Hello Oatmeal_man,
For home use, (eczema, rash, itching) I have had very good luck by
grinding old fashioned, long cooking oatmeal, uncooked, in a blender.
I grind about a cup at a time, and grind it very finely in my blender,
in a dry state. (Grinding in a dry state works much better.) I then
sprinkled it in the bath water and it worked very well. I used fresh,
uncooked oats, and added nothing else. If your oats are not fine
enough, perhaps you need to process them longer, or get a blender with
many settings, including ?fine?, particularly if you plan to make them
often.
Colloidal oatmeal is not actually made, it ?becomes?. Oats are ground
to make oatmeal flour, or powder. The oat powder then assumes
colloidal properties, or, becomes colloidal, when wet. Manufacturers
of colloidal oatmeal products use anti-oxidants, beta glucan ,high
fiber oat bran, oat oil, perfumes, stabilizers, etc. in their
products, along with oat flour.
Colloidal actually means ?gluelike? or ?gummy?. ?Colloidal? is fine
particles, dispersed in a medium (water, oil, etc.).
?Colloidal Oatmeal
Oatmeal has a very long history of use in helping alleviate skin
irritation, discomfort, and inflammation. Oatmeal is very soothing to
the skin and has strong anti-inflammatory effects, and colloidal
oatmeal is classified by the FDA as a "skin protectant." Oatmeal not
only can help with sensitivity but may also have a preventive effect
on irritation and may too help buffer and repair damage from other
skin stressors. The term "colloidal" simply means very small, in other
words, that the oatmeal has been ground into extremely fine
particles.?
http://www.vernacularskinworks.com/ingredients.html#oatmeal
Answers.com has several good definitions of ?colloidal?:
a.A system in which finely divided particles, which are approximately
10 to 10,000 angstroms in size, are dispersed within a continuous
medium in a manner that prevents them from being filtered easily or
settled rapidly.
b.The particulate matter so dispersed.
colloid (k?l'oid) [Gr.,=gluelike], a mixture in which one substance is
divided into minute particles (called colloidal particles) and
dispersed throughout a second substance. The mixture is also called a
colloidal system, colloidal solution, or colloidal dispersion.
Familiar colloids include fog, smoke, homogenized milk, and
ruby-colored glass.
http://www.answers.com/colloidal&r=67
?Oats (Avena sativa), which were first cultivated around 4,000 years
ago, are native to the Mediterranean, but now are grown around the
world. The oat is a simple plant whose various parts can be put to
many uses. The parts of the plant include:
? oat bran, made from the ground inner husks of the grain.
? oatmeal, the breakfast (or anytime) cereal.
? oat straw, the dried, young, whole plant.
? colloidal oats or oat powder (finely ground oats).
? oat tincture, concentrated drops, and extract.
http://www.swedish.org/16461.cfm
?Oat groats are hulled, whole kernels that have been cleaned and
dried. They are roasted slightly during the cleaning and hulling
process but have virtually the same nutrients as the whole grain;
plus, the roasting process adds richness to the flavor. Softer than a
wheat berry, oat groats can be pounded with a wooden mallet or rolled
on a flat surface with a rolling pin so they will cook quicker than in
their original form. They are used in baking, as a cereal, or added to
other grains for chewiness.
Rolled oats are made from hulled groats that have been steamed and
rolled flat into flakes. ?Instant? or ?quick oats? are groats that
have been precooked in water, dried, and rolled superthin; although
quicker to cook, they have less nutritional value because of their
exposure to high heat during processing. Both varieties may be ground
into a coarse meal suitable for bread making or used whole in cereals,
cookies, cakes, and breads or as toppings for fruit crisps. Rolled
oats made from the whole grain are subject to rancidity within one to
three months after milling; thus it is advisable to store any bulk
quantities that will not be used within one month below 40 degrees
Fahrenheit.
Steel-cut oats, also known as Scotch or Irish oats, are natural,
unrefined oat groats that have been processed with a minimal amount of
heat by steel blades, which cut them into two or three small pieces.
