Podcast Episode 258: How Agricultural Practices Influence Nutrition: Quaker Oats from Field to Mill – Dr. Di Wu & Dr. Kristin Stewart

[00:00:01] Announcer: Welcome to Sound Bites, hosted by registered dietitian nutritionist, Melissa Joy Dobbins. Let’s delve into the science, the psychology, and the strategies behind good food and nutrition.

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[00:00:22] Melissa Joy Dobbins: Hello, and welcome to the Sound Bites podcast. Today’s episode is about Quaker Oats’ agricultural science expertise and industry leadership to breed new varieties of oats that deliver for people and the planet. We will discuss key nutrition attributes of oats such as beta-glucan, health benefits provided by this whole grain, and also dig into what plant breeding is and why it’s so important. Also, I just want to let you know that this is part one of a two-part series.

Just want to let our listeners know that this episode is sponsored by the Quaker Oats Company, and we thank them for their sponsorship and support of the podcast. Also, I was invited by today’s sponsor to attend an immersive food and nutrition experience back in the fall of 2022, where I toured the Agricultural Sciences Facility in Rhinelander, Wisconsin and learned about potato and oat breeding, technology, and innovation. I also toured the Culinary Innovation Center in Plano, Texas, where I learned about culinary innovations, sensory science, and a lot of other really cool things.

My guests today are Dr. Di Wu and Dr. Kristin Stewart. Dr. Di Wu is a quantitative breeder and agriculture scientist with Quaker’s parent company, PepsiCo, leading its breeding program for oat and potato varieties for the iconic Quaker and Frito-Lay brands. In this role, she provides expertise and insights related to oat variety development, sustainable food production, and nutritional aspects of oats. Dr. Kristin Stewart is a life scientist, currently serving as the Director of Health and Nutrition Sciences at PepsiCo, where she works closely with all food brands, including Quaker. She holds a PhD in nutritional sciences from the University of Illinois, woo-hoo, with more than 15 years of experience in the food industry. Welcome to the show.

[00:01:44] Dr. Kristin Stewart: Hi, Melissa. Thanks for having us.

[00:01:46] Dr. Di Wu: Thanks for having us, Melissa.

[00:01:47] Melissa: Very excited to have both of you on.

Dr. Wu and Dr. Stewart, please share with our listeners a little bit more about your background and the work that you do. As always, please include any disclosures to note. Let’s start with you, Dr. Wu.

[00:03:05] Dr. Wu: Sure. My work with Quaker allows me to contribute to the development of products that align my passion for promoting responsible agriculture and positive food choices. My background is in plant breeding and genetics. I completed my PhD at Cornell, and my research was focused on understanding the nutritional components of corn kernels such as iron, zinc, and vitamin E synthesis and accumulation. I minored in nutrition science during my PhD, which has influenced my passion for biofortification, and it is one of the major reasons I joined PepsiCo after graduation, because I want to keep breeding for traits that benefit both human and the plants.

[00:03:53] Melissa: Excellent. Thank you. I’m going to come back and ask you a little bit about basically just explaining what biofortification is for our listeners. I know you did sort of a top-line definition there, but it’s somewhat of a new concept for me, so I definitely want to make sure our listeners are more familiar with it after our conversation today. Thank you for that. Dr. Stewart, let’s hear from you.

[00:04:14] Dr. Stewart: Yes, absolutely. Alongside my team here at PepsiCo, I explore the relationships between nutrition, diet, health and performance. We do that through research, and then we speak to the interpretation, communication, and translation of science to support innovation. I’m passionate about helping to address consumers’ health and wellness needs by connecting nutrition science with the great-tasting foods that our consumers really know and love.

[00:04:41] Melissa: Great, excellent. Should I refer to both of you as doctor, or would you prefer I use your first name?

[00:04:47] Dr. Stewart: We’re informal around here, Melissa. You can just refer to me as Kristin. That would be great.

