Quaker Oats Center Of Excellence Advances Benefits of Oats

CHICAGOThe Quaker Oats Company, a division of PepsiCo, today announced the creation of The Quaker Oats Center of Excellence, a cross-functional entity focused on elevating the relevance and benefits of oats through science, agriculture and innovation. The Center is part of Quaker's commitment to uncovering new benefits and applications of this unique grain to help people optimize their health and inspire well-being.

"Oat science has already revealed important benefits such as heart health and satiety, but we've only scratched the surface when it comes to the power of the oat and all it can do," said Marianne O'Shea, Ph.D., Director, Quaker Oats Center of Excellence. "As consumers are seeking easy, delicious and sustainable ways to achieve these benefits through their diets, it is more important than ever that we focus on complementary oat research and innovation."

The Center will maintain an advisory board comprised of experts in nutrition science, agricultural science and sustainability, product innovation and consumer insights.

A growing body of science has linked whole-grain oats to a variety of benefits from heart health to digestive health. Research by the Center will continue to investigate the benefits of oats, while enabling product development partners to translate these benefits into convenient and tasty solutions for consumers.

Oats help save soil by minimizing erosion and requiring less tilling, preserving water as they flourish with less water than most crops and helping protect the earth by reducing the need for herbicides by developing a dense cover that shades competing weeds. Quaker Oats byproducts also are used as a renewable energy source instead of coal at The University of Iowa. The agricultural sustainability of the oat will be another area explored by the Center.