Avenacol biscuits by Cuétara are advertised, both in advertisements and on the product packaging, with a message according to which their consumption helps reduce cholesterol, thanks to their content in oat beta-glucans. A new evaluation by Nutrimedia, which provides scientific evidence related to the claim “oat beta-glucan has been shown to lower/reduce blood cholesterol”, has concluded that this message is probably true. However, this does not mean that lowering cholesterol has a direct beneficial impact on cardiovascular health, for example, through a reduction in heart attacks or strokes.

Nutrimedia is a project of the Iberoamerican Cochrane Center and the UPF Scientific Communication Observatory that scientifically evaluates the veracity of messages on food and health. In its latest assessment, it found that little is known about the effect of beta-glucans on “bad” and “good” cholesterol. The results of the most recent studies show that beta-glucans could reduce “bad” cholesterol and that they could have no appreciable effect on “good” cholesterol, but the degree of certainty of both results is low and there is little confidence that they are true.

Pablo Alonso, Nutrimedia scientific coordinator: “the most relevant thing would be a reduction in bad and an increase in good cholesterol; these effects are not confirmed because the available results are uncertain”

 “The important thing for people is not so much cholesterol as the risk of heart attack and other diseases. Cholesterol levels are not a key outcome and, in any case, the most relevant thing would be a reduction in bad and an increase in good cholesterol; these effects are not confirmed because the available results are uncertain”, explains Pablo Alonso, Nutrimedia scientific coordinator and director of the GRADE Centre in Barcelona, the scientific organization that has developed the GRADE system, which is the international standard for estimating the degree of certainty of evidence in health and is used by Nutrimedia.

The message “Avenacol helps reduce cholesterol 100% naturally”, which is the main message that appears on the biscuit packaging, “is probably true to the extent that Avenacol contains beta-glucans and that it refers to total cholesterol, but with the evidence analysed it cannot be affirmed that it is a 100% natural product”, explains Javier Bracchiglione, a researcher at the Iberoamerican Cochrane Center and lead author of the evaluation.

The evaluation conducted by Nutrimedia has found that studies on the effects of beta-glucans on health have focused on indirect outcomes (the benefits and harms measured in studies), such as levels of cholesterol and other lipids in the blood, Bracchiglione explains. “These outcomes have allowed us to analyse Avenacol’s messages, but the absence of important outcomes, such as cardiovascular mortality or the incidence of heart attacks, prevents us from knowing better the real impact of beta-glucans on health”, he adds.

The intake of oatmeal beta-glucans can reduce cholesterol, but it also implies a considerable intake of sugars and calories through the consumption of these biscuits

In relation to the information supplied by Avenacol, according to which “a serving of biscuits with Avenacol (50 g, equivalent to 6 biscuits of the Rustic variety, or 3 of the Digestive variety) provide 1 g of beta-glucan”, it should be borne in mind that getting an intake of oatmeal beta-glucans that can reduce cholesterol also implies a considerable intake of sugars and calories through the consumption of these cookies.

The Nutrimedia evaluation method

In its different studies, Nutrimedia uses an evaluation method to assess the veracity of messages about food and its results are always accompanied by the degree of certainty of the available research on each issue examined. This degree of certainty (quality of evidence or confidence in the results) depends basically on the type of study design and the rigour with which it has been carried out, but it is also taken into account that the results of the studies should be sufficient, consistent (similar in different studies), precise and applicable to the question posed.

More information:

Full evaluation and technical report

About Nutrimedia

Nutrimedia is a project of the Science Communication Observatory of Pompeu Fabra University (OCC-UPF) and the Iberoamerican Cochrane Center (CCIb), which scientifically evaluates the degree of truthfulness of some messages about food and health (news, advertisements, myths and questions from the public). The results of the evaluations, which are published on the project website, are intended to provide scientific data and criteria to help citizens make informed decisions concerning nutrition. The OCC-UPF is a special research centre for the study of the transfer of scientific and technological knowledge to society. The CCIb is one of the international centres of Cochrane, a global organization whose systematic reviews have helped to transform decision-making on health interventions.