into any of the diets for gout.

Other advantages

Because of their soluble fibre (fiber), called beta-glucan, you might find oats lower your LDL cholesterol (the dangerous kind), but probably not much unless you have high cholesterol. However, once you have gout you must do all you can to protect your heart and guard against developing type 2 diabetes. From one bowl you can get about four grams of fibre (fiber) if you buy the right brand.

Oats are fairly low calorie, moderate purine, with plenty of useful vitamins and minerals, and because they are in the middle on the Glycemic Index (GI) and low on the Glycemic Load (GL) Index, the carbohydrates are slowly absorbed which is good for insulin and blood sugar levels. If you are trying to make your body more alkaline, note that oats are moderately acidic, and oat bran maybe more so, but you can deal with that if you have to. See the pH pages. Oats are cheap. One serving doesn't cost much, and they are famous for being quite filling, partly because of their high fibre (fiber) content.

Disadvantages

Oats have more purines than other cereals such as whole grain wheat, rye, sweet corn and barley, but they are still only moderate purine. Five bowls a week is probably enough for the GLA you need. (Don't eat say five bowls a day instead of other low/moderate purines foods!).

They are quite high carbohydrate, but the useful amount of fibre can be deducted from the carb content, to get the real carb amount. Dr.Atkins called this, Net Carbs. So deduct the fibre (fiber) from the carb content on the nutrition label to get the real carb content. You may still end up eating about 20 grams of carbohydrate per serving, which would not be suitable for the early stages of the Atkins diet. If you are gluten sensitive you may not be able to eat oats.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR ON THE NUTRITION PANEL

Here are the points you need to bear in mind to get the right sort of oats into any of the diets for gout. You may not find everything we describe on the panel, but go for the closest approximation.

Saturated fat Go for as little as possible. Ideally zero saturated fat.

Polyunsaturated fat Try to get at least one gram of polyunsaturated fat per serving. Remember the amount of the GLA is in this number, so the higher it is, the better. This is the most important thing to look for. GLA can lower cholesterol too. The amount of Linoleic Acid (LA) is also in this number, and there’s much more than GLA.

Monounsaturated fat Also a healthy fat, for example it's the main fat in olive oil.

Fibre (Fiber) At least four grams per serving, or close to it. Ideally the nutrition panel should show the amount of soluble (dissolves in water) and insoluble (doesn't dissolve in water) fibre. Try to buy a brand where the nutrition panel says half the total fibre (fiber) content is soluble fibre. i.e. two grams, PLUS another two grams of insoluble fibre. Most simply explain the total fibre (fiber) content.

Why soluble fibre (fiber)? Because this is the form of fibre has been shown to lower LDL cholesterol. (At least three grams of soluble fibre (fiber) a day is required). And stabilize blood sugar. They might lower your triglycerides. So fibre helps to prevent the onset of type 2 diabetes and heart disease. As noted above, gout sufferers are prone to both of these. This is another reason why slow cooked oatmeal (porridge oats) is one of the good foods for gout.

Insoluble fibre (fiber) is healthy too, but for reasons unconnected with gout. Four grams of fibre (fiber) in a single oat meal (porridge oats) serving is equivalent to the amount of fibre (fiber) in a single serving of psyllium husks.

Transfats "Partially hydrogenated vegetable oil." Make sure there are none.

You may also find these requirements in an oat bran brand. Oat bran has more soluble fibre than oatmeal (porridge oats), but go for the slow cooked oatmeal (whole grain porridge oats) first because the main gout benefit with oats is the GLA. We are currently not sure of the amount of GLA in oat bran.

If you find you need more GLA than in oats, use evening primrose oil, or borage (starflower) oil. But carry on eating oat meal (porridge oats) and you will get somewhat more, plus their other benefits. If you read the Sears' books, note his caution about too much GLA. Oatmeal (porridge oats) in diets for gout? Definitely.

RECOMMENDED BRANDS

Here are some brands that meet, or get close to, our "What To Look For" test.

United States John McCann's steel cut Irish oat meal, Quaker steel cut oats, Bob's Red Mill steel cut oats, Mother's oat bran.

Great Britain Jordan's Porridge Oats Organic - the fibre amount is shown but the soluble/insoluble fibre breakdown is not. But you can assume some soluble fibre because about half the fibre in oats is soluble fibre. These can be cooked in 5 minutes so they aren't slow cooked. But they are close to the ideal requirement.