Brown rice may have an advantage over white rice by offering protection from high blood pressure and atherosclerosis ("hardening of the arteries"). The layer located between the white center of the rice grain and brown outer layer is called the subaleurone layer.
Researchers led by Satoru Eguchi suggest that a component in a layer of tissue surrounding grains of brown rice may work against angiotensin II.
Angiotensin II is endocrine protein that causes smooth muscles surrounding blood vessels to contract, thereby narrowing blood vessels. This narrowing increases the pressure within the vessels and can cause high blood pressure and atherosclerosis.
The team removed the subaleurone layer from a variety of brown rice (Kinmemai) and separated its different components. The components were then introduced to cultures of smooth muscle cells from blood vessel walls.
They discovered that subaleurone components that were separated using ethyl acetate inhibited angiotensin II activity in the muscle cell cultures, which suggests that the brown rice components offer protection against high blood pressure and atherosclerosis.
Indeed there is a class of antihypertensive drugs called Angiotensin II Receptor Blockers (ARBs) which prevents angiotensin II from binding to angiotensin II receptors on blood vessels. As a result, blood vessels dilate and blood pressure is reduced.
Choosing brown rice over white is only a small step toward promoting a healthy heart. It is not a alternative to prescription antihypertensive medication.
But here are a few more things you can do, in addition to medication, to bring the high blood pressure levels down:
- Adopt a Healthier Diet to Reduce Blood Pressure
- Reduce Intake of Salt to Bring Down Hypertension
- Increase Exercise Levels and Lose Weight to Fight High Blood Pressure
- Modify Sleep Habits to Sleep Early and Reduce Hypertension
- Release Stress and Tension and Bring Down Blood Pressure
Journal Reference:
Akira Takaguri, Hirotoshi Utsnomiya, Ryohei Kono, Shin-ichi Akazawa and Satoru Eguchi. An ethyl acetate extract from a subaleurone layer of Japanese rice inhibits angiotensin ll–induced signal transduction and hypertrophy in vascular smooth muscle cells. The FASEB Journal online April 2010 ahead of print
CHOBE MASTER instant brown rice cereal comes in 40gm sachet for those on the run.
Just curious why brown rice which requires less
ReplyDeleteprocessing cost is selling at a much higher price compared to the polished white rice.