These are available in coarse and fine grinds?the finer the slicing,
the quicker the grain cooks. They still contain everything that is in
the whole oat, retaining most of their B vitamins even through
processing. With their fairly long cooking time they are best used for
tasty, chewy cereals; however, cooked steel-cut oats can be blended
with various flours for baking.?
http://www.chelseagreen.com/2005/items/wholefoods/Excerpt2#oats
?Colloidal oatmeal-- oatmeal particles in a suspension, too big to
dissolve, too small to sink to the bottom of a
solution, oats are an immunostimulant and anti-inflammatory?
http://www.m-vskintherapy.com/glossary.html
Commercial:
============
?There are several species of oats, but only two species are of
significant commercial importance. 75% of world oat production is of
the avena sativa species, while most of the remaining production is of
the avena byzantina species. The avena nuda species may gain
importance in the future because of its hulless characteristics.
When mature, the oat plant is about thirty six inches tall, and has
several stalks per plant. The oat seeds are covered with a thick hull
(except avena nuda, which is enclosed in a papery sheath). There are
normally up to four seeds per sheath, and the seeds hang on very fine,
wiry stems. There are many of the seed sheaths per head, and the
entire grain head can be up to eight or ten inches long.
Whole oat groats are oats that have had the hulls removed and have
been heat treated to stabilize enzymes which cause rancidity. Steel
cut oat groats are whole oat groats that have each been cut into two
or four pieces.
Whole oat flour can be produced in several granulations, but all are
produced by grinding whole oat products through hammermills or
rollstands. Low bran oat flour is the flour produced during the
production of bran (any granulation). It is lower in protein and
fibre content than whole oat flour.
Crushed oats are produced by lightly grinding groats, steel cut, or
flakes to produce a meal type product. Various textures (fine and
coarse as rough categories) are available. Large flake rolled oats
(#3, #4, #5, #6) are produced by rolled whole oat groats.
All large flake oats are essentially the same product, but produced at
different thicknesses, which results in a range of absorption
characteristics, as well as visual differences.
The quick, baby, and instant rolled oats are all manufactured by
rolling steel cut oat groats. Different granulations of steel cut and
different rolling thicknesses result in a variety of related products.
The following descriptions are intended only to provide a brief
overview of current applications for oat products.
FURTHER PROCESSING
Whole oat groats and steel cut oat groats are often marketed to be
used as raw material for further processing into flakes, flour, bran,
and crushed oat products. Whole oat groats can be rolled into large
flakes (#3, #4, #5, #6), cut into steel cut, ground into whole oat
flour, or used to make oat bran and low bran oat flour.?
http://www.can-oat.com/what/what.html
This company?s process is proprietary, meaning they are not sharing
their manufacturing process:
?Ceapro?s colloidal oat extract is a complex mixture of
phytochemicals including avenanthramides, flavonoids, saponins, and
other bioactive compounds. Avenanthramides are among the most powerful
compounds used in cosmetics, and even when diluted to one-millionth of
their original strength, they still have anti-irritant, skin calming,
and soothing effects. Ceapro scientists were the first to determine
that avenanthramides in oats were primarily responsible for these
therapeutic affects.
Colloidal oat extract is produced by taking raw oats and passing them
through Ceapro?s advanced processing technologies to create a stable,
clear oat extract.
Colloidal oat extract is an anti-irritant and skin protectant used in
many cosmetic products on the market today. The functional properties
of colloidal oats for cosmetics and personal care products are many.?
?Ceapro has developed a series of proprietary separation technologies.
The first series is the source of beta glucan, the second produces
colloidal oat extract. Further series of processes are in development
and will be the source of materials from botanical sources other than
oats.
Ceapro has developed the next generation processes for the production
of oat active ingredients. As such, the new core technology is
state-of-the-art and represents new, significant advances in oat
processing. The active ingredients produced through the new processes
are stable, highly efficacious materials that meet the rigorous
demands of health science and personal-care/cosmetics industries.?
http://www.ceapro.com/colloidal.htm
http://www.ceapro.com/manufacturing.htm
You may have some luck if you try contacting the company:
Mailing Address
1008 RTF University of Alberta
8308-114 St
EDMONTON, Alberta
T6G 2E1
Location Address
1008 RTF University of Alberta
8308-114 St
EDMONTON, Alberta
T6G 2E1
Telephone: (780) 421-4555 Fax: (780) 421-1320 Email: info@ceapro.com
http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/app/ccc/search/navigate.do?language=eng&portal=1&estblmntNo=123456250024&profile=completeProfile
?Husked oats have traditionally been used as animal feed, whereas the
de-hulled oats (known as ?groats?) have been used for human
consumption. Use of oats as an industrial feedstock is less common,
but there is increasing awareness of potential uses of oats as a
source of industrial raw materials, in the markets described above.
