Revealing the Special Components in Brown Rice
In Asia, rice is a very popular food and it represents almost 90% of what people all around the world eat. Brown rice has now become famous because it can bring lots of health benefits. Eating brown rice regularly might help you lose weight, control your cholesterol levels and decrease inflammation. Brown rice also contains substances which act like big protectors, helping to keep our cells healthy by fighting against bad energy molecules.
Scientists have known that something in brown rice helps protect our bodies from things called “oxidative stress,” but they weren’t sure what it actually was.
Recently, scientists from Japan, led by Professor Yoshimasa Nakamura from Okayama University found an exciting compound called cycloartenyl ferulate (CAF). It’s special because it has hybrid structure and can protect cells in your body. Professor Nakamura said that CAF may have different health benefits for us, like reducing blood fat levels or protecting our bodies from oxidative damage.
Recently, scientists from Dalian Polytechnic University and Okayama University published a study in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences. This study showed that cucumber ascorbic acid (CAF) has special properties to help protect cells against damage caused by hydrogen peroxide (a chemical).
Hydrogen peroxide can be bad for cells, causing them damage that is not easily fixed. However, scientists have found that giving cells CAF protects them from the toxic effects of hydrogen peroxide. Even better, these results show that CAF was more effective than alpha-tocopherol and gamma-tocopherol at protecting cells against hydrogen peroxide induced stress, even though those two had been thought to work best before.
Recent studies have shown that brown rice has a much higher level of an antioxidant called CAF than other grains. CAF helps to make more of an enzyme called HO-1, which itself creates more antioxidants. Professor Nakamura explains that if you eat enough brown rice, it can help protect your cells and reduce damage caused by oxidation.
The scientists did more tests to find out how brown rice works as an antioxidant. They stopped the activity of a thing called HO-1 with blockers and it made the antioxidant effect of something called CAF much less powerful. The high amount and special working method of CAF indicates that it’s likely the biggest reason why brown rice can act as an antioxidant.
Scientists have figured out what makes brown rice so healthy and they can now use that knowledge to create better health supplements and food products.
Professor Nakamura has a positive outlook in saying that our research can help us create new food products which provide benefits from naturally-occurring substances found in brown rice, referred to as CAFs. Basically, these new food products could contain something like health supplements made from the properties of CAFs. Sounds like brown rice is still going to be included on the menu anyway!
A group of scientists funded by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science recently published a research article in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences. This study was all about cycloartenyl ferulate, a compound found mainly in brown rice, and how it could work to protect us against oxidative stress-induced cell damage.
