Black Rice: An Exotic Super Food

 

Black rice, one kind of its kind rice, is getting more popular recently and is consumed as a functional food due to its usefulness to health. Black rice is also known as purple rice, forbidden rice, heaven rice, imperial rice, king’s rice, etc. Research has shown that black rice is considered the twenty-first-century superfood. It is the only rice to contain the antioxidant known as anthocyanins, which is found in dark-hued fruits and vegetables like blueberries, blackberries, dark grapes, dark cherries, purple brinjals, purple cabbage, and purple corn amongst others.

Moreover, Chak-Hao, the black rice variety of Manipur bagged the Geographical Indication (GI) tag.  It is normally eaten during community feasts and is served as Chak-Hao kheer. Chak-Hao has also been used by traditional medical practitioners as part of traditional medicine.

 Nutritional Significance:

Black rice contains essential amino acids like lysine, tryptophan; vitamins such as vitamin B1, vitamin B2, folic acid; and it is a good source of minerals including iron, zinc, calcium, phosphorus, and selenium. Black rice has the highest content of total anthocyanins (327.60 mg/ 100) among all of the studied colored grains. Anthocyanins are also considered powerful dietary antioxidants and have numerous health benefits.

BLACK RICE OVER BROWN AND WHITE RICE:

It is a well-known fact that black rice has higher nutritional value than all other rice varieties. White rice, red rice, and brown rice have been around for a long but amongst these; black rice might emerge as the clear winner in nutritional and health benefits.

• White rice is mostly preferred and commonly consumed by the majority of the people for its taste and low cost and easy availability. But, while polishing white rice, vitamins and minerals especially vitamin B2, B6, and B12 in large amounts are lost whereas black rice comes packed with micronutrients.  
• Black rice and brown rice are similar in nutritional content. Although, black rice has about 20-30 more calories per the same serving which is insignificant. The bigger difference is more so in fiber, carbs, and even some minerals. A quarter cup of uncooked brown rice has about 1-2g of fiber whereas the same amount of black rice contains about 4-5g. 
• Weight control benefits were seen among women who ate a black and brown rice mixture compared to those who ate white rice.

Black rice contains superior protein, essential amino acids compared with ordinary rice. Together with brown rice, black rice is higher in fiber and antioxidants than white rice. Unfortunately, the consumption of brown and black rice is less popular among people.

 A BOON FOR THE FOOD INDUSTRY:

Application of black rice in various food processing sectors will contribute to the overall increase in the nutritional profile of traditional food products, the bioavailability of nutrients and also used for the development of functional foods: as it contains the highest amount of anthocyanins (327.60 mg/100 g) than any other fruit or vegetable. This pigment is located in the outer pericarp (bran) of the rice kernel, which include cyanidin-3-o-glucoside, peonidin-3-oglucoside, malvidin-3-o-glucoside, pelagonidin-3-o-glucoside and delphinidin-3-o-glucosid.  

• Black rice bran oil is extracted from the outer layers (Bran) of the Rice kernels and has of bioactive compounds, rich in Oryzanol which is a more powerful antioxidant than vitamin E fights against free radicals and has a balanced fatty acid profile.

Extruded snacks are the most commercially successful products due to their different variety of products, easy availability, ready to cook, convenience, and long shelf life. Black rice in the extrusion process can create highly nutritious products.

·   Black rice also has an appreciable amount of protein content, it can be used as a bioactive compound in the manufacturing of pasta.

·      Noodles have a lot of advantages among the customers; it also has some disadvantages because most of the nutrients such as protein, dietary fiber, and vitamins are lost during the refining process of wheat. Black rice bran powder incorporated noodles revealed that the protein, fat, and ash contents increased.

•  Black rice powder can be used as a substitute for wheat flour in the preparation of cakes.

• In small quantities, Black rice powder can be added with wheat flour for bread preparation to enhance protein content.
  
•          Wheat flour was substituted with Black rice powder in cookies/biscuits.

HEALTH BENEFITS OF BLACK RICE:

The main healthy component present in black rice is the colored pigment called Anthocyanin, used to treat a wide variety of health issues like

•          Anti-inflammatory properties
•      Cardiovascular disease prevention
•      Anti-cancer effects
•     Anti-diabetic effect
•     Reduces allergies
•     Prevention of constipation
•     Anemia
•     Weight Management
•     Liver Health
•     Brain Function

Thus incorporating black rice into the normal diet can enhance the overall life span and improve people's health and well-being. Awareness among the public toward consuming black rice will give way to a healthier life.