oat bran starting material the rapid visco analyzer rva curves of fig2 show viscosities for the hydrocolloids of the invention that are significantly higher than for nutrim ob and the oat bran starting material particularly in the 200 to 450 second region and also in the 1200 to 1800 second region the 200 to 450 second region is within the initial rva heating cycle that is during that part of the heating cycle before which the maximum heating temperature is attained and the subsequent cooling or gelling cycle begins in a standard rva analysis the hydrocolloid is made up as an 8 w w aqueous suspension and is then heated at a uniform rate from an initial equilibrated temperature e g 30 u00b0 c to a preselected maximum temperature usually exceeding 90 u00b0 c after holding the paste for a period of time at the maximum temperature the temperature is gradually decreased at a uniform rate to some predetermined plateau e g 50 u00b0 c this cooling period is referred to as the gelling cycle the hydrocolloids of the invention having at least about 20 u03b2 glucan dwb are characterized by a viscosity greater than 1000 centipoises when initially heated to 40 u00b0 c.