Rice Protein Concentrate

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Hypoallergenic Protein Powder Supports Healthy Cholesterol and Blood Sugar Levels

By Kimberly Pryor

Rice is one of the most widely consumed foods in much of the world, feeding more people over a longer period of time than any other crop.
In many Asian countries, rice is more than simply a staple and an important part of the economy—it is a cultural icon to which people pay respect. In Japan, according to Shinto belief, the Emperor is the living embodiment of Ninigo-no-mikoto, the god of the ripened rice plant.
Research suggests that the Asian people’s faith in rice may be justified. Rice bran has demonstrated a number of beneficial effects, including inhibiting leukemia, breast, colon and liver cancer in animals; lowering cholesterol; improving the glucose levels in type 1 and type 2 diabetics; counteracting stress in animals; and protecting the arteries in mice.
Rice Protein Concentrate
Rice protein concentrate provides a concentrated rice protein low in residual sugars. It is made by filtering protein and fiber from whole rice digested enzymatically. No acids, bases or other chemicals are used. Residual carbohydrates are converted into a mixture of simple sugars and oligosaccharides and then washed away from the protein. Rice protein is rich in essential amino acids such as histidine, leucine, lysine, tryptophan and valine as well as other aminos such as arginine, glycine and proline. In addition, it is a good source of tocotrienols.
Rice protein concentrate is an alternative for protein-powder consumers who wish to avoid soy and whey. Because Americans have not traditionally consumed a lot of rice compared to some cultures, rice is not a common allergen and therefore, rice protein is hypoallergenic and easily digestible—unlike milk and soy-derived protein. Rice protein also is a good source of both insoluble and soluble fiber.
Rice bran is one of the main sources of rice protein. Consumption of rice protein, therefore, is one way to ensure adequate consumption of a nutrient that has demonstrated a number of benefits.
Anti-Cancer Activities
Rice bran and rice bran oil have both exhibited anti-cancer actions. In one study, phenols found in brown rice and brown rice bran decreased numbers and colony formation of human breast and colon cancer cells.
According to the study’s authors, “The results suggest that: (a) brown rice and bran contain compounds with putative cancer chemopreventive properties; (b) certain phenols contained in brown rice bran, e.g., tricin, may be associated with this activity; and (c) these phenols are present at much lower levels in white than in brown rice.”1
Rice bran’s benefits are thought to arise from its high phenol content as well as its high content of tocotrienols, which belong to the vitamin E family. In one study, researchers treated rats with a chemical carcinogen known to induce mammary cancer and high cholesterol in animals. The study authors fed 10 mg/kg body weight/day of a tocotrienol-rich fraction isolated from rice bran oil to the chemically treated animals for six months. Rats who did not receive the rice bran fraction developed multiple mammary tumors.
In contrast, rats treated with the rice-bran-derived tocotrienols experienced reduced severity and extent of cancer development in the mammary glands. The rice bran fraction also exerted a number of other anti-cancer actions and significantly reduced the cholesterol increase caused by the chemical—a decline of 30 percent in total cholesterol and 67 percent in LDL-cholesterol levels compared to animals who received only the chemical.2
In animal models, rice bran also inhibited leukemia (when rice bran was treated enzymatically with an extract from Shiitaki mushrooms)3 and skin cancer.4
Lipid-Lowering Abilities
Rice bran has been extensively studied for its ability to lower cholesterol. In a study published in the March 2002 issue of the journal Atherosclerosis, researchers treated human subjects who had high cholesterol with a tocotrienol-rich fraction of stabilized rice bran. The subjects were given 25, 50, 100 and 200 mg/day of the rice bran fraction while on the American Heart Association’s Step-1 diet. When the subjects were taking 100 mg/day of rice bran, they experienced a 20 percent reduction in serum total cholesterol, a 25 percent reduction in LDL-cholesterol (the “bad” cholesterol), a 14 percent reduction in apolipoprotein B, and a 12 percent reduction in triglycerides compared to baseline values.5
Studies also show that rice bran can stop cholesterol oxidation. It isn’t cholesterol per se that causes heart disease, but rather cholesterol oxidation, caused when free radicals damage lipids, essentially turning them rancid. In one in vitro study, gamma oryzanol derived from rice bran was an especially potent inhibitor of cholesterol oxidation, along with rice-bran derived tocotrienols. This led the researchers to conclude, “The antioxidant function of these components against cholesterol oxidation may contribute to the potential hypocholesterolemic property of rice bran.”6
Another potential mechanism of action behind rice bran’s cholesterol-lowering actions is its ability to bind bile acids. Bile acids are synthesized in the liver from cholesterol. They are secreted into the intestine and are eventually reabsorbed by the body. By binding bile acids, cereal fibers such as rice bran prevent reabsorption and stimulate plasma and liver cholesterol conversion to additional bile acids rather than allowing cholesterol deposition in the body.7
Cardiovascular Effects
Animal studies indicate that tocotrienol-rich fractions of rice bran can protect arteries against damage that can lead to heart disease. In one study, researchers fed different fractions of rice bran to mice that were bred to suffer from high cholesterol and atherosclerotic lesions similar to those of humans.
When a high-fat diet was supplemented with the rice bran components for 24 weeks, the atherosclerotic lesion size was reduced by up to 57 percent compared to mice that were fed a control diet. In mice fed the rice bran components for 18 weeks, lesions were reduced by up to 33 percent compared with mice fed a control diet.8
Diabetes
Stabilized rice bran also exerts a number of positive effects in both type 1 and type 2 diabetics. In one study, for 60 days researchers fed stabilized rice bran and its fractions to subjects suffering from type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Sixty-eight type 1 diabetics consumed either stabilized rice bran or one of its fractions, rice bran water solubles and rice bran fiber concentrates.
Stabilized rice bran, rice bran water solubles, and rice bran fiber concentrates reduced glycosylated hemoglobin one, 11 and 10 percent, respectively. The fasting serum glucose levels were also reduced significantly with stabilized rice bran (nine percent), rice bran water solubles (29 percent), and rice bran fiber concentrates (19 percent).
The 57 type 2 subjects fed rice bran water solubles and rice bran fiber concentrates also experienced decreased levels of glycosylated hemoglobin (15 and 11 percent) and fasting glucose (33 and 22 percent). Glycosylated hemoglobin rises in the blood of diabetics when blood glucose levels have not been controlled and are abnormally elevated. Rice brans ability to regulate glycosylated hemoglobin levels is therefore an indication it can help control blood sugar. Serum insulin levels were increased by four percent with rice bran water solubles in both types of diabetes.
According to the researchers, “The reduction of glycosylated hemoglobin and a slight increase in insulin levels indicate that consumption of rice bran water solubles can control blood glucose levels in human diabetes.”
Serum total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, apolipoprotein B and triglycerides levels also were reduced with rice bran fiber concentrates in the type 1 and type 2 groups. “These results indicate that rice bran water solubles significantly reduces hyperglycemia, whereas rice bran fiber concentrates reduces hyperlipidemia in both types of diabetes,” the study authors wrote. “Therefore, these natural products can be used as nutritional supplements for the control of both types of diabetes mellitus in humans.”9

