Almost all homes have oil in their kitchen because it’s essential for everyday cooking. It influences the flavour of your meals and affects your health. For that reason, it’s vital to choose the type of oil with several health benefits.
Throughout the decades, people select cooking oil based on their personal preferences, cooking style, and budget. Today people have become health-conscious, and for that reason, they are experimenting with various oil types.
Bran oil is one of the new entrants that has slowly entered people’s kitchens due to its benefits.
We hope that this article will provide you with in-depth information about rice bran oil, particularly King’s Rice Bran Oil, and its amazing health benefits.
What is Rice Bran Oil?
As the name suggests, the oil is basically extracted from rice bran; the rice grain outer layer, or chaff. Rice bran is generally a rice milling byproduct and is used to feed animals or even destroyed as waste. The oil is classified as healthy cooking oils.
Rice bran oil has attracted increased attention in recent years due to its potential health benefits. It is a common ingredient in many Asian countries’ kitchens such as Japan, India, and China because of its extremely mild flavour and smokes at a high temperature (232°c, or 450°F). The qualities make it suitable for deep frying and stir-frying.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends rice bran oil because of its health benefits. Continue reading for more information about this nutritious oil’s potential benefits.
10 Amazing Health Benefits of Rice Bran Oil
1. Sufficient Antioxidant and Anti-Inflammatory Effects
Rice bran oil has many compounds with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects. An example is the oryzanol and tocotrienols, known for their ability to suppress enzymes that support inflammation, particularly in the heart membrane and blood vessels.
The inflammation can trigger the hardening and narrowing of your arteries or atherosclerosis. However, the active compounds found in rice bran oil provide anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects.
Further, these properties can help reduce hot flashes experienced during menopause.
2. Good Fats
Oils with an equal composition of polyunsaturated fats, monounsaturated fats, and saturated fatty acids are the best for your health. Rice bran type is one such oil, for it not only has balanced fatty acid proportions (1:1 ratio), but it has free of trans-fats.
3. Neutral Taste
The oil is extracted from the brown husk or bran. This part is neutral in taste; thus, it will not clash with your dishes, including cakes and cookies. Further, it has a mild nutty flavour; thus, you can use it when grilling, sautéing, and salad dressing. Additionally, the oil is light and versatile.
4. Heart Friendly
Rice bran oil is heart-friendly due to its right percentage of oryzanol. The antioxidant properties in the oil help to increase cholesterol elimination and decrease cholesterol absorption. Actually, the oil is an excellent option for enhancing your serum cholesterol levels. Therefore, individuals prone to heart disease should take precautions to protect their hearts by cooking with heart-friendly oil.
One caution about rice bran oil is that it doesn’t stick to food; thus, you need to be mindful of the quantity you use when cooking to avoid preparing too oily dishes.
5. Rich in Vitamin E
Vitamin E is a powerful antioxidant that helps in bolstering your immunity. It also has antimutagenic properties that can protect you from cancer.
6. Best for the Skin
Rice bran oil has squalane, a compound that the skin absorbs easily and keeps it supple, soft, and smooth. It also works as a natural moisturizer and improves your skin’s quality and texture, making you look younger. The rice bran oil will brighten your complexion and eliminate the ageing look on your skin.
7. Aids Weight Loss
Rice bran oil has a high natural antioxidant level that boosts the metabolic rate, thus helping you with weight loss. Additionally. The property helps the oil to resist spoilage and rancidity, giving it a long shelf life besides being healthy.
8. Immune Booster
The oil contains vitamin E that helps build the immune system and enhances the immune response. As a result, the body’s ability to respond to bacteria and viruses improves; therefore, you increase the use of rice bran oil when preparing your dishes.
9. Has Anti-Cancer Effects
The tocotrienols content found in rice bran oil has anti-cancer effects because the compound protects the body against ionization radiation exposure that causes cancer.
10. Eliminates Bad Breath
Rice bran oil has antioxidants that help eliminate bad breath when the affected person rinses their mouth with the oil.
Safety Concerns
Rice bran oil is categorized as healthy cooking oil; however, nothing is perfect. It’s considered safe when consumed through the mouth but, a higher quantity of rice bran oil can contribute to unpredictable bowel movements, stomach discomfort, and intestinal gas when you begin cooking with it.
Further, individuals with gastrointestinal conditions such as adhesions, ulcers, slow digestion, blockage or narrowing of the digestive tract, or other intestinal or stomach disorders should avoid using this oil. The reason is that the rice bran has fibre that may block the digestive tract, thus worsening your stomach disorders.
Some individuals prefer to add oil to their bathing water; however, it can cause skin redness and itching. This is likely to occur when you extract oil from rice bran infested with straw itch mite. Still, this is a rare pest or occurrence.
Conclusion
Rice bran oil is one of the new entrants in the healthy cooking oil category. The oil is processed from the rice kernel and offers numerous health benefits such as healthy skin and heart. It also boosts your immune system, decreases the absorption of cholesterol and wards off bad breath.
These health benefits are attributed to its balanced proportions of monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats. Despite the benefits, an individual with intestinal disorders should limit or avoid rice bran oil because it has fibre that could block the digestive tract.
You may also experience some discomfort the first few days when you begin using rice bran oil, however, you will derive several health benefits afterwards.