[00:04:51] Dr. Wu: You can call me Di as well.

[00:04:52] Melissa: Okay, because I did meet Di in Rhinelander, and Kristin and I have actually co-presented a webinar together several years ago, so I do feel like we’re kind of on a first name basis, but I want to respect your credentials as well. Thank you. Let’s begin with an overview of the nutritional profile and the benefits of oats. Kristin, would you like to start us off with that?

[00:05:16] Dr. Stewart: Yes, I’d love to. You know, I get a lot of questions about the various forms of oats and oatmeals. I think we should start there.

[00:05:23] Melissa: Okay.

[00:05:24] Dr. Stewart: While oats can be milled several different ways, they all provide similar nutrition. All forms of oats, whether it’s instant, quick, Old Fashioned, or steel-cut, are 100% whole grain, and they’re a good source of fiber. Ounce per ounce, all of these forms of oats provide similar amounts of fiber and vitamins and minerals, so that includes things like vitamin B1 (or thiamin), phosphorus, and magnesium. They’re also complex carbohydrates, which affords many benefits, including the slowed absorption of energy, giving you lasting energy, which has been shown to keep you feeling full for up to two hours. That’s when served with an 8-ounce glass of skim milk.

From a dietary perspective, we also know that oats and oatmeal are supportive for heart health and digestion. The soluble fiber in oatmeal, which we’re going to hopefully touch on a little bit later, may reduce the risk of heart disease when oatmeal is consumed daily as part of a diet that’s low in saturated fat and cholesterol. You need 3 grams of soluble fiber per day to incur that benefit, and one serving of old-fashioned Quaker Oats provides two of those 3 grams. Adding fiber to your diet can also help maintain regularity. Overall, experts would recommend eating at least 25 to 38 grams of fiber per day from a variety of grains and fruits and vegetables to support that healthy digestive system. As a good source of fiber, oats are a great place to start. Not to mention, they’re a fantastic canvas for other fiber-rich foods, so adding in produce and nuts and seeds.

Then beyond heart disease and digestive health, there’s a role for oats to play in diet quality as well. A recent analysis from data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, or as we refer to as NHANES, from 2011 to 2014 showed that oatmeal-containing breakfast was associated with better diet quality and a higher intake of key food groups and nutrients, including whole grains and fiber when we compare that to other breakfasts that children may consume in that 2 to 18-year-old age range. This is in agreement with earlier analyses of 2001 to 2010 NHANES data that suggested that consumers who eat oatmeal also just tend to be healthier in general. They tend to have lower body weight compared to non-consumers, and they tend to have higher intakes of beneficial nutrients like protein, fiber, and vitamins, and then lower intakes of those nutrients to limit like saturated fat and cholesterol.

[00:08:04] Melissa: Okay, excellent. I mean, it’s no secret that oats are a nutrient-dense food and provide a lot of great nutrients, especially fiber. We know that many, if not most people, are lacking fiber, and getting a dose of the soluble fiber is really important. You said the Old Fashioned Oats provide 2 grams of soluble fiber, and we’re aiming for three?

[00:08:27] Dr. Stewart: Yes, 2 grams of those three that you would need.

[00:08:30] Melissa: Wonderful. We know that access to nutritious food is important, so tell me how oats fit into the accessibility equation.

[00:08:38] Dr. Stewart: Yes, absolutely. I agree with you completely. Accessibility is an important topic of conversation today and has been for a long time. Whole grain oats are nutritious, delicious, and versatile ingredients, so it makes them really a useful pantry staple. They’re pretty quick to prepare, making them a really convenient option any time of day, really, but especially during that most frequently skipped meal, which you and I both know is breakfast. We know that there are a number of health benefits associated with eating breakfast, especially when it comes to things like diet quality and weight management.

