BLACK RICE

Hi everybody….

Few months back, I came across something really astonished and amazing…

So today, I feel like sharing that with u all…

Black rice….

Sound something really weird… how somebody can have rice which is black in color.

What you think?????

Let’s find out….

Black Rice is that rice with a thin layer of black bran rather than the more common light brown. Black Rice is actually more purplish in color than black; although when uncooked it is very dark in appearance. This type of rice is usually sold ‘un-milled’, with the husk intact.  It is a member of the Poaceae family of plants which includes wheat, maize, barley, oat, rye and millet etc etc. It was known as "forbidden rice" in ancient China because only nobles were allowed to eat it because black rice was so rare, tasty, and nutritious. . Up until modern times, Black Rice was not easy to come by; it had been highly treasured and protected in Asia for many centuries. It is also commonly used as a condiment, dressing, or as a decoration for different types of desserts in many countries around the world.

Black rice contains the B-complex vitamins - thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, B5 and B6 along with vitamin E and the minerals like iron, calcium, magnesium, manganese, copper, zinc, being particularly rich in both potassium and phosphorous. It is also a good source of essential amino acids and other amino acids.

Black rice is really tasty… In many parts of the world, it served as delicious black rice pudding for breakfast or dessert. Many Southeast Asian countries also cultivate and consume their fair share of this tasty whole grain. In Thailand, where the rice is known as black sticky rice sold as a sweet snack more often in the marketplaces down south.

 Black rice has many nutritional and medicinal properties

ANTIOXIDANT EFFECT

 Black rice is full of antioxidant-rich bran, which is found in the outer layer that gets removed during the milling process to make white rice. But only black-rice bran contains the antioxidants known as anthocyanins, purple and reddish pigments -- also found in blueberries, grapes -- that have been linked to a decreased risk of heart disease and cancer, improvements in memory, and other health benefits. At the 240th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS), 2010 the researchers coated that “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,” said by Zhimin Xu, Associate Professor at the Department of Food Science at Louisiana State University Agricultural Center in Baton Rouge, La. black rice bran would be a unique and economical material to increase consumption of health promoting antioxidants.

ANTI – INFLAMMATORY EFFECT

Inflammation is the human body’s response to the presence of harmful bacteria, pathogens, viruses or substances; and it is one of the reasons that the body is able to heal itself. Occasionally, inflammation will become acute or chronic and won’t subside easily (or at all). Studies have shown that black rice have anti – inflammatory effect, it can protect against inflammation. A study conducted by Choi PC (2010), states that black rice bran can be act as an anti-inflammatory and antiallergic food ingredient and possibly also as a therapeutic agent for the treatment and prevention of diseases associated with chronic inflammation as compare to brown rice.

BLACK RICE IMPROVES ANTIOXIDANTS AND ANTI-INFLAMMATORY STATUS IN CHD PATIENTS

Black rice and its pigment fraction have shown anti-atherogenic activities in several animal models, but whether their beneficial effects will recur in humans remains unknown, therefore Wang Q etal (2007) investigated the influence of black rice pigment fraction (BRF) supplementation on selected cardiovascular risk factors in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD). Sixty patients with CHD aged 45-75 years were recruited from the Second Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangzhou, China and randomly divided into two groups. In the test group, the diet was supplemented with 10 grams of BRF derived from black rice for 6 months; While in the placebo group, the diet was supplemented with 10 grams of white rice pigment fraction (WRF) derived from white rice. After 6 months' intervention, compared to WRF supplementation, BRF supplementation revels that BRF could exert cardio protective effects on patients with CHD by improving plasma antioxidant status and inhibiting inflammatory factors.

ANTI CANCER EFFECT OF BLACK RICE AGAINST BREAST CANCER CELLS

A research conducted by Hui C (2010), published in nutrition and cancer journal worked onAnthocyanins rich property of black rice. They investigated the effect of anthocyanins rich extract from black rice (AEBR) on breast cancer cells both vitro and vivo. The results reveals that black rice has a anticancer effects of AEBR against human breast cancer cells in vitro and in vivo by inducing apoptosis and suppressing angiogenesis.

Anthocyanins and their antioxidant properties can also help prevent Alzheimer’s disease and are thought to slow the deterioration process of this disease, as well as to help people suffering from high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels and diabetes.

SO I FEEL LETS TRY THIS BLACK RICE, SOUNDS REALLY TASTY AND FULL OF ANTIOXIDANTS WITH OTHER NUTRITIONAL PROPERTIES…

Contents courtesy: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20731354

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17392122

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21058201

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16809902

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19083390

http://www.thaifoodandtravel.com/ingredients/bstickyr.html

http://www.blackrice.com/articles/3/

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