In a laboratory at the University of Manitoba, Lovemore Malunga held up a Ziploc bag containing a whitish-light brown powder. He opened the bag and carefully poured the powder into a small, plastic container.
A master’s student, Vanessa Alexander, placed the container on a scale. She adjusted the scale to account for the weight of the container and took a reading.
The powder weighed 139 grams.
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However, that small amount may soon become a big deal for Canada’s oat industry.
The substance in the container is oat protein. It could potentially compete with soy, whey, casein and pea protein for a share of the US$20 billion global market for protein bars, drinks, supplements and ingredients.
“It’s a relatively new area…. The big companies (have) focused a lot on pea protein. Now it’s shifting to oats,” said Sijo Joseph, an Agriculture Canada research scientist, who works in Winnipeg and Morden, Man.
“Oat protein has a very neutral flavour, which opens up a lot of formulations.”
On a Thursday afternoon in December, Joseph and other Agriculture Canada experts spoke about oat protein at the Richardson Centre for Food Technology and Research at the U of M.
Joseph studies the compounds in cereals and other crops that could provide a benefit for human health. He was trained by Nancy Ames, a retired Agriculture Canada scientist who conducted research on beta glucan fibre in oats.
In the late 1990s, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said that beta glucan lowers blood cholesterol in humans, making oats the first food with an official health claim.
Health Canada followed up with a similar decision in 2010.
That’s why Cheerios and other oat cereals have a heart health claim on the box.
Joseph and his fellow Ag Canada scientists are building upon Ames’ work by focusing on oat protein and the potential benefits for heart health.
Most nutritionists already know that oats are healthy, possibly a super food, but part of that reputation is anecdotal.
In a boardroom inside the Richardson Centre, Malunga shared one of those anecdotes.
The Agriculture Canada scientist, who studies the functional and nutritional properties of pulse crops and cereals, mentioned a book on human nutrition.
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