Rice bran oil's role in health and cooking

Abstract

Rice bran oil (RBO) is oil obtained from rice bran, a by-product produced during rice milling. RBO is popular in Asian countries such as Japan, India, Korea, China, and Indonesia as a cooking oil. It has been shown that RBO is an excellent cooking and salad oil due to its high smoke point and delicate flavor. RBO contains some phytochemicals, such as tocotrienols, tocopherols, phytosterols, polyphenols, squalene, and gamma-oryzanol, that are reported to have beneficial effects to human health. Various extraction methods have been developed for recovering RBO from rice bran. Due to its antioxidant capacity, RBO has been reported to have some biological activities, such as decreasing the level of low density lipoprotein, lowering cholesterol, reducing blood pressure, and preventing colorectal cancer. This chapter describes some techniques used for recovering and refining RBO, explains some of its physicochemical properties, and highlights its use in both nutritional and non-nutritional areas.