You may already know that oatmeal helps lower cholesterol. But you may not realize just how good a job it does.

It’s a fact: No matter what health organization is doing the test, whenever the subject turns to cholesterol-lowering foods, oatmeal tops the list.

Studies published by the Journal of the American Medical Association and the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition have shown that eating oatmeal regularly lowers “bad” LDL cholesterol just as well as drug therapy.

But that’s not all; in addition to lowering cholesterol, eating oatmeal lowers blood pressure and may help prevent diabetes.

And oatmeal is not only good for your heart. Like most of the other foods on this list, oatmeal ranks low on the glycemic index, which is good news for people with diabetes.

Hot oatmeal is a great way to start the day, but there are also other ways to get your daily dose of oats.

You can substitute oat flour for wheat flour in recipes, or use it instead of bread crumbs when
baking fish.