Oats have always been good for the skin, and now they can legally be used in skin care products. 

The Government of Canada signed a licensing agreement with Ceapro Inc. which will allow Canadian oats to be used to create ingredients for skin and health care products.  

The Chief Financial Officer with Ceapro Inc. Branko Jankoviv says the new technology enables them to extract molecules from oats called avenanthramides, which are naturally occurring polyphenols with antihistamine and anti-inflammatory properties. "This explains why oatmeal baths are so soothing to the skin," he explains. These molecules are only found in oats and in very small amounts.  This technology not only increases the level of molecules that are able to be extracted, but it does it more cost efficiently.

This technology developed by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada is going to provide great opportunities for oat farmers.  It will allow them to grow a variety of oats and as the market develops, they will have the opportunity to grow more and more of these oats. "If we can establish this as a high variety oat with this benefit, we think the market could be quite receptive to this, so ultimately there is big potential spin-off to the farmers."

Jankovic says this is a big step for Ceapro as well, because they believe it will be able to be used for more things in the future. "This could be a very good product for enhancing human health all around," he explains."We're very excited about what it will mean for our company, what it will mean for Alberta and prairie farmers and what it will mean for Canadian innovations on the world stage."