Nutritional Quality and Acceptability of Brown Rice Ice Cream Sandwich.

Processing adds value to agricultural products, making them more nutritious and economically competitive. Brown rice, by its unremoved bran, contains substantial amounts of protein, dietary fiber, minerals and vitamins; while buffalo's milk has higher protein and calcium and lower cholesterol than other dairy milks. These were suitable ingredients to develop healthy and nutritious value-added product. An ice cream sandwich was developed using brown rice flour (BRF) substituted at 0, 40, 50 and 60% (wt/wt), and fresh buffalo's milk. Acceptability of the product was determined through a consumer survey (n=100; 15 to 30 y old). Consumer sensory evaluation showed that cracker substituted with 50% BRF complemented with buffalo's milk-based ice cream produced an acceptable ice cream sandwich. This resulted in a brown rice cracker ice cream sandwich (BRICS) that has 164 kcal, 8 g fat, 5.7 g protein, 20 g carbohydrates and key minerals. Product testing revealed that taste, mouthfeel, and aroma were the top attributes considered by respondents in buying ice cream products, and BRICS achieved high acceptability rating in these attributes. BRICS obtained an overall acceptability rating of 8.9 in a 9-point hedonic scale. Eighty eight percent (88%) of the respodents were willing to buy BRICS at PhP15-20. Therefore, BRICS is a convenient, nutritious, and marketable value-added product made from BRF and buffalo's milk.

Improving Rice Dietary Fibre Content and Composition for Human Health.

Soft textured rice is the major source of calories in the diet of most South East (SE) Asian countries. However, it is most often consumed after polishing which removes the bran and embryo and hence most of the vitamins, minerals and dietary fibre (DF) are lost. Consequently, white rice comprises over 90% starch with only trace amounts of DF and is rapidly digested in the human gastrointestinal tract, resulting in a high glycaemic index (GI). The excessive consumption of high GI foods is associated with increased risks of a range of chronic diseases including type-2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease (CVD) and some types of cancer. Furthermore, the incidence of these conditions is dramatically increasing in areas where white rice is the staple food, notably Asia, with the prevalence of diabetes in SE Asia alone predicted to reach 120 million by 2030. It is therefore necessary to develop rice lines in which high energy content is combined with low GI. This may be achieved by combining acceptable levels of resistant starch (RS) with an increased content of the cell wall derived-dietary fibre components.