BROWN RICE FOR HEALTH

Reynaldo M. Lantin, PhDPromoting the Consumption of Unpolished Rice or Brown Rice for Public Health and a Strategy for Making Brown Rice Accessible to the Poor

Definitions

• Brown rice - unpolished rice or pinawa; any variety of rice in which only the hull or ipa is removed and the healthy bran coating is intact with the grain.

• Dr. Brown’s Rice - freshly hulled brown rice

• Dr. Brown – iconic medical doctor who prescribes brown rice for health; also his/her allies in the profession who advocate brown rice consumption

• White rice – polished rice or well-milled rice

• Rice bran or darak - the outer grain coating that is removed during milling of palay into polished rice

Definitions

• Whole grain – rice, wheat, corn or any cereal in which only the inedible part is removed; it can be whole, broken or powdered (e.g. whole wheat flour).

• Head rice – unbroken rice grain.

• Cracking or checking – “lamat” in the grain which results in broken rice during milling; first reported as sun cracking by Copeland in 1925.

• Huller – machine that removes hull or husk from the grain; kiskisan, rubber rolls and impeller types

Rice Bran – Nutrition Facts

• Tests show promised use against arthritis, peripheral neuropathy, cardiovascular disease, high cholesterol and diabetes.

• Filling fiber content (“mabigat sa tiyan”) can aid against obesity.

• Sustains energy of the athlete, laborer and anybody, rich or poor.

Rice Bran – A SupernutrientHarvard School of Public Health

• Contains just about all the vitamins needed, except for Vitamins D and C.

• Contains phytosterols , polysaccharides, beta-sitosterol, fiber, Vitamin E complex and a large complement of B vitamins, including B15, a vital antioxidant.

• Has Co-Enzyme Q10, Omega 3 and Omega 6 Fatty Acids and even Oleic Acid also found in olive oil.

Brown rice vs white riceSource: FAO 1994

Item Brown Rice White Rice

Crude protein, g/100 g 7.1-8.3 6.3-7.1

Crude fat, g/100 g 1.6-2.8 0.3-0.5

Crude fiber, g/100g 0.6-1.0 0.2-0.5

Available carbohydrates, g/100 g 73-87 77-89

Neutral detergent fiber, g/100 g 2.9-3.9 0.7-2.3

Energy content, cal/100 g 1520-1610 1460-1560

Thiamine,mg/100 g 0.29-0.61 0.02-0.11

Riboflavin, mg/100 g 0.04-0.14 0.02-0.06

Niacin, mg/100 g 3.5-5.3 1.3-2.4

Α-Tocopherol, mg/100 g 0.9-2.5 0.075-0.30

Phosphorus 0.17-0.43 0.08-0.15

Phytin P, g/100 g 0.13-0.27 0.02-0.07

Health-giving, disease-preventing and immunity enhancing

• Reduces blood cholesterol

• Effective laxative

• Decreases urinary calcium – prevents kidney stones

• Rich source of Vitamin B-complex

• Phytate may prevent colon cancer

Squandering the Rice Bran Healthy Food

• Livestock and poultry feed

• Low-value but bran oil is very expensive.

• Why is the bran removed during milling?

Brown rice –poor man’s food no longer

• In Europe eating brown rice is a status symbol; Germany is highest consumer of brown rice

• In US many Pinoy-Americans and Caucasian-Americans eat brown rice

• Organic brown rice from uplands and the Cordilleras are now exported to the US

How to like brown rice

Select varieties for

• Taste

• Aroma

• Consistency Use quality-processed brown rice to avoid off-taste

• Properly dried palay

• Fresh brown rice

• Cleaned brown rice

Cook brown rice according to consistency preference

• Duration of soaking

• Amount of water

• Completeness of cooking

Eat with fresh organic vegetables and other healthy foods

How to like brown rice

• Select a soft-textured rice variety – e.g. Jasmine, Burdagol, IR841, Japonica, upland heirloom rice varieties

• Acquire brown rice taste gradually by blending it with white rice in decreasing proportions – BR:WR = 50:50; 75:25, 100:0

• Experiment witho Soaking duration – at least 30 minutes before cooking

o Amount of water – 1.5 to 2 times brown rice volume

o Cooking duration and rate – slow cooking and low heat

o Cooking appliance – traditional clay pot and pandanleaves

• Develop eating discipline – avoid eating white rice

Just-in-time hulling (JIT)

• Fresh brown rice is tasty

• No expensive treatments and eco-unfriendly packaging to extend shelf-life

• No energy-consuming refrigeration storage

• Store palay rather than brown rice

• JIT hulling of palay for cooking of fresh brown rice

Advantages of just-in-time (JIT) hulling

• Freshness – no rancidity; fresh taste and aroma• JIT hulling system is similar to traditional mortar

and pestle; • Brokens are tolerated and may improve taste of

BR;• Less wastage; more brown rice than white rice

derived per kilo of palay• BR is accessible to both rich and poor where a

portable huller becomes available as part of the BR production and processing system.

