With the increasing interest in functional foods and nutraceuticals, oats (Avena sativa L.) have received special attention because of their dietary fiber contents, and specially of their beta-glucans. The mostly soluble dietary fibers (1,3)(1,4)-beta-D-glucans, reduce serum cholesterol in individuals with hypercholesterolemia. There are studies about the causes of variation in the contents of this fiber in oats, however, very little is known about Brazilian cultivars. The objective of this work was to verify if there were differences in the beta-glucan contents among brazilian cultivars and if there was variation in the percentage of this fiber due to the crop year. The cultivars IAC7, UFRGS14, UPF16 and UPF17 (3 samples each), and even three more samples of cultivar IAC7 for each year (97 and 98), were analyzed according to the AACC methods for beta-glucans. The mean content was 6.50% (IAC7), 4.30% (UFRGS14), 3.51% (UPF16) and 3.78% (UPF17), with standard error (S.E.) of ±0.084 and variation coefficient (C.V.) of 7.89%. A significant effect of the cultivars (p=0.03) and a great variability among the samples (p=0.0001) was observed. IAC7 had a mean beta-glucan content of 5.11% for 1997 and 6.50% for 1998 (S.E.±0.14; C.V.=10.53%) and a significant effect for the crop year was observed.
oats; dietary fiber; beta-glucans; functional foods
