Fortification of rice with folic acid through surface modification and absorption

• Main Author: Tiozon, Rhowell N., Jr.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2019
• Subjects: Rice; Enriched foods; Folic acid in human nutrition; Chemistry
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_masteral/6291; https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/context/etd_masteral/article/13383/viewcontent/TG07380b_Redacted.pdf
• Institution: De La Salle University

There has been an increasing prevalence of global folate deficiency in rice-consuming countries. Rice fortification is therefore sought to improve the daily intake of essential nutrients and address the malnutrition and other health issues of the vast majority of the human population. Trienzyme extraction and microbiological assays were used to determine the folate variation in germplasms which substantially varies from 26.20 to 104.77 ug/100g for brown rice and 16.18 to 79.22 ug/100g for white rice. The lowest folate containing-rice (i.e., IR54) were selected for fortifications. Parameters were optimized (i.e., 5 mins sonication, 3h soaking, and 800 ppm concentration) and among the three fortification methods (i.e., soaked, one-pot, and stepwise methods), rice absorbed the highest amount of folic acid (i.e., 51.94x103 ± 0.11 ug/100g of rice) – a more than 4,054-fold increase with the retention of 93.53% after washing and cooking using the stepwise method. Color evaluation of folate-fortified rice showed a marked increase in b* color parameter caused by the migration of yellow folic acid in the endosperm. Sonication caused a significant decrease in the hardness and increase in the adhesiveness for both milled and brown rice samples. The thermal and pasting temperature values decreased due to the incorporation of folic acid in rice brought about by destruction of starch network. The interaction of rice with folic acid caused a decrease in the pasting and visco-elastic properties of rice. Successful fortification of FA in rice was demonstrated and the resulting fortified rice showed acceptable physicochemical properties.