WINNIPEG, Man. — In a laboratory at the University of Manitoba, Lovemore Malunga held up a Ziploc bag containing a whitish-light brown powder. He opened the bag and carefully poured the powder into a small, plastic container.
A master’s student, Vanessa Alexander, placed the container on a scale. She adjusted the scale to account for the weight of the container and took a reading.
The powder weighed 139 grams.
However, that small amount may soon become a big deal for Canada’s oat industry.
The substance in the container is oat protein. It could potentially compete with soy, whey, casein and pea protein for a share of the US$20 billion global market for protein bars, drinks, supplements and ingredients.
“It’s a relatively new area…. The big companies (have) focused a lot on pea protein. Now it’s shifting to oats,” said Sijo Joseph, an Agriculture Canada research scientist, who works in Winnipeg and Morden, Man.
“Oat protein has a very neutral flavour, which opens up a lot of formulations.”
On a Thursday afternoon in December, Joseph and other Agriculture Canada experts spoke about oat protein at the Richardson Centre for Food Technology and Research at the U of M.
Joseph studies the compounds in cereals and other crops that could provide a benefit for human health. He was trained by Nancy Ames, a retired Agriculture Canada scientist who conducted research on beta glucan fibre in oats.
In the late 1990s, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said that beta glucan lowers blood cholesterol in humans, making oats the first food with an official health claim.
Health Canada followed up with a similar decision in 2010.
That’s why Cheerios and other oat cereals have a heart health claim on the box.
Joseph and his fellow Ag Canada scientists are building upon Ames’ work by focusing on oat protein and the potential benefits for heart health.
Most nutritionists already know that oats are healthy, possibly a super food, but part of that reputation is anecdotal.
In a boardroom inside the Richardson Centre, Malunga shared one of those anecdotes.
The Agriculture Canada scientist, who studies the functional and nutritional properties of pulse crops and cereals, mentioned a book on human nutrition.
In the introduction, the author compared the typical diets of Scotland and Ireland.
Scots love oats, and porridge is almost a national dish.
In Ireland, oats are traditionally fed to horses.
“That explains (the book noted) why one of the countries have stronger men and the other country has stronger horses,” Malunga said, and then laughed.
Joseph may be an expert in oats and the healthy compounds in the cereal crop, but he’s not a fan of oatmeal.
He doesn’t like the “viscous” or sticky texture of porridge. Instead, he prefers an Asian dish called Upma, which contains oats, vegetables, peas, chillies, nuts and spices.
“It’s very tasty. I eat (it) every single day,” he said.
“I don’t want to eat wet porridge.”
However, Joseph didn’t share his feelings about oatmeal at the Prairie Oat Growers Association annual meeting, held Dec. 6 in Winnipeg.
In his presentation at the POGA meeting, he spoke about Agriculture Canada research on oat protein and the health effects in lab rats.
His research has found that rats who ate oat protein had lower blood cholesterol levels than rats who did not. And, importantly, the chemical compounds that lower cholesterol are distinct from the beta glucan fibre in oats.
“It works in a totally different way … (more) like statins (drugs used to lower cholesterol),” Joseph said.
“It inhibits the cholesterol (formation) in the body.”
That finding is significant because it could lead to a health claim that’s specific to oat protein.
That outcome, though, is a long way down the road.
Joseph, Malunga and other Agriculture Canada scientists need to test the oat protein in human health trials.
It could take a year to formulate an oat protein product that will be used in trials. Then they have to recruit subjects, conduct the trials and analyze the results.
However, it could be worth the effort because the data from the rat studies looks very promising, Joseph said.
In the last five years or longer, a massive amount of private and public capital in Canada has flowed into pea protein.
Roquette, a French firm, constructed a $500 million pea processing plant in Portage la Prairie, Man., and the federal government invested $100 million — mostly in loans — to help build the Merit Foods plant in Winnipeg. It was supposed to produce protein from canola and peas, but the company went bankrupt in 2023.
Peas produce a healthy protein that can be used in multiple foods, including substitutes for meat. However, demand for plant-based “meat” has softened in the last couple of years.
Also, pea protein isn’t for everyone.
“The pulse proteins have sensory issues. It has that beany (flavour). Some people don’t like that taste,” Joseph said.
“What we hear… and we have tested it, (oats) is very neutral.”
There could be an opportunity to combine pea and oat protein to make a plant-based protein that checks the boxes for both nutrition and taste.
“If you mix pulse protein with oat protein, you get the complete amino acids,” Joseph said.
Roquette may have reached the same conclusion.
In 2022, Protein Industries Canada announced $4.1 million in funding to help Roquette and Oat Canada, an oat food company in Toronto, manufacture a protein from oats.
“Through our partnership with Oat Canada and the support of Protein Industries Canada, we are well positioned to continue our innovation and research on oat protein with the goal of meeting consumer demand for new and exciting plant-based food options,” said Leon Zhou, head of research and development for Roquette Americas.
As noted in a news release, Roquette will develop Canada’s first “oat protein ingredient,” and Oat Canada will test the protein in its products.
Oats are well positioned to compete with dairy protein and soy, which dominate the market for protein supplements, bars and other foods.
Oats are gluten-free, they have a neutral taste and the protein may lower cholesterol.
“(And) it’s a very functional protein. It could be added to a lot of food products,” Joseph said.
“Once they figure out the other commercializing (details), it will open up a lot of opportunity for oat protein.”
In 2023, Vantage Market Research predicted that the global market for protein supplements could reach US $32.5 billion by 2030. The products are typically used by athletes, bodybuilders and ordinary people wanting to increase their protein intake.
“These supplements are available in various forms, including powders, bars and ready-to-drink beverages, and are made from a variety of protein sources such as whey, casein, soy, pea and hemp,” Vantage says.
There should be room for oats in that market because many consumers already like oat-based foods.
Demand for oat milk, for instance, has exploded in the last five or six years. It has become the No. 2 dairy alternative, after almond milk.
U.S. oat milk sales were $660 million in the 52-week period from July 2022 to July 2023, says agfundernews.com.
It may have natural advantages, such as taste and familiarity, but oats contain less protein than soy and peas.
Oat protein ranges from 15 to 22 percent.
“The question (is), how cheap will it be?” Malunga said.
Processors and scientists will need to find uses for the other components in oat kernels: the starch, the oil and the fibre.
The Ag Canada scientists in Winnipeg may have identified a potential market for the starch.
In a lab at the Richardson Centre for Food Technology and Research, Malunga held up a bunch of long, thin noodles. They are oat starch noodles, developed by scientists at the centre.
Starch noodles are popular in Asian cuisine, particularly in China and Korea.
The noodles made in the Winnipeg lab could become an alternative to noodles made from sweet potato starch, mung beans or rice starch.
There may be other uses for oats that haven’t been discovered yet.
In the meantime, Joseph, Malunga and others with Ag Canada will continue their work on oat protein and whether it can improve cardio-vascular health.
“I’ve been working on functional foods and food ingredients … the last 15 to 16 years. I’ve never seen a protein molecule having that much of an outcome, with these health impacts,” Joseph said.
“From a research point of view… I really want to take it (oats) to the next level.”
