Micro-nutrient Profile of Rice Bran Oil

Micro-nutrient	Amount %	Advantage
Tocopherol Tocotrienol Oryzanol Squalene	0.02-0.08 0.025- 0.17 1.2 - 1.7 (Physically refined RBO) 0.3-0.4	Antioxidant, Free radical scavenger, Reduce risk of cardiovascular diseases, Arthritis, Cancer, Cataract, Antitumour activities. Cholesterol reduction, Reversing Atherosclerosis, Anticancer (breast, liver), tumour supression, Antioxidant. Increase good (HDL) Cholesterol, Decreases bad (LDL) Cholesterol, Treats nerve imbalance & Menopause disorder, Retards aging effects, Antidandruff and anti-itching agent. Antioxidant

Hypocholesterolemic Activity of Various Edible Oils

Rice Bran Oil is the 'Heart Friendly' Cooking Oil due to its remarkable Cholesterol lowering property in comparison with other edible oils.

Edible Oil	Linoleic acid %	Cholesterol level
Safflower Sunflower Cottonseed Soybean Sesame Corn Rice Bran Groundnut	77.1 61.4 58.0 50.2 45.9 43.0 36.0 35.0	-16 -12 0 +3 +2 -15 -17 +5

Rice bran oil "Ideal oil"- WHO

Rice Bran Oil with 'Ideal' SFA/MUFA/PUFA ratio which is the closest to WHO recommendation as compared to other edible oils.

Oil	Fatty Acid % wt.
	Saturated (SFA)	Monounsaturated (MUFA)	Polyunsaturated (PUFA)
Mustard/Rapessed Cottonseed Sunflower Safflower Soybean Palm Olive Canola Corn Coconut Palm Kernel Groundnut Rice Bran	6 28 12 10 16 51 14 6 13 92 86 20 18	67 22 21 15 24 39 77 58 20 6 12 50 45	27 50 67 75 60 10 9 36 62 2 2 30 37
Recommanded by WHO	28.6	42.8	28.6

Scientifically Proven Facts About Rice Bran Oil

• Human trials conducted in the National Institute Of Nutrition, Hyderabad, have confirmed significant reduction in total cholesterol particularly the triglyceride levels by using Rice Bran Oil (RBO) as compared to other conventional cooking oils.
• Studies conducted in the Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), Mysore, a premier research institute of the Government of India, had shown significant reduction of bad cholesterols (LDL + VLDL) and increase in good cholesterols (HDL) in rats fed with refined rice bran oil for 11 weeks as compared to rats fed with Groundnut Oil although the fat composition of both the oils is similar. The study has attributed the better cholesterol lowering ability of Rice Bran Oil to its unique “Oryzanol” and some other micro nutrients present in it.
• Studies conducted in Japan have shown that Rice Bran Oil has better cholesterol lowering power than Sunflower Oil, Corn Oil and Safflower Oil.
• Studies conducted by Reputed Scientists of Tufts University, Boston and University of Massachusetts Lowell, U.S.A.; have demonstrated greater reduction in bad cholesterol by feeding physically refined Rice Bran Oil to hamsters (animals) as compared to Canola Oil (a low erucic acid variety of Rape/Mustard Oil) and Coconut Oil.
• Studies conducted in the University of Lowell, U.S., have revealed that Rice Bran Oil has significantly better cholesterol lowering properties than popular Olive Oil.
• Studies conducted in Taipei Medical University, Taiwan, have shown that Rice Bran Oil is effective in increasing insulin sensitivity in case of Type 2 Diabetes. Thus Rice Bran Oil also helps to control Diabetes.

Status of Rice Bran Oil in India & Abroad

• In India, due to Nine National Seminars organized by The Solvent Extractors' Association of India in last nine years, good amount of consumer awareness has been created among the Indian consumers in major cities and metros. Still much more is needed to be done so that this ‘Health Oil’ occupies a pride place in every kitchen. It is available in 1 kg./2 kg./5 kg./15 kg tins as well as handy pouches.
• Rice Bran Oil is extensively used in Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan & Thailand as ‘Premium Edible Oil’.
• Japan it is also called as ‘Heart Oil’.
• In Western countries, this oil has occupied the status of ‘Health Food’.
• In U.S.A. & Japan, By-products such as soaps, gels, vitamin tablets etc. are prepared from Rice Bran Oil to promote cosmetic use of this oil as ‘Beauty Aids’.
• In U.S.A. research institutes are working on this oil to promote it as ‘Massage Oil’ which will give beautiful, wrinkle free skin to the actors.