Quaker provides many flavor choices and forms, as well as options such as protein or reduced sugar, to meet people’s taste and nutrition preferences. There’s just truly a Quaker Oats option for anyone. Because whole grain oats are a non-perishable food item, they offer a way to kind of stock up on those nutritious options that’ll last a little longer, and there’s many ways to enjoy oats. Other than the bowl, they can add flavor and nutrition throughout the day. Myself, I like to eat oats in kind of a savory format later in the day, maybe with dinner. I have a friend of mine who really likes to add them to smoothies, so just a number of options. I think in that future episode, you’re going to be talking to one of our chefs, and he’ll be giving a ton of tips on how to find those unique ways to utilize the mighty oat, if you will.

[00:10:05] Melissa: Beyond the breakfast bowl.

[00:10:07] Dr. Stewart: Absolutely. Be sure to tune in to that one. As you talked about, a key component of good nutrition is access. We have the power of Quaker’s world-class selling and distribution network, and that helps us get our nutritious options into more points of access. Whether that’s supermarkets, or convenience stores, or natural stores, or even in e-commerce.

[00:10:30] Melissa: Yes, absolutely. A lot of people might be turning to the convenience store or the C-store if they live in a food desert and don’t have access to the full-service grocery stores. Great point. Di, let’s bring you into the conversation. Let’s talk about what plant breeding is and why it’s so important.

[00:10:47] Dr. Wu: Of course. I’m going to start by using the definition of plant breeding from my favorite plant breeding textbook here.

[00:10:54] Melissa: Okay.

[00:10:54] Dr. Wu: Plant breeding is an art and a science. It is firmly rooted in the science of genetics, and it is to make permanent and heritable improvement in plants for human needs. So, I’ll start by talking what a variety is. There are many varieties of oat, and plant variations can significantly impact product quality. If you think of apples, which are easier to visualize, there are different apple varieties, and they have different taste, different shape, different color, and certain types of apple will hold up better in baked goods. It’s similar for oats as well. Certain oats are easier to mill into the iconic Old Fashioned flakes, or they have higher amounts of certain nutrients. And yes, two different types of crop varieties can vary in their adaptation to certain growing conditions in their yield, in their quality, and disease resistance.

In our plant breeding program, we combine our team’s extensive knowledge of oat plant traits with traditional breeding methods to create new varieties that have specific and desired characteristics. We map plant genes, which are called genotypes, to specific traits, which are called phenotypes, so that we can breed oat varieties that inherit specific genes from their parents. We do all of our cross-breeding by hand using processes that mimic how plants are pollinated in nature. This is very different from GMO plants, which are created by inserting specific genes from another species directly into a plant’s DNA. In our breeding, we only use genes native to oat plants to get the desired gene combination in our varieties.

Our oat breeding program is one of the most technologically advanced in the world. By pairing traditional breeding methods with cutting-edge technologies such as genomics, bioinformatics, phenotyping, and environmental metrics, we have significantly improved the efficiency of these traditional breeding methods. This is because we can lean on the technology to identify the plants that have the desired traits that we’re looking for much more easily, and we can make smarter choices, smarter decisions about which plants we breed together to create newer varieties.

Our agriculture science team is dedicated to developing proprietary varieties that meet the needs of our consumers, our farmers, and our millers, to help us advance our nutrition goals and enable our oat growers to produce oats for Quaker with less agricultural inputs that are good for the people and good for the planet. For example, one of the goals that we’re trying to breed for is higher protein oats. Oat varieties that have higher amount of protein generally produce lower yield for farmers, unfortunately. Our team at Quaker continues to breed towards varieties that improve yield for a higher protein, so that we have varieties with good yield to support, but they can also support the growers’ livelihood, and higher levels of protein to provide more choices for our consumers.

[00:14:33] Melissa: Excellent. Thank you. I was thinking, as you were talking, from an agricultural standpoint, it makes sense that we want to use fewer resources and have better yield. But from the nutrition standpoint, I’m glad you shared that example that the consumer sees right away, that, “Oh, we’re wanting an oat with higher protein or–” That’s just one example, so thank you. In your introduction, you mentioned that you minored in nutrition science during your PhD education, and that led to the topic of biofortification. Like I said, I know you kind of gave a really top-line definition of that, but could you just break that down a little bit more so that our listeners understand what biofortification is? Especially pertaining to our conversation today, like what the potential benefits are. I just want to make sure to connect the dots.

