Making healthy baked goods with rice bran oil

Baked foods could soon be healthier, thanks to research from the United States Department of Agriculture, which has developed an ingredient that could partially replace butter, margarine and shortening in baked goods.

The ingredient, which resembles nut butter, consists primarily of unrefined rice bran oil and natural wax from rice bran, which is often used in confections. It also contains small quantities of compounds such as vitamin E, plant sterols and gamma-oryzanol, which has been shown to lower levels of ‘bad’ LDL cholesterol in humans.

A major benefit of the extract is that, unlike shortenings and margarines, it does not contain trans fats. It’s also shelf stable, resisting oxidation that could result in off-flavours and unpleasant odours.

Preliminary experiments in which the extract was used in place of butter in granola and white bread were positive, with taste testers reporting that the substitution had no negative impact on either the taste or texture of the bread or granola.

To produce the extract, acetone - which is already approved for extracting edible oils - is used as a solvent. This particular method differs from other methods of extracting a butter-like product from rice bran oil in that it uses very low temperatures.

“The texture and composition of our product are unique,” said chemist Erica Bakota, who led the research team at the Agricultural Research Service’s (ARS’s) National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research.

The research has been described in a 2013 article published in the European Journal of Lipid Science and Technology. The researchers have also recently had another article about the extract accepted for publication in the same journal.

The ARS is seeking a patent for the extraction process and Bakota is looking for collaborators interested in exploring applications of the extract.

“We think our product can make the fat profile of many familiar foods much more healthful - and still get high ratings from taste testers,” Bakota said