Use of oats as an industrial raw material is not new, but
traditionally colloidal oat flour had been used without further
processing. More recent interest has stemmed from new methods for
fractionating oats into their constituent parts and then using pure
preparations of these components.
This has coincided with a desire amongst consumers for products which
are derived from plants and from sustainable raw materials (Galley,
2001).?
?In most of these earlier preparations, raw oat flour was used, and
even today there are commercial brands containing oat flour. However
more recently the benefits of using more highly fractionated
components have been examined. This is due to increasing interest in
derivatives from plant rather than animal sources and the development
of new oat fractionation processes.
Oat -glucan, the principal component of the ?gum? fraction, has
attracted much interest on account of its similar structural
properties to hyaluronic acid, an ingredient derived from a number of
animal sources including chicken combs and human umbilical cord. The
oat-glucan has super-moisturising properties and is also believed to
promote skin healing in combination with other components. It is thus
used in creams and lotions as well as being developed as an ingredient
of wet surgical dressings (Paton & Fedec, 1996). The Canamino process
resulted in oat-glucan which was rendered into a highly hydratable
form which on contact with water possessed a smooth feel to the touch.
In 1996, a range of commercial products were available at the start of
this project, with tradenames OstarTM CI-65, OstarTM Glucan 1A, and
OstarTM CI-B14, containing high concentrations of oat-glucan together
with other ingredients. Claimed uses for these products were in skin
care; as lotions, creams, gels and moisturisers.
Other fractions from oats have also been found to be useful for
cosmetics and toiletries. Cioca et al. (1994) filed a patent
application for sunscreens containing, among several plant extracts, a
specific oat extract. They found a synergistic sun-blocking effect in
combination with titanium dioxide, a common ingredient in sunscreens.
The oat extract was added at a level of 0.1-2.0% of the formulation.
Other products formulated to contain the extract include skin lotions,
cold creams and lipsticks. Oat oil has been reported to have useful
dermatological properties. Potter et al. (1995) presented evidence
that when a specific oat oil was applied to human skin it showed a 30%
reduction in peroxidation of skin lipids when exposed to ultraviolet
radiation; there was some evidence that this beneficial effect was due
to linoleic acid. A soap containing the oat oil was described, which
it was claimed, had good dermatological properties.?
http://www.oat.co.uk/oatec/non-food.pdf
?Oatmeal is an ingredient with a long history of use for skin
treatment but until recently its properties have been accepted on an
empirical basis. In 1978 the FDA approved the use of colloidal
oatmeal as a Category 1 skin protectant and it appears in the German
Pharmacopoeia as an infusion for the relief of skin itchiness. A paper
presented at the IFSCC Congress 2000 [7] described an investigation
into the anti-irritant properties of oatmeal. Despite the outer kernel
of the oatmeal being rich in phenol compounds the authors found that
an extract of the whole grain was more effective. A combination of
selective chromatographic techniques together with specifically
designed HPLC steps disclosed five main fractions of the oat kernel
extract:
Prolamine proteins
UV-adsorbing non-polar fraction (avenacins, alkyl ferulates)
Flavonoids
Avenanthramides
Saponins (Avenacins, Avenacosides)
The five different fractions were evaluated for their ability to
reduce UV-induced skin erythema in humans and analysis of the data
revealed that nearly all the anti-irritant potential of the oat
extract originates from the avenanthramides. These are phenolic amides
formed from differently substituted aminophenolic acids with cinnamic
acid and its derivatives and this information has now been utilised by
Dragoco to produce standardised oat extracts for cosmetics with
scientific and clinical data to support product claims.?
http://www.creative-developments.co.uk/papers/Naturals%202001.htm
This page gives a chart of the components of oats:
http://rye.vtt.fi/chapter3b.htm
More nutritional value of oats
http://www.grainmillers.com/milling/faq.html
Oat oil
http://www.oat.co.uk/processing.html
Making colloidal oatmeal at home:
=================================
?When combined with a liquid, this special form of oatmeal acts
like a colloid (hence its name). This means that when molecules (the
tiny particles of the grain, in this case) spread through another
medium (i.e., the bath water), they permanently change the consistency
of that medium (meaning that they totally mix in). The beauty of a
colloidal oatmeal bath, therefore, is that the oatmeal particles don't
all sink to the bottom of the tub.
