Rice Bran to the Rescue
Americans suffer from a number of “Western” diseases including heart disease, obesity and diabetes. High cholesterol is often a causative factor of heart disease, and problems managing blood sugar can cause the latter two conditions. On the other hand, people in developing countries often still suffer from malnutrition of basic nutrients, causing a host of diseases and contributing to one out of two deaths associated with infectious disease in children under five.Although Americans do not usually think of ingredients used to mitigate malnutrition in developing countries as being helpful to their own nutrition, there is a new product with this potential. NutraCea®’s Stabilized Rice Bran is a proprietary, yet natural rice bran that ensures health functionality in even the seemingly most mundane foods, such as pastas.
NutraCea employs a stabilization process that protects the natural vitamins, minerals, phytosterols and antioxidants in rice bran that can be destroyed in a matter of minutes during normal processing. By stabilizing rice bran, the healthful content of a staple food can make it past the grocery shelves and into people’s bodies.
This stabilization process is focused at the enzyme lipase that naturally digests fats and exists in the bran layer. When it comes in contact with the bran’s oil, it begins to rapidly degrade the bran. NutraCea uses an all-natural, non-chemical process (protected by a trade secret) to protect this degradation from happening, resulting in a product that not only retains its healthy nutrients, but also is guaranteed to retain a one-year shelflife. The types of ingredients that can be found in rice bran include beta-carotene, lycopene, B vitamins, vitamin E, phytosterols and others.
NutraCea Stabilized Rice Bran comes in Regular, Fine and Extra Fine for suitability in a wider range of food applications. It is great in whole-grain baked goods, providing a good source of insoluble fiber. It also can add a bit more freeze/thaw stability and is good in applications such as weight management systems, nutritional beverages, whole-grain breads, low-glycemic foods, frozen baked goods, nutritional bars, RTE cereals, sweet breads and bakery mixes. It has been shown to clinically and effectively promote healthy cholesterol levels and has a low-glycemic response.
The company also offers Solubles, which is the solubilized portion of the Stabilized Rice Bran. It has been stabilized, retains its natural nutritional content and has been found to help aid healthy cholesterol and blood sugar. NutraCea is able to provide cost-effective functional ingredients to the U.S. market while carrying a social mission of mitigating malnutrition in developing countries, especially among women and children. For more information about this program, please see the RiceAde™ Feeding Program on the NutraCea website at: www.nutracea.com/b_riceade.php.
For more information:
NutraCea • El Dorado Hills, Calif.
Kurt Kreuter • 920-869-3290 •kkreuter@nutracea.com
www.nutracea.com
