Thus, some type of rice
varieties may be bred which has not only higher yield but also better quality containing increased levels of bioactive compounds.
Rice grain has a bark-like, protective hull, beneath which are the
endosperm, bran and germ. Polishing of the dehulled rice to obtain
milled rice, the form that is generally consumed, leads to loss of
most of the nutritional components of the rice grain that are
mostly deposited in the bran. Most rice varieties that are planted
and consumed throughout the world have white pericarp. Therefore, more attentions should be paid to develop rice varieties with
coloured pericarp or coloured rice bran layer (Nam et al., 2006;
Qiu, Liu, & Beta, 2009). It has been shown that consumption of coloured rice causes decrease of oxidative stress and simultaneous
increase of antioxidant capacity in the tested models (Hu,
Zawistowski, Wenhua, & Kitts, 2003).