Rice bran oil
Virgin Rice Bran Oil
Rice is a plant. The outer layer of the grain (bran) and the oil made from the bran are used for medicine. Rice bran oil is popular as a “healthy oil” in Japan, Asia, and particularly India. Be careful not to confuse rice bran with other forms of bran such as oat and wheat bran.
Rice bran is used for treating diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, alcoholism, obesity, and AIDS; for preventing stomach and colon cancer; for preventing heart and blood vessel (cardiovascular) disease; for strengthening the immune system; for increasing energy and improving athletic performance; for improving liver function; and as an antioxidant.
Rice bran oil is also used for high cholesterol.
Active Iingredients in Rice brand oil
• Gamma Oryzanol. The antioxidant γ-oryzanol, it convinces our cells to burn up the sugar in our blood that would normally get deposited in our hips or our belly. The same chemical reduces the absorption of cholesterol from the foods that we eat.
• Omega-6 Fatty Acids. these decrease your appetite and help you feel full.
• Tocopherols and Ttocotrienols, together as vitamin E. These are great for overall health.
• Phytosterols
Some people apply rice bran directly to the skin for an allergic skin rash called eczema (ectopic dermatitis).
Health Benefits of Rice bran Oil
Cholesterol
Literature review shows rice bran oil and its active constituents improve blood cholesterol by reducing total plasma cholesterol and triglycerides, and increasing the proportion of HDL cholesterol.
Results of an animal study indicated a 42% decrease in total cholesterol with a 62% drop in LDL cholesterol, when researchers supplemented test subjects’ diets with fractionated vitamin E obtained from rice
How does rice bran oil work?
Rice bran might help lower cholesterol because the oil it contains has substances that might decrease cholesterol absorption and increase cholesterol elimination. One of the substances in rice bran might decrease calcium absorption; this might help reduce the formation of certain types of kidney stones.
Menopause
One small-scale study of γ-oryzanol, a mixture of chemicals found in rice bran oil, found that 90% of the women had some form of relief from hot flashes after taking a supplement of the purified concentrate for four to six weeks.
Antioxidant stability
The oryzanol content of the pan heated rice bran oil samples remains approximately the same even when heated at 180˚C for 8 hours, while a decrease in oryzanol content was reported in the case of microwave heating at the same conditions.
(Source: WebMD, Wikipedia)
