Once again the news is telling you to eat another food with newly discovered super benefits for your health and rice bran is the new wonder product. The word "bran" in general brings to mind good health (though not necessarily good eating). Perhaps you want to know if what you hear is true and whether this rice bra is important enough to add to your diet. Perhaps you are already getting the benefits of rice bran and don't even realize it. Once you discover what exactly rice bran is and find out why brown rice is better for you than white rice, you can choose whether you'd like to incorporate it into your diet.
History
The Pennington Nutrition Series reports, "In the past, human consumption of rice bran has been limited, primarily because rice bran spoils quickly, but methods to preserve rice bran have been developed." And with this development, rice bran has quickly become the new super food in health food circles, joining oat and wheat brans. Though the oil from rice bran, also reported to be rich in heath benefits, has been being used in Japan for centuries, according to the Examiner.com.
Significance
When brown rice is polished down into white rice the resulting "waste product" is rice bran. Rice bran is the reason that brown rice is better for you than white rice--and also the reason that white rice is a more tender rice than brown rice. The bran of the brown rice is full of vitamin E and supplies anti-oxidants to the body. In the making of white rice, all of this nutritious bran has, until recently, been discarded. With its introduction to health food circles, rice bran and oil made from this rice bran are being heralded as the latest miracle food.
Benefits
Research has been being done to discover the many benefits of rice bran. BNET reports, "In a study at the Western Regional Research Center of the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Albany, Calif., researchers...reported that when hamsters were fed rice bran and a high amount of pure cholesterol, their cholesterol levels dropped between 15 and 30 percent, a rate equal to or slightly better than the reductions found when the animals were fed oat bran and cholesterol." In the Pennington Nutrition Series, they have found a link between rice bran and bone loss reduction, indicating that rice bran helps prevent osteoporosis. Sciencedaily.com reports, "A study by biomedical scientists at the University of Leicester has revealed for the first time that rice bran could reduce the risk of intestinal cancer," and "Researchers at Tohoku University and Japan's National Research Institute of Brewing demonstrated that adding rice bran to the diets of hypertensive, stroke-prone rats lowered the animals' systolic blood pressure by about 20 percent," indicating that rice bran is yet another food to assist in fighting heart disease.
Considerations
Rice bran oil is another form of rice bran that has gained popularity for its healthful benefits. The Examiner.com reports on the many uses of this oil. Suggesting it is an inexpensive and tasty alternative for cooking and baking, the Examiner.com goes on to recommend using rice bran oil in products such as "soaps, hair conditioners, cosmetics, and sun screens." They tout its cancer-fighting vitamin E content as well as its history of use in Japan.
Warning
One study, found in NewScientist.com, found that rice bran contains unusually high amounts of the poison arsenic. Of the study, NewScientist.com reports, "They found that 1 kilogramme of brown rice contained on average 0.76 mg of arsenic in its toxic inorganic form. The rice also contained some non-toxic, organic arsenic. The polished white rice grains contained 0.56 mg inorganic arsenic per kg, whereas the rice bran contained 3.3 mg per kg on average." This was never a concern when the bran was being discarded, but now that it is being sold as a super food, there is renewed concern for its arsenic levels. "The risk of skin, lung, bladder and kidney cancer increases proportionally with arsenic intake," according to toxicologists. Marie Vahter, an environmental toxicologist, states, "Recent reports indicate increased fetal and infant mortality due to fairly low-level arsenic exposure via drinking water." "Arsenic also impairs brain development and impairs the body's ability to repair DNA," according to NewScientist.com.
Theories/Speculation
Brown rice contains the same benefits as rice bran--just not in a concentrated form. In addition to not having the concentrated benefits of rice bran, brown rice also does not have the concentrated levels of arsenic. Perhaps the answer to reaping the benefits of rice bran--without endangering your heath--lies in eating brown rice instead of white rice. Take a little extra preparation time at the next meal and cook and enjoy some brown rice.
Tags: rice bran, rice bran, white rice, benefits rice, brown rice, brown rice, rice bran