Love ready-to-eat oat cereal in breakfast but do not get that feeling of "fullness"? Switch to instant oatmeal.
A serving of instant oatmeal is more filling than a ready-to-eat (RTE), oat-based cereal, a new research shows.
"Eating a bowl of instant oatmeal for breakfast is more satiating and helps manage hunger better than the same amount of calories from a leading oat-based, cold cereal, even when consumed in smaller portions," researchers said.
The unique characteristics of oatmeal have a significant impact on fullness and desire to eat even when matched for calories and ingredients (oats) with another breakfast option.
"We found instant oatmeal to be more effective at suppressing appetite compared to the cold cereal, even with a smaller serving size and less calories than previously investigated," said Frank Greenway from the Pennington Biomedical Research Centre at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
During his experiment, 43 healthy men and women completed the randomised, controlled crossover investigation over their breakfast habits.
The results showed that when participants ate instant oatmeal, they reported less hunger compared to the RTE cereal.
Instant oatmeal also provided increased fullness and a reduced desire to eat more.
Researchers state that the viscosity of instant oatmeal was higher than the RTE cereal which could explain the differences in hunger and appetite control.
"The new research demonstrates that increased satiety is possible with smaller portions and less calories (150 calories) of instant oatmeal," Greenway added in a paper published in the Nutrition Journal.