To produce colloidal oatmeal, the oats themselves are very finely
ground--pulverized, in fact. This enables the grain to readily absorb
liquid. When the colloidal oatmeal is added to bath water, it almost
instantly gives a slightly milky, almost slimy consistency to the
water--which then coats the skin, moisturizing, softening, and
protecting it. The emollient, or skin-softening, properties of oat
products come from ingredients in the oatmeal such as cellulose and
fiber.?
http://www.wholehealthmd.com/print/view/1,1560,SU_10107,00.html
?Oat flour To make your own: Blend oatmeal in blender until it has
the consistency of flour (Use 1 1/4 cups rolled oats to make one cup
oat flour.?
http://www.foodsubs.com/Flournw.html
?Oat flour can be prepared in a blender or food processor, and adds a
hearty texture and a slightly deeper color to baked goods. It can be
easily substituted for up to one-third of the all-purpose flour in
most recipes, adding fiber and nutrients to cakes, cookies, and
breads.
Ground Oat Flour
Place 1-1/4 cups uncooked quick or old fashion oats in a blender or
food processor. Cover; blend about 60 seconds. Makes about 1 cup
ground oat flour. Store in tightly covered container in cool, dry
place up to 5-6 months. Use for baking, breading, thickening or
dredging and browning. (When used in baking, substitute up to but not
more than 1/3 of the all-purpose flour called for with oat flour.)?
http://www.solutions.uiuc.edu/content.cfm?series=3&item=230&Parents=0%7C27%7C54
To make your own colloidal oatmeal for a skin calming bath:
You'll need a blender, food processor or coffee grinder and 1 cup of
oatmeal. You can use instant oatmeal (unflavored), quick oats or slow
cooking oats- all work equally as well. For babies, you'll only need
about 1/3 cup per bath.
Blend or process the oats on the highest setting until you have a very
fine, consistent powder. To test the colloid property of the oats,
stir 1 tablespoon oats into a glass of warm water. If the oats readily
absorb the water and give it a milky look and a silky feel, you've
blended long enough.
http://babyparenting.about.com/cs/healthissues/a/oatmealbath.htm
?To produce colloidal oatmeal, whole oats are very finely ground.
This enables the grain to readily absorb liquid. When the colloidal
oatmeal is added to bath water, it almost instantly gives a slightly
milky, almost slimy consistency to the water, which then coats the
skin, moisturizing, softening, and protecting it. The emollient, or
skin-softening, properties of oat products come from ingredients in
the oatmeal such as cellulose and fiber.?
?If you don't mind some experimenting, you can easily try to make your
own colloidal oatmeal. In a blender, coffee grinder, or food
processor, finely grind the oatmeal purchased at the grocery store. A
word of caution is warranted, however. It can be a bit difficult to
determine just how fine you need to make the oatmeal before it can
become a colloid in water. If it's too coarse, it will simply sink
uselessly to the bottom of the tub. The commercial product is
processed so minutely that its ability to form a colloid is assured.?
http://www.pvsoap.com/recipe_colloidal_oatmeal.htm
?You can also use old-fashioned rolled oats. Place one to two cups
rolled oats or 3/4 cup oat powder in a muslin bag, sock, or stocking
and securely fasten the end with a rubber band. Place the bag in the
bathtub and run warm water. Soak in the tub for 15 to 20 minutes, and
wring out the bag several times.
For isolated dry spots on your skin, especially your face, try an
oatmeal paste. Combine two tablespoons of regular rolled oats (not
instant) and enough mashed avocado or heavy cream to form a paste.
Allow the mixture to sit a few minutes, then apply it to your face and
scrub gently. Rinse off and pat dry.?
?Oats are also a gentle acne treatment. Stephanie Tourles, author of
The Herbal Body Book (see Resources section below), recommends
grinding old-fashioned or instant rolled oats in a coffee grinder or
food processor until you get one cup of ground oat powder. To help
fight bacteria, stir in one teaspoon of ground dried lavender or
cinnamon powder. Mix two teaspoons of the oat mixture with about one
tablespoon of water to make a paste. Gently wash your face with the
paste and rinse with warm water. The oatmeal moisturizes while it
removes dirt and oil.?
http://www.swedish.org/16461.cfm
I hope this has been helpful. If anything is unclear, please request
an Answer Clarification. I will be happy to assist you further on this
question, before you rate.
Sincerely, Crabcakes
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