Raw oats (sometimes sprouted or presoaked) are popular in the health community as an addition to smoothies, bars, bites, and other dishes, but is this a healthy practice?
Perhaps you’ve noticed as I have that raw oats have become the darling ingredient of so many foods marketed as healthy over the past few years.
In particular, many recipes by whole food influencers commonly contain raw oats, usually added to smoothies or protein bars/bites.
Sometimes the oats are sprouted or presoaked first, but they are still raw…in other words, not cooked before consumption.
This would include raw sprouted granola or presoaked (but still raw) granola. These foods have become quite popular in the traditional food community in recent years.
The truth is that oats are never healthy in raw form. Soaking or sprouting helps but it is not enough.
In other words, eating “overnight oats” that are soaked but not cooked is not a traditional practice. Ancestral societies did not ever consume oats in this way.
Unless Oats are Cooked, Anti-Nutrients Are NOT Fully Deactivated (even if Sprouted or Soaked)
Oats are exceptionally high in anti-nutrients such as phytic acid. This substance is not only irritating to the gastric tract but also blocks the absorption of all the wonderful minerals in the oats themselves!
In other words, by eating raw oats, you are getting exactly the opposite of what you think you are achieving nutritionally!
While eating raw oats in a bar or smoothie every once in a while is not going to harm most people if they have a healthy digestive tract, it can really kick off an inflammatory attack for those that are sensitive.
Even those “who can digest a brick” so to speak, risk the development of intestinal diseases. This includes IBS, colitis, and others if consumption of raw oats occurs regularly over a period of time.
Remember, this damage can occur even if the raw oats are presoaked or sprouted first!
Toasting or Baking Is Insufficient
Note that toasting or baking sprouted or soaked oats is also an insufficient method for completing the deactivation of the anti-nutrients according to the Weston A. Price Foundation. (1, 2)
The oats need to be cooked thoroughly in water after soaking or sprouting. This is easiest to accomplish on the stovetop.
Please share the one-minute video below with friends and family who are eating raw oats thinking it is a healthy practice!
Here are a few recipes on how to prepare oats properly. They are easy on your digestive tract and optimally nourishing!
- How to Make Overnight Oats the Right Way
- How to Prepare Steel Cut Oats
- Savory Soaked Oatmeal
- Oat Groats 101
(1) FAQ-Grains, Seeds, Nuts, Beans
(2) Oatmeal Tutorial
How can you make granola healthy?
By not using oats. https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/grain-free-granola-nutola/
To make oat milk, is soaking 7 hours sufficient to destroy the anti-nutrients, or must the oat milk be cooked?
Doesn’t phytic acid have its benefits? I believe I’ve read it has a higher affinity for metals in the body, and thus would be a great natural chelator.
Phytic acid is a chelator, but the benefits are more than outweighed by the tremendous downsides.
I wish I had read this years ago. I’m convinced that I activated a rare form of celiac disease by eating sprouted raw oats. I had total body dermatitis herpetiformis for nine months in 2019-2020 and now cannot tolerate any grains in my vicinity, let alone consume any.
I guess that means that those homemade no-bake kinds of bars/cookies and the old-fashioned oatmeal cookies are potentially a problem, too. Fortunately, I’ve decided that oatmeal is inflammatory for me, so I avoid it, soaked and cooked, even. Such a disappointment as I truly enjoy it. Not sure why it’s inflammatory.
Big no-no!
What about properly soaked, dehydrated granola…not healthy?
If the oats are not cooked, they are a no go if you are wanting to protect your gut health.
Thank you for this good information. Question – I make oatmilk with sprouted oats, soaked, blended with water then squeezed through a milk bag. I’m assuming this too is not good practice for the reasons you expressed, but wanted to check it with you. Looking forward to your answer. Thanks again.
Oops forgot to mention I soak them with ACV for the oat milk I make.
Hi Nancy, this is how I make it too… it is fine in my opinion because they are sprouted/soaked to neutralize antinutrients and then the difficult to digest fibrous parts are removed (which must be cooked thoroughly until soft to be digestible).
Is soaking oats overnight in raw milk instead of water acceptable before thoroughly cooking them ?
They should be soaked in water with whey, ACV or lemon juice. Not milk which has lactose in it which will inhibit the breakdown of the antinutrients considerably.
Aren’t rolled oats precooked?
Which makes them safe to eat raw
Part of the processing of the oat groats into rolled oats involves heat but they are not thoroughly cooked in water (until soft) nor were they soaked or sprouted first.
What about organic oat milk; is that bad too? (I know there are pesticides in non-organic oat milk.)
It is not digestible unfortunately not to mention the totally toxic packaging. I talk more about it here https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/homemade-oat-milk/