Natural Stress Fighter?
A study by Korean researchers indicates fermented rice bran may act as an adaptogen, protecting the adrenal glands against stress. In their study, the researchers administered 1 gram/kg/day orally of an extract of fermented rice bran to rats and mice.
The investigators noted that the fermented rice bran inhibited major changes in weight of the adrenal, thymus, spleen and thyroid, indicating an anti-stress effect. The fermented brown rice also decreased fatigue, significantly prolonging the animals’ swimming time.10
Conclusion
Rice protein concentrate is a concentrated rice protein that is an excellent source of cholesterol-lowering, blood sugar stabilizing rice bran. Anyone searching for an alternative to soy and whey protein powders will find rice protein concentrate a suitable alternative. Furthermore, rice bran’s potential to lower cholesterol, inhibit cancer, and stop the formation of arterial lesions indicates rice protein can play a valuable role in a nutritional supplement regimen.
References :
1. Hudson EA, Dinh PA, Kokubun T, Simmonds MS, Gescher A. Characterization of potentially chemopreventive phenols in extracts of brown rice that inhibit the growth of human breast and colon cancer cells. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2000 Nov;9(11):1163-70.
2. Iqbal J, Minhajuddin M, Beg ZH. Suppression of 7,12-dimethylbenz[alpha]anthracene-induced carcinogenesis and hypercholesterolaemia in rats by tocotrienol-rich fraction isolated from rice bran oil. European J Cancer Prevention 12(6): 447-453.
3. Ghoneum M, Gollapudi S. Modified arabinoxylan rice bran (MGN-3/Biobran) sensitizes human T cell leukemia cells to death receptor (CD95)-induced apoptosis. Cancer Lett 2003 Nov 10;201(1):41-9.
4. Yasukawa K, Akihisa T, Kimura Y, Tamura T, Takido M. Inhibitory effect of cycloartenol ferulate, a component of rice bran, on tumor promotion in two-stage carcinogenesis in mouse skin. Biol Pharm Bull 1998 Oct;21(10):1072-6.
5. Qureshi AA, Sami SA, Salser WA, Khan FA. Dose-dependent suppression of serum cholesterol by tocotrienol-rich fraction (TRF25) of rice bran in hypercholesterolemic humans. Atherosclerosis 2002 Mar;161(1):199-207.
6. Xu Z, Hua N, Godber JS. Antioxidant activity of tocopherols, tocotrienols, and gamma-oryzanol components from rice bran against cholesterol oxidation accelerated by 2,2’-azobis(2-methylpropionamidine) dihydrochloride. J Agric Food Chem 2001 Apr;49(4):2077-81.
7. Kahlon TS, Chow FI. In vitro binding of bile acids by rice bran, oat bran, wheat bran, and corn bran. Cereal Chemistry 2000 July-August; 77(4): 518-521.
8. Qureshi AA, Salser WA, Parmar R, Emeson EE. Novel tocotrienols of rice bran inhibit atherosclerotic lesions in C57BL/6 ApoE-deficient mice. J Nutr 2001 Oct;131(10):2606-18.
9. Qureshi AA, Sami SA, Khan FA. Effects of stabilized rice bran, its soluble and fiber fractions on blood glucose levels and serum lipid parameters in humans with diabetes mellitus Types I and II. J Nutr Biochem 2002 Mar;13(3):175-187.
10. Kim KM, Yu KW, Kang DH, Suh HJ. Anti-stress and anti-fatigue effect of fermented rice bran. Phytother Res 2002 Nov;16(7):700-2.

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Hypoallergenic Protein Powder Supports Healthy Cholesterol and Blood Sugar Levels

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