Comprehensive nutritional analysis of 95 oat cultivars reveals large variability in nutritional profile: protein, starch, fat, β-glucan and fibre

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dc.contributor.authorLampoglou, Nefeli
dc.contributor.authorRahman, Atikur
dc.contributor.authorMullins, Ewen
dc.contributor.authorSahin, Aylin W.
dc.contributor.authorMcCabe, Cathal
dc.contributor.authorArendt, Elke
dc.contributor.authorBrodkorb, André
dc.contributor.authorFreitas, Daniela
dc.contributor.funderFiona Doohan
dc.contributor.funderInterreg Ireland-Wales
dc.contributor.funderUniversity College Dublin, UCD
dc.contributor.funderTeagasc Crop Science Department
dc.contributor.funderIrish Research Council, 21/PATHS/9418
dc.contributor.funderIris Research Council|21/PATHS/9418
dc.date.accessioned2026-09-09T14:17:01Z
dc.date.available2026-09-09T14:17:01Z
dc.date.issued2026-03-17
dc.description.abstractNutritional composition determines whether oats can deliver established health benefits like cholesterol reduction, which requires specific β-glucan thresholds unachievable by consuming a standard serving of typical commercial cultivars. Current yield-focused breeding overlooks the substantial nutritional diversity within the species, limiting consumer access to nutritional profiles optimised for different nutritional targets and leaving the potential for enhanced health outcomes untapped. This study characterised the nutritional composition of 95 Irish-grown oat cultivars and compared field (2024) versus glasshouse (2023) grown samples from 21 cultivars. Key components showed wide variation, with fat displaying the largest range and starch the most consistency, with concentrations ranging as follows: protein 11.5–22.9%, starch 47.2–65.3%, fat 2.4–10.0%, ash 1.4–2.9%, β-glucan 2.8–6.6%, and calculated fibre-rich fraction 8.5–26.9% (dry matter basis). Glasshouse-grown samples had significantly higher protein, fibre-rich fraction, and ash than field-grown counterparts (p < 0.001). These findings reveal untapped potential for breeding oats with targeted nutritional profiles to support dietary recommendations and food industry applications. (Figure presented.)en
dc.description.sponsorshipThe authors gratefully acknowledge the Teagasc Crop Science Department (Carlow, Ireland) for kindly providing the oat samples used in this study. They also wish to thank Fiona Doohan (University College Dublin, Ireland) and Catherine Howarth (Aberystwyth University, Wales, UK) for kindly providing oat seeds for the trials. The authors further acknowledge Karen Hussey (Food Industry Development Department, Ashtown, Ireland) for her valuable assistance with the setup and validation of the fat content determination method. Graphical abstract created using BioRender under publication license (CC BY 4.0). Finally, the authors acknowledge the use of an artificial intelligence tool for improving the cohesion and clarity of the manuscript and associated code. This study, including the salaries of N.L. and D.F., was supported by Research Ireland (previously Science Foundation Ireland and the Irish Research Council) under the Pathway Programme (Grant number 21/PATHS/9418). Additionally, a subset of the provided seeds used in this study was part of the Healthy Oats project, which was funded by Interreg Ireland-Wales. The funders played no role in study design, data collection, analysis and interpretation of data, or the writing of this manuscript.
dc.description.versionPublished Version
dc.format.extent14
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.articleid145
dc.identifier.authororcidLampoglou, Nefeli
dc.identifier.authororcidRahman, Atikur
dc.identifier.authororcidMullins, Ewen
dc.identifier.authororcidSahin, Aylin W.§0000-0002-1138-6063
dc.identifier.authororcidMcCabe, Cathal
dc.identifier.authororcidArendt, Elke§0000-0001-8414-7701
dc.identifier.authororcidBrodkorb, André
dc.identifier.authororcidFreitas, Daniela
dc.identifier.citationLampoglou, N, Rahman, A, Mullins, E, Sahin, A W, McCabe, C, Arendt, E, Brodkorb, A & Freitas, D 2026, 'Comprehensive nutritional analysis of 95 oat cultivars reveals large variability in nutritional profile: protein, starch, fat, β-glucan and fibre', npj Science of Food, vol. 10, no. 1, 145, pp. 1-14. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41538-026-00800-z
dc.identifier.doi10.1038/s41538-026-00800-z
dc.identifier.endpage14
dc.identifier.issn2396-8370
dc.identifier.issued1
dc.identifier.journaltitlenpj Science of Food
dc.identifier.startpage1
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/19212
dc.identifier.volume10
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherNature Publishing Group
dc.relation.urihttps://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105038683525
dc.rights© 2026, the Author(s). This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
dc.rights.accessrightsopen access
dc.rights.licensenameAttribution 4.0 International
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.statusPeer reviewed
dc.subjectCrop science
dc.subjectYield-focused breeding
dc.subject[FoodNutritionalSciences]
dc.titleComprehensive nutritional analysis of 95 oat cultivars reveals large variability in nutritional profile: protein, starch, fat, β-glucan and fibreen
dc.typeArticle (peer-reviewed)
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