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Frank M. Sacks, MD; Janis Swain, RD
Brigham and Women's Hospital Boston, Mass

JAMA. 1991;266(8):1079.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.

—There are several troubling aspects to the recent article by Davidson et al¹ on oat products. In their study, the authors purport to show a dose-response effect of 28, 56, and 84 g (1,2, and 3 oz, respectively) of oat products per day on serum cholesterol levels. Unfortunately, proper control was lacking in the authors' design, which renders their conclusion untenable.

To show an independent action of oats, it is critical to use for a control the identical amount of a low-fiber cereal product, such as refined wheat. The authors actually compared 28, 56, and 84 g of oat products (28 g is equivalent to one serving of oatmeal or oat bran) with 28 g of wheat. The only well-controlled comparison in this study, 28 g of oats vs 28 g of wheat, showed no statistically significant effect of the oats. Incredibly, the conclusion of the . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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