Oat bran and heart risk in mental disorder patients
What it found
In 45 patients with mental disorders taking antipsychotics, oat bran supplements improved waist-to-height ratio and lowered total cholesterol and triglycerides during the 180 days of use.
Levels went back up after the oat bran stopped.
What they found
Studies in people
Heart risk at the start
More than two thirds of the patients had high heart risk based on belly fat. 46.7% were overweight and 31.1% had metabolic syndrome.
Belly fat measure improved
The waist-to-height ratio improved significantly during the 180 days of oat bran use. Body mass index and waist circumference did not change significantly.
Cholesterol and triglycerides
Total cholesterol fell in the first 90 days of oat bran use. Triglycerides fell between the start and 90 days, and between 90 and 180 days. Blood sugar did not change during supplementation.
After oat bran stopped
180 days after the oat bran was stopped, total cholesterol, blood sugar and triglycerides all rose again. HDL-cholesterol returned to its earlier level.
Metabolic syndrome numbers
After 180 days of oat bran, 48.9% of patients had metabolic syndrome. 180 days after the oat bran stopped, 28.9% had it.
What the authors conclude
“Oat bran supplementation was effective in improving triglyceride, total cholesterol and HDL-cholesterol levels, suggesting that it is a therapeutic option for cardiovascular risk control in patients with psychiatric disorders.”
Also in their conclusions
- They conclude that oat bran supplementation was effective in improving triglyceride, total cholesterol and HDL-cholesterol levels.
- They suggest it is a therapeutic option for cardiovascular risk control in patients with psychiatric disorders.
- They call for further studies with larger numbers of patients, longer supplementation and different amounts of oat bran to define a specific protocol.
How it was done
Patients with schizophrenia on long-term antipsychotics have a higher risk of metabolic problems and heart disease. The authors wanted to see if a cheap, easy fibre supplement could help, since diet and exercise changes are hard for these patients to follow.
They gave 20 g of oat bran mixed with milk at breakfast to 45 patients living in a psychiatric institution in Brazil, on top of their usual hospital diet, for 180 days. They measured body measurements and blood fats at the start, at 90 days, at 180 days, and 180 days after the oat bran stopped.
What it can’t tell you
- This was a before-and-after study with no control group, so it cannot prove that oat bran caused the changes seen.
- The study was small and lasted a limited time, so the results may not apply to other patients or longer use.
- The patients' diet changed during the study, which may have affected the results.
The paper
- Title
- Oat bran in cardiovascular risk control in mental disorder
- Type
- Study
- Evidence
- Studies in people
- Summarised from
- Full text
- Licence
- CC BY. Words in quotation marks are the authors’; the rest is our summary.
- Cite
- Oliveira ECD, Barbosa GC, Corrente JE, Komuro JE, Papini SJ (2020). Oat bran in cardiovascular risk control in mental disorder. Revista brasileira de enfermagem. doi:10.1590/0034-7167-2019-0277Free full textPubMed 32490954DOI
Summary written 26 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error