Why Brown Rice is More Costly than White Rice

• Premium or fancy rice variety.

• Short shelf life.

• Low supply and demand.

• Mostly the rich and famous can afford the goodness of brown rice.

• By necessity, the middle-class buy brown rice to mitigate diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol and other degenerative diseases; it is cheaper than medicine

Social benefits – hunger alleviation and increased income

• Landless rural poor procure wet palay directly from farmers at fair trade price, sun-dry, store and hull it in the community JIT hulling service system – cost of BR as low as Php20/kg.

• Rice farmers grow high-value premium rice varieties and heirloom upland rice.

• Access to BR by the rich and the middle class

Value addition to brown rice:Germinated brown rice (GBR)

• GBR is simple to process from head brown rice

• GBR increases the health value of brown rice

• GBR improves taste and consistency

• GBR is soft to eat even by children

• GBR yet has added nuitritional benefits to brown rice

Germinated brown rice (GBR)

• Altered flavor and texture – soft and pleasant fragrance

• Increased levels of nutrients such as gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA).

• Used in Japanese and Korean • Retains the health benefits of brown rice• Marketed as a health food product• Produced by soaking washed brown rice in warm

water of approximately 32 °C to 34 °C for 1 to 2 days

Health benefits from Germinated Brown Rice (GBR)

γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) increased dramatically if brown rice is soaked in 40 degrees in Celsius water for 8 hours to 24 hours.

Saikusa, Horino and Mori (1994)

Intake of GABA for 8 consecutive weeks suppressed blood pressure and improved sleeplessness, and autonomic disorder observed during the menopausal or presenileperiod.

Okada et al. (2000)

GBR may be effective for suppressing liver damage Jeon et al. (2003)

In Japan, people in the ancient era might have been eating soaked brown rice

(Kayahara, 2003)

How to make Germinated Brown Rice (GBR)

1. Select head brown rice grains - embryo must be intact, grain not broken, cracked or checked.

2. Soak brown rice in water for 24 hours but change the water every three hours.

3. Transfer in cheesecloth bag and maintain moisture by occasionally dipping in water.

4. Process changes the internal minerals and get the nutritious, easier to chew and tastier GBR.

Value addition to brown rice:brown rice bread (BRB)

• RB is made from fine rice flour and in Japan, is more expensive than brown rice and white rice

• Can BR be made into rice bread like banana bread?

• Can BR and which may be plain BR bread, raisin BR bread, nut BR bread, BR bread rolls, croissant BR bread and other kinds of BR bread?

Value addition to brown rice:Pinipig Brown Rice (PBR)

• Pinipig or flattened glutinous rice (malagkit) is BR

• PBR is a delicacy traditionally processed in Biñan, Laguna but is getting rare because of scarcity of local supply of glutinous rice (malagkit)

• Traditionally, PBR is made from green palay, that is, the grains are in the soft to medium dough stage or between milk stage- grain filling and maturity stages

• Green food color is used in low-quality PBR from mature grains.

Value addition to brown rice:Parboiled brown rice (PrBR)

• Graphical depiction of nutrition transfer

• Parboiled rice carries 80% of the nutrients of brown rice.

Financial and Economic Benefits

• Export to US, EU and ME – DA bought upland palay directly from farmers, dried, hulled, packaged and exported to US

• - Kinanda from Malvar, Batangas and

• - Tinawon from the Cordilleras and exported

• The 5% shortfall in rice self-sufficiency in 2013 could have been met by the increased processing recovery of brown rice - PhilMech.

Promoting BR – Brief History

• After WWII to early 1950s – government promoted pounded or unpolished rice then enriched rice – a failure because:

- Pinoys thought that white rice is more beautiful, modern and classy than brown rice;

- Pinoys have developed taste for white rice;

- Poor Pinoys considered BR as a “poor man’s food.”

