Rice bran and its oil contain large concentrations of several compounds that could potentially prevent chronic diseases such as coronary heart disease and cancer.

The LSU AgCenter faculty have been actively identifying, extracting, purifying, and evaluating the functionality of several of these compounds. Their initial studies with rice bran focused on stabilizing lipid degradation that leads to flavor problems.

During these studies, it was found that rice bran contained high levels of both tocopherols and tocotrienols, which compromise vitamin E and act as antioxidants in the body. Also, high levels of a mixture of compounds referred to collectively as oryzanol were
identified within rice bran.

Oryzanol components are complex compounds that can act as an antioxidant, improving solubility in cell membranes and potentially lowering cholesterol by competitive inhibition of absorption and synthesis.

The individual components of the oryzanol can be separated, leading to the identification of 3 major fractions of oryzanol:

• Cycloartenyl ferulate
• 24-methylene cycloartanyl ferulate
• Campesteryl ferulate