Low Acrylamide Flatbreads Prepared from Colored Rice Flours and Relationship to Asparagine and Proximate Content of Flours and Flatbreads

Acrylamide is a potentially toxic compound present in many plant-based foods, such as coffee, breads, and potato fries, which is reported to have carcinogenic, neurotoxic, and antifertility properties in vivo, suggesting the need to keep the acrylamide content of widely consumed food as low as possible. As pigmented rice contains bioactive phenolic and flavonoid compounds, the objective of this study was to potentially enhance the beneficial properties of flatbreads by evaluating the acrylamide content and proximate composition of 12 novel flatbreads prepared from the following commercial pigmented rice seeds: Black Japonica, Chinese Black, French Camargue, Himalayan Red, Long Grain Brown, Purple Sticky, Short Grain Brown, Wehani, Wild, Indian Brown Basmati, Organic Brown Jasmine, and Organic Jade Pearl. Although acrylamide levels ranged from 4.9 µg/kg in Long Grain Brown to 50.8 µg/kg in Chinese Black, the absolute values were all low (though statistically significantly differences existed among varieties). Acrylamide content did not correlate with its precursor asparagine. The variations in protein, carbohydrate, fat, ash, dry matter, and water content determined by proximate analysis, and the reported health benefits of colored rice cultivars used to prepare the flatbreads, might also be useful for relating composition to nutritional qualities and health properties, facilitating their use as nutritional and health-promoting functional foods.

Quality attributes and cooking properties of commercial Thai rice noodles

One of the most popular and abundant traditional foods in Asian countries is dried rice noodles. In fact, the demand for this product has increased steadily around the world in recent years. The qualities of rice noodles are directly related to the specific preferences of consumers. Hence, the present study aimed to determine the properties of eight commercial dried rice noodles that are readily available in most Thai markets. The specific properties under investigation and comparison in this study were proximate composition, amylose content, color, pasting quality, cooking quality, texture, and sensory properties. The specimens were divided into two groups: white (A, B, C, D, and E) and colored rice noodles (F, G, and H). The results showed that the proximate composition, amylose content, and color of both white and colored rice noodles were significantly different (p < 0.05). The lowest cooking losses in white and colored rice noodles were 0.11% (B) and 2.03% (G) (p < 0.05), respectively. Higher values of pasting (setback and final viscosities) and texture properties (tensile strength and extensibility) provided higher overall acceptability. The highest scores for acceptability of white and colored rice noodles were 7.00 (B) and 5.87 (H) (p < 0.05), respectively.

Emotions Evoked by Colors and Health Functionality Information of Colored Rice: A Cross-Cultural Study

This study aimed to examine the emotional responses evoked by cooked colored rice and its health functionality information in both consumers who eat rice as a staple food and consumers who do not eat rice as a staple food. Specifically, Korean and American consumers were exposed to colored rice and its health functionality information and an emotion lexicon was generated and measured based on focus group interviews (FGI) and two online consumer surveys. In test 1, the emotions evoked by presentation of stimuli to Koreans (N = 10) and Americans (N = 10) were extracted through FGIs and the first online consumer survey (Koreans = 69; Americans = 68) and an emotion lexicon was generated. As a result, a total of 34 terms were confirmed. Test 2 was conducted during the second online consumer survey (capturing data from a total of 208 Koreans and 208 Americans), utilizing the terms generated in test 1. In this test, only the colors (CO) of colored rice were presented to one group, while colors and health functionality information (CO&H) were presented to the other group. The overall liking for stimuli in both countries was highly correlated with familiarity. Koreans showed significantly more familiarity and liking for CO of white and black CO rice, while Americans showed significantly more familiarity and liking for CO of white and yellow rice. Hierarchical cluster analysis was performed to categorize the emotion terms, and the emotion terms were sorted into the three clusters, “Positive”, “Negative”, and “New”, for both countries. Under informed conditions, the emotions became more positive, and emotions in the “New” cluster were evoked in both countries. The current study employed a cross-cultural approach to assess consumers’ emotional responses to colored rice and health functionality information. Our findings suggest that providing foods with preferred colors for each culture and providing sufficient information on the said foods will help to promote unfamiliar foods.

The γ-oryzanol Content of Thai Rice Cultivars and the Effects of Gamma Irradiation on the γ-oryzanol Content of Germinated Thai Market Rice

Thirty-nine Thai rice cultivars, including 17 non-colored rice cultivars and 22 colored rice cultivars (black rice cultivars and red rice cultivars), were investigated for γ-oryzanol content. The γ-oryzanol content of non-colored rice cultivars and colored rice cultivars was found to be 226.40 ± 17.50 μg/g to 411.80 ± 19.80 μg/g and 295.80 ± 15.40 μg/g to 459.80 ± 6.60 μg/g, respectively. Black rice cultivars seem to have higher γ-oryzanol content than do red rice and non-colored rice cultivars. The highest γ-oryzanol levels were identified in Khao Jao Dam Sa-Nit, a black rice cultivar, which contained 1.55 and 2.03 times more γ-oryzanol than Khao Man Bpoo, a red rice cultivar with lowest γ-oryzanol levels, and Khao Gor Kor 57, a non-colored rice cultivar with lowest γ-oryzanol levels, respectively. For further investigation, the effects of gamma irradiation on the γ-oryzanol content of four germinated Thai market rice cultivars, Khao Pathum Thani 1, Khao Gor Kor 31, Khao Gor Kor 41, and Khao Gor Kor 57, was investigated. The highest increase in γ-oryzanol content among the gamma irradiated rice cultivars was identified in Khao Pathum Thani 1 and Khao Gor Kor 31, which had γ-oryzanol levels approximately 1.27 times higher than that of the control rice (non-gamma irradiated rice). Our report contains basic knowledge about creating new rice lines that are rich in highly beneficial nutrients.