Two popular breakfast foods are oatmeal and cream of wheat, both of which are a kind of grain usually eaten as porridge, i.e. a chopped or crushed cereal cooked and served in milk or water. What are the nutritional differences between these two grains? This article will help explain.
Definitions
Oatmeal refers to ground/crushed/cut oats, or to oatmeal porridge (oatmeal cooked in milk or water). Two of the most widely-eaten forms of oatmeal are steel-cut oats and rolled oats. When the oat kernels (commonly called the groats) are chopped, the oats are called steel-cut. When the oat kernels are rolled into flat flakes, they are called rolled oats. Both are pictured above, with steel-cut oats first and rolled oats second. As for nutrition, according to the health website Livestrong, a serving of oatmeal (about one cup) has 166 calories, 4 – 5 grams of fiber, 5 – 6 grams of protein, and over ten percent of the daily value for the essential nutrients iron, selenium, magnesium, zinc, phosphorous, and thiamin.
Cream of Wheat is a brand of breakfast food known as a farina, a sort of porridge mix. It is a cereal made from semolina flour. It looks similar to grits, but has a smoother texture. Nutritionally per one-cup serving, it has 126 calories, 1 – 2 grams of fibre, 3 – 4 grams of protein, and around ten percent of the daily value for essential nutrients.
Comparison chart
| Oatmeal | Cream of Wheat |
| Made from oats. | Made from semolina flour. |
| More calories. | Less calories. |
| More fibre. | Less fibre. |
| More protein. | Less protein. |
| More essential nutrients. | Less essential nutrients. |
Oatmeal vs Cream of Wheat
What is the difference between oatmeal and cream of wheat? The main differences are:
- What each foodstuff is made of
- Calories, fibre, protein, and nutrients
Oatmeal is made from kernels of oat, called groats of oat, and comes in a few different varieties, two common ones being steel-cut oats and rolled oats. Cream of wheat, on the other hand, is made from semolina flour and is a type of farina, a porridge mix of sorts.
Oatmeal has more calories, fibre, protein, and nutrients than cream of wheat, with a 1-cup serving of oatmeal having 166 calories, 4-5 grams of dietary fibre, 5-6 grams of protein, and over ten percent of the daily value for essential nutrients; and a 1-cup serving of cream of wheat having 126 calories, 1-2 grams of dietary fibre, 3-4 grams of protein, and around ten percent of the daily value for essential nutrients.