根据最近发表于开放获取期刊Rice的研究，米糠，即稻谷的外壳，具有很高的营养价值，并且是蛋白质、脂肪、矿物质和诸如维生素B等微量营养元素的丰富来源。来自科罗拉多州立大学的研究人员认为，在加工过程中从米粒外去除并用作动物饲料的米糠可能对人类的健康和营养具有益处。
通讯作者Elizabeth Ryan教授谈到：“根据USDA，一份28克的米糠，提供了人类对诸如硫胺素、烟酸和维生素B6等重要维生素一半以上的日常需求。传统上，米糠被认为是廉价的纤维来源，并且仅被认为是有用的脂肪来源，例如作为食用油。因为被认为是动物饲料，它在人类健康和营养方面使用不多，然而其高营养价值越来越引起来自公共健康领域的关注。”
研究人员使用被称为食品代谢组学或“食品组学”的方法，其使用名为质谱法的复杂生物化学技术，来鉴别并测量存在于食物中的许多不同分子的丰度。经过评估之前用于人类饮食干预试验的三个美国水稻品种后，研究人员发现了453种代谢物，包括65种已经显示出具有潜在药用和健康促进属性的代谢物，以及16种以前未报道在米糠中发现的代谢物。
Ryan教授谈到：“我们研究了可在米糠中发现的氨基酸、维生素、辅因子和次级代谢物，因为我们猜测它们有助于米糠的药用和营养价值。我们惊讶地发现，全部小分子含量的将近50%由辅因子、维生素和氨基酸构成。”
作者进行的文献检索显示，先前的研究已经发现他们在米糠中鉴别出的一些化合物具有抗炎、抗菌和抗高血压等特性。值得注意是，米糠还具有12-15%的蛋白质含量，这有助于解决作为全球健康关注重点的营养短缺问题。
Ryan教授谈到：“水稻是世界一半以上人口必不可少的主食。100多个国家种植水稻。当食用米糠时，米糠作为食物成分可以提供超过400种单独化合物，并且许多化合物可能以合作的方式带来健康益处。”
她补充道：“虽然对于消化之后这些单独化合物对人体益处的信息有限，但是米糠的生物化学成分值得进一步研究，以获取相关营养疗法和药用食物应用。”
###
Media Contact
Anne Korn
Press Officer
BioMed Central
T: +44 (0)20 3192 2744
E: anne.korn@biomedcentral.com
Notes to editors:
1. Research article:
Rice Bran Metabolome Contains Amino Acids, Vitamins & Cofactors, and Phytochemicals with Medicinal and Nutritional Properties.
Zarei et al Rice 2017
DOI: 10.1186/s12284-017-0157-2
After the embargo lifts, the article will be available at the journal website here: https://thericejournal.springeropen.com/articles/10.1186/s12284-017-0157-2
2. Please name the journal in any story you write. If you are writing for the web, please link to the article. All articles are available free of charge, according to BioMed Central's open access policy.
3. Rice aims to fill a glaring void in basic and applied plant science journal publishing. This journal is the world's only high-quality serial publication for reporting current advances in rice genetics, structural and functional genomics, comparative genomics, molecular biology and physiology, molecular breeding and comparative biology. Rice welcomes review articles and original papers in all of the aforementioned areas and serves as the primary source of newly published information for researchers and students in rice and related research.
4. SpringerOpen, launched in June 2010, includes Springer’s portfolio of 200+ peer-reviewed fully open access journals across all areas of science. In August 2012, due to the growing demand for open access and the success of our SpringerOpen journals, we expanded our offering to open access books. Published under the SpringerOpen brand they complement our established open access journal portfolio. SpringerOpen journals and books are made freely and permanently available online immediately upon publication. They are subject to high-level peer review, author and production services ensuring quality and reliability of the work. Authors publishing with SpringerOpen retain the copyright to their work, licensing it under a Creative Commons license. To cover the cost of the publication process, all SpringerOpen journals and books charge an open access fee.
5. BioMed Central is an STM (Science, Technology and Medicine) publisher which has pioneered the open access publishing model. All peer-reviewed research articles published by BioMed Central are made immediately and freely accessible online, and are licensed to allow redistribution and reuse. BioMed Central is part of Springer Nature, a major new force in scientific, scholarly, professional and educational publishing, created in May 2015 through the combination of Nature Publishing Group, Palgrave Macmillan, Macmillan Education and Springer Science+Business Media. http://www.biomedcentral.com
Journal
Rice