Advantages of Rice Bran Oil

• It maintains health of the Heart because of Oryzanol present in it. Oryzanol is only present in this oil and helps to increase good cholesterol (HDL) and decrease bad cholesterol (LDL) and triglycerides.
• It has ideal fatty acids profile nearer to recommendations of National Institute of Nutrition and World Health Organisation (WHO).
• It contains higher levels of Vit. E and Tocotrienols which protects the body from the diseases such as Arthritis, Parkinson’s, Cancer etc.
• It has 4-hydroxy 3-methoxy Cinnamic acid which stimulates proper hormonal secretions and rejuvenates the body.
• It has natural anti-oxidants present in it which gives better storage and frying stability to this oil.
• It contains Squalene, which helps in protecting the skin from wrinkles (Women after 45 years get wrinkles due to Menopause and this oil can be useful for them).
• Oil is 10-15% less absorbed in food preparations, hence less calories in take by way of food items.
• Rice Bran Oil is less viscous than others cooking oils and thus does not stick to the cooking utensils, saves soap use.
• This oil enhances the taste of food items with good flavour.

Rice Bran Oil - Heart Friendly Cooking Oil

The Research Institutes in India & abroad have found this oil to be a 'Heart Friendly - Health Oil' with following unique properties beneficial for maintaining good health

• It is good for heart. it contains Oryzanol which increases HDL (good) Cholesterol and lowers LDL (bad) Cholesterol and triglycerides.
• It has the ideal ratio of saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids and is the closest to World Health Organisation recommendation.
• It is good for skin. It contains Squalene which improves skin tone and delays wrinkle formation.
• It has natural antioxidants which protect against diseases.
• It has 4 hydroxy 3 methoxy Cinnamic acid which stimulates hormonal secretion and rejuvenates health.
• It has Tocopherol (Vit. E) which helps in maintaining balance of nervous system.
• It has Tocotrienol which has anti-thrombotic and anti-Cancer properties.
• Food fried in refined Rice Bran Oil absorbs 15% less oil, lower calorie intake.

Recent Trends in Processing of Rice Bran Oil

Rice Bran Oil is a unique vegetable oil produced from the outer brown layer of rice which is removed in the form of rice bran during the polishing process of the rice milling industry. Besides having an ideally balanced fatty acid profile, it is rich in natural anti-oxidants and unique nutraceuticals. A number of scientific studies conducted in India & abroad have well documented the better cholesterol lowering properties of rice bran oil as compared to other conventional vegetable oils. All these studies have attributed these properties of the oil to the presence of unique nutraceuticals in this oil known as Oryzanol & tocotrienols.

Rice Bran Oil is extensively used in Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan and Thailand as premium edible oil. It is the conventional & the most favourite cooking medium of the Japanese and is popularly known as "Heart Oil" in Japan. It has acquired the status of a "Functional Food" or a "Health Food" in Western Countries.

India is the second largest producer of paddy in the world after China contributing about 23% to the total world production of paddy. It has a potential to produce over one million tonne of this nutritious oil. Rice Bran Oil extraction started in India about 40 years back. It was in the middle of 60's that a beginning was made in India for the extraction of oil from rice bran with the help of solvent extraction process wherein food grade hexane is used to extract oil from rice bran. Initially the entire quantities of rice bran oil produced in India were used as raw material for the soaps & detergent industry as the free fatty acid content of the oil was very high.

In the early eighties, the Government of India introduced money credit scheme to encourage the use of rice bran oil as a product mix in vanaspati (hydrogenated fat) wherein substantial rebate from the payment of excise duty on vanaspati was given for use of rice bran oil in the manufacture of vanaspati. This scheme encouraged the production of edible grade rice bran oil containing low levels of free fatty acid ranging between 2 to 5%. Low FFA rice bran oil was extracted from rice bran produced in the rice milling industry engaged in the production of parboiled rice. Due to partial inactivation of enzymes responsible for increase of free fatty acid content in the oil, during the parboiling process, it was possible to produce low FFA oil from rice bran produced by the rice milling industry engaged in the production of parboiled rice. This oil was used by the vanaspati industry after refining through the conventional process of chemical refining wherein alkali was used to remove the free fatty acids.

