Gaba Brown Rice

[MikeMac]

This is not a new variety of brown rice, but a newly discovered way of cooking brown rice to "activate" it and increase natural occurring gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), an amino acid in brown rice believed to have health giving properties such as lowering blood pressure, improving kidney function and relieving stress.

While I am not techinically capable of commenting on the above statement I do like the taste of the rice .

problem is when making it in a rice cooker I am limited to a 2 hour soak aparently because the rice water gets too ripe.

plus are the claims made about GABA rice really true?

[Anonymous Modernist 16868]

Hi Mike,

I'd seen GABA rice in the supermarket but was not more familiar with it. I'm able to locate only a few scientific papers that discuss the effects of GABA, and those studies were conducted on mice or cultured cells, not humans. One, for example, found that more mouse and human cancer cells treated with germinated brown rice extract experienced cell death than did those treated with non-germinated rice, which contains less GABA. (See here for the paper abstract: http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/abs/10.1089/109662004322984653) However, that is hardly equivalent to treating or preventing cancer in humans.

This study is in the vein of other studies that attribute positive health claims to single molecular components of a food, instead of looking at its broad physiological effects in the context of diet and other environmental factors. In the case of GABA, I'd say that the available data shows, at best, that more research is needed.

As for cooking GABA rice, are you using a cooker with a GABA setting that requires a 2-hr soak? If that doesn't fit your cooking schedule, how about soaking it at lower temperatures outside of the rice cooker for, say, 16-20 hours? (This blogger seems to have a good amount of experience: http://chowdivine.com/germinated-brown-rice)

Cheers,

Larissa from the Modernist Cuisine team

[MikeMac]

I will read and learn Larissa you guys are the best !!!