e-Foodtech Future – Rice is a staple food that is very important in the world, including in Indonesia. Rice that is generally consumed by people in Indonesia is white rice, red rice, and black rice. Black rice is one type of rice that is gaining in popularity in the community and consumed as functional food because it is beneficial for health.
Black rice is a high and inexpensive source of anthocyanin compared to other sources of anthocyanin such as blueberries and grapes. Anthocyanin is an organic compound of the flavonoid group with the main structure of three aromatic groups. As an antioxidant, anthocyanin is beneficial for health, including preventing premature aging, protecting the stomach from damage, inhibiting tumor cells, as an anti-inflammatory and anticancer compound, protecting the brain from damage, preventing obesity and diabetes, increasing the ability of the brain’s memory, preventing neurological diseases, and counteract free radicals in the body. Black rice also contains protein, vitamins, and minerals which are higher than white rice. Based on this, an explanation is needed about the chemical structure of anthocyanin, the nature of anthocyanin and its benefits for health and industrial applications, black rice as a source of anthocyanin, anthocyanin distribution and synthesis, the benefits of anthocyanin for plants, and the prospects for developing black rice in Indonesia.
Kavadya Syska, Coordinator of Food Technology Study Program, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Nahdlatul Ulama Purwokerto said that functional food is a food product that contains bioactive compounds that can be used for disease prevention. Functional food can be in the form of food or drinks eaten daily in the usual form (not capsule form), which contains bioactive compounds and nutrients that have properties to prevent or cure disease.
Many studies reveal that black rice including rice husks, rice bran, and oil from rice bran are potential sources to be used as functional food. Black rice contains a lot of bioactive components and includes 7 kinds of anthocyanin in cyaniding-3-O-glucoside and peonidin-3-O-glucoside. In addition, black rice also contains 5 flavonol glycosides including quercertin-3-O-glucoside and quercertin-3-O-routineoside. Anthocyanin compounds in black rice can be obtained by extraction using maceration for 12 hours in dark room conditions and temperatures of 40C. After maceration, centrifugation is carried out to obtain a supernatant filtered and stored in a dark container at -200C.
One of the benefits of functional food is to reduce obesity. Obesity is a medical condition in the form of excessive fat accumulation that causes body weight to exceed normal. Obesity increases the risk of various degenerative diseases. Increased consumption of foods high in protein, fiber, and antioxidants is expected to overcome the problem of obesity. Black rice is a food that is high in anthocyanin, antioxidants, and fiber.
Sources: interviews and references analysis
Food Technology, UNU Purwokerto: Creative, Innovative, Fantastic
Food Technology, UNU Purwokerto: Developing Creative and Innovative Future
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