Which nutrients are contained in porridge?

It’s no secret that porridge is a healthy breakfast. The breakfast trend does not only look good on Instagram pictures, but also is good for your body.

We took a closer look at porridge, which is also called oatmeal. You will find out in this blog post which important nutrients you can find in the delicious oat breakfast and how they work in your body.

Does porridge contain many carbohydrates?

Carbohydrates should be a fixed component of a balanced diet and are the primary

energy suppliers for our body. Porridge consists mainly of finely ground oat flakes, which mostly contain long-chain carbohydrates (polysaccharides or multiple sugars).

These provide the body with energy longer than other carbohydrates (monosaccharides and disaccharides), which are contained in white bread, for example. This can be explained the following way: Long-chain carbohydrates are only gradually converted into sugar during the digestive process and constantly release new energy to the body.

This way you stay full longer and your blood sugar level only rises slowly. A sharp rise in the blood sugar level is primarily responsible for a rapid storage of fats.

Does porridge provide a lot of fibre?

Porridge contains particularly high levels of fibre. The high fibre content ensures that you stay full for a particularly long time after breakfast. Dietary fibre is mainly found in plants such as fruit and vegetables (soluble fibre) or grains and legumes (insoluble fibre). According to nutritionists, the daily requirement is around 30 grams.

Fibre stimulates your digestion and helps relieve constipation. A fibre-rich diet can effectively prevent digestive problems. However, remember to drink enough when eating a lot of fibre. This is important because they need enough liquid to swell. It is only through swelling that the intestinal movement is stimulated.

The fibre contained in oats has an additional advantage: The so-called beta-glucans have been shown to help maintain normal blood cholesterol levels and can even reduce them from 3g per day. Beta-glucans also reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease. 

Is porridge a good source of protein?

Porridge contains about 10g of protein per 100g and is therefore a really good protein supplier. Oat bran even has 17g proteins per 100g. Protein is not only an important nutrient for muscle building and metabolism – without it we could not survive. Our body needs the amino acids formed by protein for vital processes in our body. 

Besides muscle building, they are involved in the maintenance of our organs, bones, skin, hair and nails. They are also components of cells, hormones and enzymes. Also, our immune system cannot function properly without proteins. 

Proteins are often associated with products that comes from animals such as meat, fish, eggs and cheese. But there are also plenty of vegetable protein sources such as beans, lentils, peas, nuts, seeds and grains.

Is there a lot of fat in porridge?

When you think of fat, words like “unhealthy” or “gain weight” usually come to mind. When actually fat is one of the most important food components of all. We need fats to absorb important vitamins and store energy for cell growth.

However, you should make sure that a large part of the fat consumed with food consists of unsaturated fatty acids. The human body cannot produce these itself. For a balanced diet, the body needs about 65g of fat at 2000 kcal, of which only one third should consist of saturated fatty acids.

100g porridge contains about 10g fat. The fats in oats consist of almost 80% unsaturated fatty acids and thus contribute to a healthy diet. Unsaturated fatty acids are also found in vegetable oils, nuts and seeds, for example.

Oatmeal contains many vitamins

The oat flakes in porridge also contain some important vitamins and minerals. Oats, for example, are rich in vitamin B1, vitamin K, vitamin E and biotin.

Minerals in porridge

Our body is dependent on us taking in minerals through our food, as it cannot produce them itself. Porridge or oats contain many of these important substances such as iron, calcium, magnesia, phosphorus and zinc. All these minerals help our body to stay healthy.

Iron is mainly important for the transport and storage of oxygen in the body. Calcium contributes to bone health. It is also important for the heart, lungs and kidneys. We need magnesium for normal muscle function. And zinc promotes cell growth and wound healing.

Would you like to know more about why porridge in the morning is healthy? Then we recommend our article “How healthy porridge really is”.

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