The Australian oat cultivar Yarran is unacceptable for human food use due to poor รฝavour, colour and texture. It has a high lipid content which contains a high proportion of oleic acid. It was compared with an acceptable variety, Mortlock, which has a characteristically lower lipid content with a lower proportion of oleic acid, to study the eรพ ect of lipid content on pasting properties of the oat meal. The lipids of both varieties were extracted with petroleum ether and were added back into the defatted meals in sequential amounts. These meals were then tested for viscosity parameters. Both lipid content and composition signiรผcantly inรฝuenced the meal pasting properties. The peak viscosity and time to peak viscosity were negatively correlated with lipid content whereas setback and pasting temperature increased with increased lipid content. The lipids from Yarran and Mortlock had diรพ erent eรพ ects on the pasting properties. The Mortlock lipid increased the รผnal viscosity (FV) of the defatted meal of Yarran but showed little eรพ ect on the FV of its own cultivar. However, the results indicated that the lipid content/composition, although aรพ ecting pasting characteristics substantially, were not as important as other meal properties in controlling acceptability for human food use.