Effect of protein denaturation and lipid removal on rice physicochemical properties

The physicochemical properties of rice are influenced by their chemical components and their interactions. It has been demonstrated that the interactions among rice chemical components are enhanced by protein denaturation (PD) via heat treatment and by lipid removal (LR) via solvent extraction. The objective of this study was to investigate the impacts of PD, LR, and their combined treatments on the gelatinization and pasting properties, swelling power, and water solubility of four brown rice flours. Rice protein was denatured under a vacuum at 100 degrees C, and rice lipid was removed via hexane for varying times. The combined treatments were done in two ways, PD followed by LR (PD-LR), and LR followed by PD (LR-PD). The results showed that PD increased gelatinization temperatures, while LR decreased gelatinization temperatures. Both PD and LR reduced pasting and swelling properties; however, PD resulted in a greater decrease than LR. Polar lipids are proposed to serve as bridges to link denatured proteins and starch granules in the combined treatments, resulting in greater decreases in the pasting and swelling properties than the individual treatments. The results obtained in this study demonstrate the importance of starch-lipid-protein interactions on the physicochemical properties of brown rice flour.