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Development of a nutritionally enhanced plant-based milk alternative beverage from Canadian oats and study of its hypoglycemic effects

The 2016-2019 project focused on the development of a ready-to-drink oat-based beverage that is fortified with omegas, vitamin D, and other nutritional ingredients that are essential to the diet of cancer patients.

The current project is a continuation of Dr. Chen’s previous work to address industry interest in using fractionated oat ingredients as a source of food product innovation. Research indicates that from a diabetic management perspective, a mere 1% decrease in glucose levels among diabetics can lead to a 21% decrease in death and a 37% decrease in heart attacks. Therefore, developing convenient diabetic-friendly drinks can help reduce the cost of treating people in Canada.

The specific objectives in the next two years are to:

  1. Study competitive advantages of Canadian oats for development of healthy oat milk products; special emphasis will be placed on oat varieties that are high in yield, protein and beta-glucan.
  2. Optimize processing to enhance recovery of oat nutritional components into a nutritionally enhanced oat milk drink with significantly improved protein and beta-glucan content.
  3. Study peptides with anti-diabetic effects from oat protein for functional oat drink development and evaluate the drink hypoglycemic effect through in vivo test in diabetic animal model.

Project Details

  • Listing ID: 4562
  • Project Status In Progress
  • Projects With Results Projects with Results
  • Principal Investigators Dr. Lingyun Chen at the University of Alberta
  • Project Dates March 2021 – Feb 2023
  • Abstract/Summary The 2016-2019 project focused on the development of a ready-to-drink oat-based beverage that is fortified with omegas, vitamin D, and other nutritional ingredients that are essential to the diet of cancer patients.

    This project is a continuation of Dr. Chen’s previous work to address industry interest in using fractionated oat ingredients as a source of food product innovation. Research indicates that from a diabetic management perspective, a mere 1% decrease in glucose levels among diabetics can lead to a 21% decrease in death and a 37% decrease in heart attacks. Therefore, developing convenient diabetic-friendly drinks can help reduce the cost of treating people in Canada.

    The specific objectives in the next two years are to:
    1. Study competitive advantages of Canadian oats for development of healthy oat milk products; special emphasis will be placed on oat varieties that are high in yield, protein and beta-glucan.
    2. Optimize processing to enhance recovery of oat nutritional components into a nutritionally enhanced oat milk drink with significantly improved protein and beta-glucan content.
    3. Study peptides with anti-diabetic effects from oat protein for functional oat drink development and evaluate the drink hypoglycemic effect through in vivo test in diabetic animal model.