NUTRITIONAL SIGNIFICANCE OF RICE BRAN OIL

India is the second largest producer of rice in the world and has the high potential to produce rice bran oil(RBO), a by-product of the rice milling industry. Since RBO is,an unconventional oil, the chemical co mposition, nutrient evaluation and toxicological safety were assessed. The fatty acid composition RBO is very close to that of groundnut oil (GNO). Though REO has high unsaponifiable matter (4.2%), it is rich i n minor constituents such as phytosterols, triterpene alcohols, tocoph erols and tocotrienols. Experimental as well as human studies have dem onstrated the hypolipidaemic effects of RBO. Further, it was establish ed that minor constituents present in unsaponifiable fraction of RBO w ere responsible for its hypolipidaemic effects. Nutritional evaluation studies, carried out with 10 per cent RBO and 20 per cent protein, in dicated that growth, feed efficiency and mineral balance were comparab le to GNO-fed animals. Toxicological studies had shown that there were no abnormalities in animals fed either RBO or GNO. The reproductive p erformance was also found to be normal as compared with that of GNO-fe d animals in all three generations. In addition, neither RBO nor the f oods deepfried in it showed any mutagenicity as judged by Ames test. I n view of its safety and hypolipidaemic activity, RBO could be conside red as an alternative source of edible oil.