Results

• Obese and sickly Pinoys due to malnutrition;

• Preference for junk-food - cheap noodles, chichiria

• General dislike for vegetables, especially children and the youth

Promoting BR – Brief History

• Revival since 1990s- UNFAO, WHO – start awareness on BR-DOH, DA/PhilRice and PhilMech, DOST/FNRI- IRRI- Asia Rice Foundation- Iowa State University Alumni Association in the Philippines- Dr. Brown – iconic doctor and nutritionist in hospitals,

clinics, health-centered institutions and NGOs, healthy food journalists, balikbayans (wisdom-enriched OFWs and retirees) and advocates of brown rice consumption

Results

BR advocacy by • DA, DOH, DOST, NGOs and LGUs • Some food and culinary journalists, health magazines,

radio stations – e.g. DWBR 104.3 mHzIncreased popularity among:• Happily, among the rich and middle class - Seniors with

degenerative diseases, balikbayans• Sadly, not among the poor because of:

- The mindset that BR is a “poor man’s food”- Non-accessibility and non-affordability- Lack of awareness

A strategy for inclusive brown rice consumption

Brown rice accessibility

The poor – hulling service provider in a sari-sari store or public market (i-hull-4-u)

The middle class - hulling service provider in convenience store, gas station, mall, resto, resort, transport terminal, etc. (i-hull-4-u)

The rich – huller as kitchen appliance

(u-hull/Dr. Brown’s Rice delivery)

BR for the poor

Their priority values• Alleviate hunger • Affordable cost• Energy for manual workSecondary value – nutritional healthSystems – Barefoot hulling services in sari-sari stores, public markets, cockfight sports arenas, fiesta fairs, remote areas (possible use of solar/water/wind energy) • I-hull your own palay while you wait for your

Dr. Brown’s rice pay for service only• I-hull my own palay while you wait for your

Dr. Brown’s rice pay for cost + service

BR for the rich and famous and for the middle class

Values• Health/disease mitigation through proper nutrition • Slim form and beauty• Acquired taste for BR• Food experienceSystems for stored palay - not stored or packaged brown rice• Kitchen amenity: I-hull my own palay in my kitchen to get

Dr. Brown’s rice just in time for cooking• Small-scale enterprise: I-hull my own palay to sell

Dr. Brown’s rice (raw or cooked) in a public placeconvenient for you – gas station, mall, resto, resort, roadside, transportation terminal, etc.

Promoting BR - Factors to consider

Expensive at present due to:

• Premium varieties of rice

• Short shelf life

• Expensive packaging

• Low turn-over in supermarkets

• Rice mills unwilling to produce BR in small quantities

Promoting BR - Strategies

• BR jingle for school children• Jingle contest• School feeding program• Breed rice for eating quality and yield• Improve the system – rice farmers store palay in

common facility, non-farmers buy palay directly from rice farmers

• Corporate rice supply to employees – Dr. Brown’s Rice not white rice for health and better nutrition of their families – less illness, less absentism, higher productivity

Jingle - tune adaptation of “Ang Alitaptap”

By the Mabuhay Singers - 2000

• [Emoboy:]Ang alitaptap ang alitaptapSa hating-gabi ay lumilipadKay gandang masdanKikisap-kisapTulad ay bituing may munting liwanag

[Emogurl:]Ang alitaptap ang alitaptapDi mo makita di maapuhapSa kadiliman pag lumilipadAy parang bituing kukuti-kutitap

[Emoboy:]Ang alitaptap ang syang katuladNg pagibig mo na aandap-andapKung kaya dapat ika'y mag ingatNg hindi maglaho ang iyong liwanag

[Emogurl:]Ang katulad mo ay alitaptapMay munting ilaw na sumisinagKung matapos ang buong magdamagMaglalaho narin ang iyong liwanag

[Instrumental... Yebaah!! Aww!!!]

Jingle – lyrics adaptation of “Beautiful Brown Eyes”By The Brothers Four – 1960s

Original chorus

Beautiful, beautiful brown eyes,Beautiful, beautiful brown eyesBeautiful, beautiful brown eyesI'll never love blue eyes again.

Adapted chorus

Beautiful and healthful brown rice,Beautiful naimas brown riceBeautiful, kay gandang brown riceWe'll never eat white rice again.

Huller, dehuller or dehusker -Illustrations

• Steel roll and screen concave

• Rubber rolls – pair

• Impeller or centrifugal

Making the impeller huller affordable

• Licensed local manufacture

• Franchised custom-service hulling of palay for brown rice

Taste and Demo

Part 1

• Tasting of cooked Dr. Brown’s Rice, the freshly hulled brown rice

Part 2

• Demonstration of the portable huller to process palay into fresh brown rice and

Sale and sign-up

Part 1

• Sale of Dr. Brown’s Rice

• Limited to 1 kg/pax

Part 2

• Franchising information • Signing up intent