[00:15:22] Dr. Wu: Sure. Biofortification in essence is the improvement of nutritional quality in the edible parts of the crops through plant breeding. In my opinion, it is a very cost-effective and sustainable way to fight the hidden hunger and provide nutrient-dense and accessible food for everyone. In our example, breeding for protein and breeding for beta-glucan, which I know we’ll touch on later, is part of the biofortification effort.

[00:15:57] Melissa: Okay, great. That helps. Just those are examples of biofortification. Kristin, this is a great segue into talking about beta-glucan. What exactly is it? Am I saying it right, and what does the research show? Because I read it a lot, I don’t know that I’ve said that word very often, but what is the research showing about its role in the diet?

[00:16:18] Dr. Stewart: Yes, absolutely. You said it completely right. It is beta-glucan. Beta-glucan is soluble fiber that is found in oats. Many of the benefits that we see in the research studies related to oats are related to that beta-glucan, so things like cholesterol, satiety, weight management and even prebiotic activity. Studies have shown that beta-glucan helps reduce blood cholesterol levels, so that may be one of the benefits of oats that people are most familiar with. Although that mechanism is complex, in very simple terms, one of the ways that oat soluble fiber (or beta-glucan) impacts cholesterol is by binding some of that cholesterol in the digestive tract and then preventing it from entering the bloodstream. It almost acts like a little cholesterol sponge, if you will.

In addition to that role that beta-glucan can play in helping to reduce blood cholesterol, there’s also emerging evidence that suggests a role for beta-glucan in satiety and weight management. While multiple factors contribute to how much people eat, foods that enhance satiety may help individuals resist some of those environmental cues like sight, or smell, or the variety of food that’s available. Oatmeal can help satisfy hunger and keep you feeling full, and that’s possibly due to the viscosity of that beta-glucan and that unique property that it has.

As part of an overall healthy lifestyle, soluble fiber in oatmeal can also help support healthy weight management. As health and nutrition experts, we know that managing healthy weight is about making sensible choices every day. It’s about getting exercise and being mindful of what we eat, such as including things like whole grains, and fruits, and vegetables, and decent protein. The research has also shown that including 3 grams of soluble fiber from oatmeal as part of a healthy diet may also help. Then lastly, oats can also play a role in helping to support a healthy digestive system. We touched on that a little bit earlier, that oat fiber can act as a prebiotic, promoting the growth of the beneficial bacteria in the gut. It almost acts like a food for those beneficial bacteria. Then studies suggest that 3 grams, again, 3 grams of oat prebiotic fiber daily as part of a balanced diet and a healthy lifestyle may help support digestive health.

[00:18:40] Melissa: Okay, great. That 3 grams, when it says 3 grams of oat prebiotic fiber, you’re just saying the 3 grams you get in that serving of oatmeal is 3 grams of prebiotic fiber?

[00:18:52] Dr. Stewart: Yes, great question. You get 2 grams of soluble fiber, as we talked about, in a bowl of Quaker Old Fashioned Oats, so 2 of those 3 grams that you would need.

[00:19:01] Melissa: Okay, and that’s the prebiotic oat fiber. I just want to make sure it’s the same thing.

[00:19:05] Dr. Stewart: Correct.

[00:19:06] Melissa: Okay.

[00:19:07] Dr. Stewart: Yes. Beta-glucan, prebiotic oat fiber, same thing. Yes.

[00:19:10] Melissa: Excellent. As you were talking, I was like, oh yes, Dr. Julie Miller Jones has been on the podcast, and she loves to talk about beta-glucan, but we haven’t taken a deep dive on it like we are today. Great. That makes me want to circle back with Di, talking about the varieties of oats and how the beta-glucan is identified in those. Can you explain that?

