PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL-PROPERTIES OF DIETARY FIBER PREPARED FROM RICE BRAN

Rice dietary fiber was prepared from defatted rice bran by treatment with protease, and its physical and chemical properties were investigated. Its water adsorption capacity, oil adsorption capacity, and settling volume in water was 10.89 g, 8.21 g, and 13.0 ml, respectively, per gram of fiber. The fibers adsorbed agricultural chemicals, malathion and fenitrothion. In these properties, rice fiber was superior to cellulose and fibers from corn bran and wheat bran. Characteristics of the binding of minerals to neutral detergent fibers (NDF) from the three cereals investigated were studied. Calcium bound to each kind of NDF at about 2 mg per gram of NDF, but more iron (6.03 mg per gram of NDF) bound to the NDF of rice bran than to the other two NDFs tested. The iron bound to the NDF of rice bran was not readily released by conditions normally used in cooking, but it was released under simulated gastrointestinal conditions. The iron bound to rice fiber had no effect on the properties such as the water adsorption capacity of the fiber.