Black Rice as antioxidants

Blueberries and blackberries have topped the charts for their antioxidant qualities, but hovering at $5 a pound, they have to scream “Buy Me” a little louder than most produce on the farm stand. Now foodies have a healthy and inexpensive alternative: Black rice.

At the 240th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS) Zhimin Xu, Associate Professor at the Department of Food Science at Louisiana State University Agricultural Center in Baton Rouge, La., reported: “Just a spoonful of black rice bran contains more health-promoting anthocyanin antioxidants than are found in a spoonful of blueberries, but with less sugar and more fiber and vitamin E antioxidants.”

Black rice, like many richly colored fruit, contains anthocyanin antioxidants, which have been shown to stave off heart disease and some cancers. When the outer husks of black rice are removed, it becomes brown rice. When the underlying bran from brown rice is removed, the rice becomes white.

The bran of brown rice contains high levels of the vitamin E compound gamma-tocotrienol as well as gamma-oryzanol antioxidants. Numerous studies have shown that these antioxidants can reduce levels of LDLs (bad cholesterol).

According to an American Chemical Society press release, Xu and colleagues believe food manufacturers could potentially use black rice bran or the bran extracts, to boost the health value of breakfast cereals, beverages, baked goods, and and more.

Xu said: “If berries are used to boost health, why not black rice and black rice bran?”


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