[00:19:31] Dr. Wu: Sure. Currently, Quaker uses about 20 varieties of oats in our products. Quaker’s preferred oat varieties have been thoroughly analyzed by our research and development team, or R&D team, to ensure they contain sufficient beta-glucan per serving to meet our heart-healthy claim threshold, even when growing conditions are poor, so that we can deliver the heart-healthy products every year. Every new variety of Quaker Oats is tested for more than five years in the field in multiple sites to determine how it grows in different environments and with different grower practices. Each year, all those varieties are analyzed with analytical methods to determine the amount of key nutrients like beta-glucan, and only the varieties that meet our criteria and that are adapted to all the growing environments are selected to be advanced into the following year’s testing.

[00:20:32] Melissa: Okay, great. In my notebook that I used on the tour, I have in my notes that the oat genome is much more complex than the human genome, which I found very interesting. How do we know this, and what does this mean exactly?

[00:20:49] Dr. Wu: Yes. In 2020, we partnered with Corteva Agriscience, and we did something that’s never been done before, which is to fully sequence, assemble, and release to the public an entire oat genome. As a review, a genome is the sum of all genetic material within an organism. In this case, it provides the instructions needed to create certain grain characteristics like protein content and fiber levels. Crop genomes can be incredibly complex. The oat genome is actually four times the size of the human genome, so you’re right, Melissa. It is very complex, and understanding and deciphering this complexity is very critical for our breeding program for us to reach faster and bigger breeding gains on how oats are grown, utilized, and consumed. Understanding the oat genome means it’s now possible to use a more targeted approach to create more resilient and productive seeds that can be farmed more sustainably.

[00:21:56] Melissa: Okay, thank you. As you’re talking about the breeding process, we did get to see that on the tour and do a little practice, I don’t even know what it’s called. [chuckles]

[00:22:08] Dr. Wu: Pollination.

[00:22:09] Melissa: Pollination with the tweezers or whatever those were.. It was really interesting. Based on what you’re saying about the different varieties, and I love the apple comparison, but can you just explain a little bit more– I think you’ve touched on this, but just in case, I want to make sure that everybody’s on the same page, why it’s beneficial to have new varieties of seeds and plants.

[00:22:36] Dr. Wu: Of course. We have the capability to breed for an array of traits that help meet the needs for our consumers, our farmers and millers, as well as helping us advance our nutrition and sustainability goals. For example, we want all of our varieties to have consistent quality. Growing conditions will vary year to year, but we need to secure a steady supply chain that provides high-quality oat that meets the criteria for our health claims and delivers an excellent product no matter what, so we actively breed for stability during changing climates.

We also want to breed for higher yield and less inputs. Breeding for better yield could produce more resilient varieties that have improved disease resistance, that can guard against loss in the field due to climate change, create longer root systems, improve soil health, improve water use efficiency, and reduce the amount of land and other resources needed to grow oats. In addition to that, milling efficiency is very important as well. Oats travel from the farm to the mill with the hulls still attached because the hulls can protect the grains from damage and spoilage. Oats with thinner hulls require less energy to ship, and produce less waste, so breeding for a thinner hull, for example, is one of the top priorities in our breeding program.

[00:24:14] Melissa: Okay, great. Thank you. Once you breed a new variety of oats, I assume you need to communicate this or educate the growers on adapting to this new variety, how to grow them. Can you talk to me about that a little bit, and also how Quaker Oats are tested for quality?

[00:24:37] Dr. Wu: Yes, definitely. Quaker has a Opti-Oat crop intelligence technology which provides a customized care package for each oat variety and for each location, and this is to help maximize every variety’s value and growth. More specifically, this technology allows growers to optimize yield, quality and sustainable production through analysis and synthesis of multiple factors, including weather analytics, growth stage projection, yield projection, field benchmarks, grain quality, nitrogen management insights, and carbon footprint.

