Updated 4 January 2024
Common origins
- Europe, Asia
Botanical classification
- Kingdom: Plantae
- Division: Magnoliophyta
- Class: Liliopsida
- Order: Cyperales
- Family: Poaceae
- Genus: Avena
Components
- Minerals: Silica, Iron, Manganese, Zinc
- Polyphenols: Isoflavones
- Triterpenic saponosides
- Indole alkaloid: gramine
- Oligosaccharides, polysaccharides: including glucans (soluble fibre)
Parts used
- Seeds, bran, flour or flakes (without bran), but also green aerial parts
Organoleptic properties
- Odour: pleasant, reminiscent of hazelnut (bran)
- Taste: rather bitter (bran)
Properties
Internal use
- Fortifying
- Remineralising
- Strengthens muscle function during training and exercise
- Mild thyroid stimulant
- Cholesterol-lowering
- Lipid lowering
- Mild diuretic
- Mild estrogenic effect
- Satiating (bran)
- Accelerates transit (bran)
- Mild sedative, sleep regulator
External use
- Calming, soothing
- Antipruritic
Indications
Internal use
- Asthenia, fatigue
- Convalescence
- State of demineralisation
- Thyroid insufficiency
- Pre-menopause and menopause
- Nervous disorders
- Insomnia
- Prevention of cardiovascular disease
- Diabetes
- Obesity
- Constipation
- Withdrawal from addictions (tobacco, opium, tranquillisers)
External use
Skin problems:
Precautions / Contraindications
- No known toxicity.
- Not recommended for people with a gluten allergy.
- Oat bran should be taken at least 2 hours apart from any medication, especially those prescribed for high cholesterol.
How to use / Current dose
Internal use
- As mother tincture or liquid extract of fresh plant (aerial parts): up to 5 ml 3 times a day for nervous fatigue, 50 ml 3 times a day at the beginning of a meal for smoking cessation.
- The mother tincture is stimulating in the morning and calming in the evening.
- In flour or flakes (seeds): for remineralisation in the diet.
- Infusion: 3 g in a cup of water, infuse for 10-15 minutes and drink before bedtime to regulate sleep in cases of insomnia.
- Oat Cataplasm
External use
- In the bath (powder or infusion): for eczema, itching, etc.
Find out more about gramine
Gramine, which appears to be responsible for the sedative effect, has a molecular structure similar to dopamine and serotonin, so it may help to break an addiction.
Additional information
Habitat and botanical description
It is a cultivated annual cereal, 50 cm to 1 m high. The leaves are long, flat and sheathed. The flowers are grouped in panicles of loose spikelets. The fruit is a brownish-yellow, elongated, mealy caryopsis surrounded by glumellae that remain closed.
It likes warmth and sunlight and needs water.
Harvest time
The green parts above ground are harvested before flowering.
Mythology / History / Anecdotes and traditional virtues
Oats have been used for thousands of years, with traces dating back to the Bronze Age in Europe. It was cultivated and used as food for humans and animals (especially horses), but also as a medicinal plant. In the Middle Ages it formed the basis of the diet because of its high nutritional value and fortifying properties. At the same time, it was sometimes used to stuff mattresses to prevent rheumatism. In the 17th century, Nicolas Culpeper used oatmeal (mixed with laurel oil) as a compress to relieve people suffering from scabies or leprosy. At that time it was also used to treat nervous disorders and rheumatism.
It has also been used in Asia for a long time, and Ayurvedic medicine recommends an extract of the aerial parts for opium addiction.
Oats are still recommended today for their fortifying and re-mineralising properties.