Li Li Ji, Ph.D., director of the School of Kinesiology and director of the Laboratory of Physiological Hygiene and Exercise Science (LPHES), recently received a nearly $200,000 grant from PepsiCo to study the bioavailability and healthy benefits of oat avenanthramides (AVA), a phytoalexins that exist predominantly in the hulled kernels of oat seeds. Phytoalexins are any of various antimicrobial chemical substances produced by plants to combat infection by a pathogen.
The research involves testing participants’ ability to utilize AVA from dietary oat consumption to decrease systemic inflammation and muscle damage due to exercise as well as to increase antioxidant function and mental health indicators.