Pro Oats are high grain rolled instant oats packaged in a multiple serving pack. The manufacturers have added high grade whey protein isolate (WPI) to the oatmeal to give it added protein which gives it a total of 12g of protein per serving. For comparison, looking at plain Quaker Instant Oats (I'll be using this comparison for the rest of the review), has around 4g of protein per serving. They've also added dried fruit for several varieties of flavors, including apple pie, peach, cherry and blueberry. I tried the blueberry flavor.
The taste is on par with your average unflavored oatmeal, with the exception of the fruit which has added sugar to bring out the flavor. You can also distinctly taste the WPI texture in the oats, but it's not unpleasant. Although the blueberries are sweetened with sugar, I found the regular taste of the oats to be somewhat bland and added some Splenda to the rest of the oats compensate. The carbohydrate (37g) and sugars (9g) are a bit higher than what I would like to see in a high protein oatmeal if the market is for bodybuilders/weight lifters or general fitness related people -- although the added carbs could be advantageous for an endurance athlete. But, on the plus side, it also has a little bit higher amount of fiber (5g) than Quaker (3g).
All in all, I feel the flavoring of the product could be improved somewhat. With the added sugar, I would have expected the product to be much sweeter, but you really only get a taste of flavor with the added fruit -- the rest of the oatmeal is completely unflavored. My personal preference would also to use an artificial sweetener or stevia in place of the sucrose sugar since you're already going to be getting a good amount of low GI carbs from the oats themselves. However, I like the idea of a high protein product and I hope that once the product starts making it to the retail market, Pro Oats will be able to be sold in larger packages and become more affordable. A pack of 7 servings of Pro Oats currently sells for $7 on their website.
So, give Pro Oats a try and feel free to post your comments here of what you think. Big thanks to Max Cascone @ Pro Oats for the samples!