It was only in the mid of eighties that the Industry in India started gearing up for the production of refined rice bran oil as a direct cooking medium. In 1986, standards for refined rice bran oil were laid down under the Indian food laws and the oil was permitted to be sold as a direct cooking medium. The only technology available at that time was the chemical refining process which was used to refine all kinds of vegetable oils. The same process was used for refining of rice bran oil. This process was used only for refining of low FFA rice bran oil which was produced using rice bran produced in the parboiled rice milling industry. It was not possible to use this process for refining of crude rice bran oil produced from the raw rice bran due to higher refining losses which were 2.5 to 3 times of the free fatty acids present in the oil.

In the mean time, efforts were made to develop technologies for stabilizing the raw rice bran so as to extract low FFA crude rice bran oil from the stabilized rice bran which could be further refined for human consumption. Various technologies of stablization such as steam stablization, chemical stablization & extrusion technology were tried for this purpose. But none of the technologies became popular because of various techno-commercial reasons. Ultimately the search started for some alternative refining technologies which could economically refine crude rice bran oil with higher levels of free fatty acids.

In the late eighties, Miscella refining was tried to refine rice bran oil but it could not become popular because of commercial reasons. In the middle of nineties, the industry started trying physical refining technology for refining rice bran oil which was mainly used for refining palm oil. Initially the industry could not get much success in refining rice bran oil through this technology because of lack of appropriate pre-treatment technologies which could bring down the phosphorus content after pre-treatment below 5 P.P.M. which is a pre-requisite for physical refining. It was not possible to bring down the 'P' content in rice bran oil through the conventional phosphoric acid degumming process. So the need was felt for developing appropriate pre-treatment technologies so that the industry could make the best use of the physical refining technology for refining of rice bran oil.

Since 1998, The Solvent Extractors' Association of India, started holding National level seminars to encourage the production and use of rice bran oil as a healthy cooking oil. These seminars created awareness among consumers, technocrats, researchers, medical professionals and also among the government circles. TMOP&M under the Union Ministry of Agriculture sponsored research projects for developing cost-effective technologies for physical refining of the Rice Bran Oil. I.I.C.T., Hyderabad & R.R.L., Trivandrum came out with excellent process technologies of pretreatment of rice bran oil for physical refining. R.R.L. developed a pre-treatment technology known as "simultaneous degumming & dewaxing process" wherein calcium cloride is used to bring down the 'P' content below the desired levels. Similarly I.I.C.T., Hyderabad developed an "enzymatic degumming process" in which enzyme is used to remove the phosphorus content below the desired levels.

Development of these pre-treatment technologies have really revolutionalised the rice bran oil processing in India. A number of new rice bran oil refining plants have been set up incorporating these new technologies with grant-in-aid assistance from the TMOP&M. Majority of these units are based upon IICT technology. The oil produced by these units is good in colour and rich in nutrients particularly the Oryzanol. These technological developments have boosted the production of refined rice bran oil in the country. Indian markets are now witnessing many brands of refined rice bran oil. Even the leading brand players in India have launched new brand variants using 70 to 80% refined rice bran oil. Now the consumers in India can enjoy the benefits of this unique gift from the mother nature.

***************

A.R. Sharma: President, SEA & CMD, M/S. A. P. Solvex Ltd..,Dhuri

At 60th Annual Convention of OTAI, Hyderabad on 2-3rd dec. 2005

RICE BRAN OIL- An edited paper presentation

A PAPER PRESENTED BY DR Shashank R Joshi

MD,DM,FICP,FICN Endocrinologist, Lilavati Hospital , Hon Asst. Prof,Grant Medical College (This paper was presented at 33rd Annual Conference of General
Practitioners' Association-Greater Bombay - 28&29th Dec.2002)

Basics
Functional role of fat in the diet:

1. Fat is a most concentrated source of energy. One gram of fat gives 9 kcal of energy.

2. Fats are essential in the diet for the absorption and mobilization of fat-soluble vitamins such as vitamin A, vitamin E and fat-soluble antioxidants.

3. Vegetable oils are the only sources of essential fatty acids to the body. Essential fatty acids (EFA) are those fatty acids, which the body cannot synthesize and need to be supplied through diet. EFA's are the precursors for a group of chemically related compounds, known as prostaglandins. Prostaglandins play a key role in regulating many physiological processes in the body, such as controlling blood pressure, vascular damage in the brain and the heart, preventing blood clot in the arteries, lowering cholesterol, uterine contractions during child birth and menstrual cycles, inflammation and other conditions.