So, we test all of our new varieties. As I mentioned earlier, each new variety will go through at least five years of multi-site field testing before it gets released to the growers. This helps us ensure that all the varieties we select can consistently perform well in various grower conditions. Quaker has also invested in a proprietary grading lab to ensure that all the oats that go into our mill will meet our standards of excellence. To ensure product quality after the mill, my fellow R&D teammates follow a rigorous process to ensure the safety of our product and the accuracy of our claims. Our team consists of scientists and engineers that are spread across 10 research centers around the world.

[00:26:13] Melissa: Wow. Yes, there’s a lot involved. I remember learning with both the oats and the potatoes, the length of time of all of this, the breeding process before it even actually gets into– I don’t want to say gets into the field because it’s in the field, but when it actually goes to the growers, is that the right way to say it?

[00:26:32] Dr. Wu: Yes. It takes around roughly 10 years for us to make the first cross and for the variety to reach the hands of the growers. It’s definitely a slow process, it’s definitely a long-time investment.

[00:26:46] Melissa: Interesting. Okay. I talk about sustainability a lot on the podcast, and whether it’s– whatever kind of agriculture, are we becoming more sustainable? Talk to me about the sustainability of oats and how Quaker contributes to or what they focus on regarding sustainability efforts.

[00:27:08] Dr. Wu: Sure. Oats are definitely a sustainable crop. They are a low-input cold-hardy crop that can grow in areas where it’s too cold for other crops. This means that using oats as a cover crop can help with soil preservation and provide economic values to growers in northern regions. Sustainable farming of oats is a top priority of Quaker and our parent company, PepsiCo. PepsiCo has actually devoted significant resources and efforts to help with our PepsiCo Positive (pep+) approach, and Positive Agriculture is one of the three pillars that encompass that goal.

We know that farmers across North America are bearing the brunt of climate change, and it is our goal to help them face these challenges head-on. Within Positive Agriculture, we are focused on helping break down that barrier that farmers face in adopting regenerative farming practices, that is a set of techniques that help keep our farmers farming. These techniques focus on building soil health and fertility, reducing and sequestering carbon emissions, improving watershed health, and protecting and enhancing biodiversity.

[00:28:30] Melissa: Great. Thank you. Now, you mentioned Positive Agriculture and regenerative farming practices, so I want to just talk a little bit more about the definitions of those. What is regenerative Ag or inclusive Ag? That’s one of the very first things I wrote in my notebook on the tour, was regenerative and inclusive Ag. Could you talk about that a little bit more?

[00:28:53] Dr. Wu: Of course. Regenerative agriculture, or we sometimes call it Regen Ag, is a system of farming principles and practices that seek to create a resilient farming system by rehabilitating and enhancing the farming ecosystem. It does this by placing a very heavy premium on soil health, while also paying attention to greenhouse gas emissions, water management, agricultural inputs, biodiversity, and the community. It is a method of farming that aims to improve the resources it uses rather than depleting them. At its heart, it’s about ensuring financial profitability, community resilience, and ecological viability to enable the farmers to keep farming into the future.

[00:29:46] Melissa: I think that’s an aspect of sustainability that doesn’t get as much attention, I guess, as other areas, is how do we keep the farmers farming? There’s a lot that goes into that for sure.

[00:29:57] Dr. Wu: Definitely.

[00:29:58] Melissa: Kristin, let’s bring you back into the conversation. I’m always interested in innovation. I saw a lot of innovation at the Rhinelander and Plano tours, so I would love to hear from you what Quaker is focusing on. What do we see coming down the pike?

