Rice Bran: A Food Ingredient with Global Public Health Opportunities
Rice is a critical staple food crop for achieving global food security and influencing human health. Various initiatives have focused on rice to decrease hunger and malnutrition, since rice feeds most of the world's poor population. Rice bran, derived from whole grain rice, is currently an under utilized food ingredient that presents a tremendous opportunity for dietary inclusion. Emerging evidence indicates that bioactive components found in rice bran have disease fighting properties related to both infectious and chronic diseases. The addition of rice bran as a food ingredient into culturally acceptable, nutritious foods has health promoting significance across the lifespan, ranging from complementary foods to widely consumed food products. This chapter addresses the challenges and opportunities for widespread rice bran consumption, and highlights how rice varietal differences in bioactive components merit investigation for health properties. Moreover, public health nutrition education for rice bran will be an important next step for the sustainable development of region specific dietary intake.