Does grinding oatmeal destroy the positive GI traits of the food?

[donkeypuncher900]

I have read about people grinding oatmeal in a coffee grinder in order to more effectively add it to shakes. This seems idea, oatmeal is cheap, known for having a great GI rating (slow to breakdown, no insulin spike) and its a nice source of calories. However, when you grind up the oatmeal into powder in a coffee grinder, you necessarily VASTLY increase the surface area of it by making it all little powder peices instead of big chunks. I have to think that this raises the GI a whole bunch... maybe not as much as just eating sugar, but it has to be close!

So my question, does anyone have any specific info on how grinding up oatmeal affects its nutritional value and the insulin released after eating it? I think a lot of bro's may have been pounding 600 calories of oatmeal in the morning and are actually working against their goals by grinding it up. Thanks for any and all info

 

[donkeypuncher900]

something from this Harvard school of public health article would suggest grinding raises GI, I am still hoping to find out it doesnt raise it too much. I would love to be able to continue taking the ground oats with a shake as they are a great way to increase calories, but I am not particularly interested in increasing high GI carbs....

see link under "Physical form" heading:
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/carbohydrates.html

 

[lacoste]

I would say that grinding up the oats would certainly cause you to digest them much quicker, so be default it would raise the GI. Once they are ground up its less for your own body to do this would speed up digestion. I would imagine that this would be true for any food that you ground up, your skipping a step that your stomach would do. But as far as actual studies that have tested blood before and after, I dont know of any. Honestly if you know anyone who is a diabetic you could use there little monitor and check your blood sugar before and after doing it both ways. It only takes a second and just a little prick on your finger. If you eat the exact same meal except one has ground up oats and the other doesn't, and you dont see a difference in blood sugar I would say you are good to go.

 

[donkeypuncher900]

I don't want to share a device with some one else that involves blood =) That is an excellent idea though, i think I might look into that...the readers are like 25$ at walgreens so makes sense just to buy one. I am sure there could be some other uses for it as well