[00:30:13] Dr. Stewart: Absolutely. Melissa, it was great to have you on-site. I’m so glad you were able to experience that. It sounds like you got a ton out of it. I’m really proud to share a project that I worked on personally over the last year to year and a half, and that’s related to PepsiCo’s new pep+ Positive Choices goals. Di talked a little bit about the Positive Agriculture perspective, we also have another pillar related to Positive Choices. From a nutrition perspective, PepsiCo recently announced important steps that we’re taking to reduce sodium, and to purposely deliver important sources of nutrition in the foods that our consumers are reaching for. By 2030, PepsiCo aims for at least 75% of its global convenient foods portfolio volume to meet or be below sodium category targets. Plus, the company aims to deliver 145 billion, that’s billion with a B, portions of diverse ingredients annually in its global convenient foods portfolio by 2030. Each of those portions would provide approximately 10% of the suggested daily amount of a diverse ingredient.

Diverse ingredient may not be a term that you’re familiar with. That’s really those food groups or those ingredients, such as legumes, whole grains, plant-based protein, fruits and vegetables, and nuts and seeds that people don’t consume enough of in many countries. If we take the US for example, less than 10% of people eat enough whole grain, and only 50% meet the recommended servings of plant-based foods like nuts and seeds and soy products. Quaker plays an important role in this portfolio transformation along with PepsiCo’s other iconic food brands as we work to meaningfully reduce sodium intake and introduce those important sources of nutrition to help diversify diets.

[00:32:09] Melissa: Excellent. Thank you for explaining all of that. As we’re wrapping up, I would love for each of you to share kind of a bottom-line takeaway for our listeners, and then want to definitely find out where people can find more information about this topic, connect with you, follow Quaker Oats on social, and so on. Dr. Wu, would you like to go first as far as sharing some takeaways?

[00:32:31] Dr. Wu: Sure. I will say that not all oats are created equal. Choosing varieties born from methodical breeding specifically targeted for human consumption and their nutritional goals is a simple yet profound way towards oats that are better for the people and the planet.

[00:32:50] Melissa: Okay, thank you. Dr. Stewart‘?

[00:32:52] Dr. Stewart: Yes, thank you. Quaker Oats are really an affordable, versatile, and convenient source of nutrition, providing whole grain, vitamins and minerals and fiber, including that unique fiber that we talked about, beta-glucan. Quaker has a long history as a leader in exploring the science of oats and educating consumers and healthcare professionals on the many benefits, so your listeners can really look to Quaker as that trusted source of oat information.

[00:33:21] Melissa: Excellent. Thank you. Yes, so where can people find more information?

[00:33:25] Dr. Stewart: Yes, great segue. We maintain a digital Quaker Oats Center of Excellence on our website, you can find that at www.quakeroats.com/healthcareprofessionals. That explores the scientific information related to the power of oats, and then we offer resources including continuing education opportunities for healthcare professionals.

I’d also recommend our website, which is quakeroats.com, where you can learn more about what we call the Quaker Oats Standard from seed to spoon. And of course, we would encourage you and all your listeners to follow us on @quaker on Instagram, TikTok, X, and Pinterest, to find more oat content and recipes, or via #QuakerOats.

[00:34:09] Melissa: Okay, great. Excellent. Yes, I’ll have all of those links in my show notes at soundbitesrd.com. Thank you both for coming on the show and having this part one discussion. I look forward to the part two discussion where we’ll definitely get into savory oats beyond the breakfast bowl and other innovation. We have a dietitian and a chef coming up for that conversation. Thank you both for your time today and the work that you do, and for coming on the show.

[00:34:35] Dr. Stewart: Thank you so much for having us, Melissa.

[00:34:37] Dr. Wu: Thank you, Melissa.

[00:34:38] Melissa: You’re welcome. If you’re listening and you like this episode, please share it with a friend or tell a friend about the podcast. As always, enjoy your food with health in mind and some oats. Till next time.

[00:34:55] Announcer: For more information, visit soundbitesrd.com. This podcast does not provide medical advice. It is for informational purposes only. Please see a registered dietitian for individualized advice. Music by Dave Birk, produced by JAG in Detroit Podcasts. Copyright, Sound Bites Inc. All rights reserved.

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