Possibility of rice protein as a functional food material including anti-obesity component

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K05885
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 38050:Food sciences-related
• Research Institution: Niigata Institute of Technology
• Principal Investigator: Kubota Masatoshi 新潟工科大学, 工学部, 准教授 (00595879)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 櫻井 美仁 新潟薬科大学, 応用生命科学部, 助手 (20811491)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: 米胚乳タンパク質 / 米糠タンパク質 / 抗肥満作用

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Rice is a staple food and an only self-sufficient cereal in Japan. Thus, increasing consumption of rice is one of the solution approaches on improving self-sufficiency in food. It is required that a new breakthrough is made because rice consumption is decreasing in Japan. Therefore we focused on the physiological functions of rice protein in this study because there are not enough studies about physiological functions of rice protein. We attempted to clarify the effects of rice protein on obese. Diet induced obese mice were fed starch-degraded rice endosperm protein (SD-REP) or rice bran protein (RBP) for 10 or 12 weeks. From these feeding experiments, it is shown that SD-REP and RBP had anti-obese effects in these model mice. It is also shown that this effect of RBP derived from the amino acids composition and some peptides in RBP. In addition, the underlying mechanism in anti-obese effect of RBP was attributable to increasing fecal lipid excretion.

Free Research Field

食品機能学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究で使用したSD-REPは食品素材として市販されているものであるため，本研究の成果により抗肥満成分を有する新たな食品素材として利用を後押しすることが期待される。またRBPは脱脂米糠の主成分の1つであり，その活用法が問題となっていた。本研究の成果によりSD-REPと同様に抗肥満成分を有する食品素材として活用されることが期待される。特にRBPはその有効成分がアミノ酸組成と消化・吸収過程で生成するペプチドである可能性が示され，RBP加水分解物を利用した解析を進めることで，より抗肥満活性が強い画分のみを濃縮することが可能となり，より低用量で抗肥満作用を呈するサプリメントなどへの応用も期待される。