4. Fat also helps in raising HDL the so-called good cholesterol.

5. Fat in the diet imparts certain textural qualities, taste and palatability to the food.

QUANTITY OF FAT
According to the American Heart Association, the optimum intake of fat for an adult is 30% of its total caloric intake. Therefore for an adult man consuming 2000 calories, the upper limit of total fat (visible and non-visible) is 65 gm/day.

From the data-base generated on fatty acid composition in Indian foods and National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau diet surveys, the daily invisible fat intake is estimated to be 15gm in rural poor and 25gm in the urban middle and high-income groups. Thus the daily requirement of visible fat intake works out to be some where between 20 to 50 gms depending upon physical activity and physiological status.

QUALITY OF FAT
The American Heart Association recommends use of oils having an equal proportion of saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA)/saturated fatty acids (SFA) ratio of 0.8 to 1.0 and linoleic acid (Omega6) alpha linolenic acid (Omega3) ratio of 5-10 in the diet. A perusal of these recommendations would reveal that there are basically three parameters to adjudge any oil as the healthiest cooking oil. i.e. ratio of saturated/ monounsaturated/ polyunsaturated fatty acid, ratio of essential fatty acids (Omega6/Omega3) and presence of natural antioxidants.

If we look to the composition of the various vegetable oils commonly used in India, we shall find that no single oil could meet the requirement of these recommendations but some are nearer to the recommendations.

COMPOSITION OF COMMON VEGETABLE OILS

	Fatty Acids % Weight			Essential Fatty Acids	Antioxidants*
	SFA	MUFA	PUFA	Omega6/Omega3
MustardOil/ Rapessed Oil	6	67	27	2	Tocopherols
Sunflower Oil	12	21	67	57	Tocopherols
Safflower Oil	10	15	75	69	Tocopherols
Soyabeen Oil	16	24	60	10	Tocopherols
Groudnut Oil	20	50	30	32	Tocopherols
Rice Bran Oil Recommended	20 below 33%	45 above 33%	35 about 33%	15 5-10	Tocopherols Tocotrienols & Oryzanol Maximum possible

Rice bran oil a unique cooking oil produced from rice, is the only oil which besides having balanced fatty acid composition and an ideal Omega6/Omega3 ratio contains three categories of natural anti-oxidants i.e. tocopherols, tocotrienols & oryzanol as against only one category i.e. tocopherols found in all other conventional oils. These natural anti-oxidants help in controlling production of free radicals in the body which can cause injury to the inner lining of blood channels and initiate coronary diseases, certain cancers, cataracts, rheumatoid arthritis, parkinson's disease and contribute to the ageing process.

High content of natural anti-oxidants present in the rice bran oil, impart higher oxidative stability and a longer self life as compared to other edible oils. In a recent study conducted by the Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysore, oxidative stability of natural anti-oxidants enriched refined rice bran oil has been found to be five times more than the groundnut oil.

Although the PUFA content of rice bran oil is much lower than the other conventional oils, but it has higher cholesterol reduction power than even the PUFA rich oils.

Rice bran oil is the healthiest cooking oil having desirable fatty acid composition with higher oxidative stability alongwith better cholesterol reducing power than all other edible oils. It contains certain unique micro-nutrients which are important for promotion and maintenance of good health.

"The World’s “Healthiest Oil” is also the best “Tasting Oil”. A properly refined rice bran oil has a pale yellow colour and is completely odourless & taste less. In a blind taste test at the university of Oregon U.S.A., comparing refined rice bran oil, palm oil, safflower oil, soyabean oil, corn oil, and sunflower oil, rice bran oil won hands down.

Rice Bran Oil is extensively used in Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan and Thailand as a premium edible oil. It is the conventional & the most favourite cooking medium of the Japanese, the longest living human beings on this earth and is popularly known as a "Heart Oil" in Japan. In recent years U.S. Scientists have also shown a tremendous interest in the cholesterol lowering properties of rice bran oil & this oil has acquired the status of ‘Health Food’ with the Americans.

India has now many rice bran oil brands such as Tandul, Ricela, Akshath..etc. It will be the cooking medium of first choice. It is equivalent to Olive oil which is the oil of choice for the Mediterranean Europeans. Therefore, for the Indians, we have Indian made Rice bran oil.