**3. Pigmented rice and bioactivities that benefit health**

Phytochemicals found in pigmented rice (brown, black, purple, and red rice) are not present in white rice because many valuable phytochemicals, fiber, vitamins, and nutrients are lost during the processes of refining and milling [57]. Since brown rice contains higher dietary fiber and nutrients, previous studies have revealed that when compared to a white rice diet, a brown rice diet was found to significantly reduce weight, body mass index (BMI), and the circumference of the waist and hips, as well as to lower diastole blood pressure and inflammatory biomarkers such as C-reactive proteins (CRP). Arabinoxylan and β-glucan, prebiotics that are found in brown rice, are beneficial for human gut microbiota such as *Bifidobacterium* and *Lactobacillus*. They are considered as contributing factors in producing an anti-obesity effect [57, 59]. Moreover, in terms of their antidiabetic effects, brown rice was used as an intervention for preventing type 2 diabetes. This is likely because one of their components, ϒ-oryzanol, plays an important role in controlling high-fat diet-induced ER stress in the hypothalamus, which helps in reducing the preference for fatty foods [60]. ϒ-Oryzanol in brown rice has also been found to prevent the apoptosis of pancreatic β cells and to reduce levels of blood cholesterol [61]. Dietary rice brans that give brown rice its brown color also reveal potent anticancer activities through their antioxidant activity, as well as offering antiproliferation, immune modulation, and mucosal protection [62, 63].

**11**

*Anthocyanins and Proanthocyanidins in Natural Pigmented Rice and Their Bioactivities*

Natural pigmented rice, such as black and red rice, may even offer more health benefits than brown rice. Not only is natural pigmented rice higher in the beneficial antioxidant activities of black and red rice, but it also displays strong anti-inflammatory activities as well as anticancer and anti-metastasis activities. The antiaging properties of the major components found in pigmented rice may be anthocyanins and proanthocyanidins, which have been found to be especially rich in content in the germ and bran extracts of black and red rice, respectively. The details of which

The antioxidant activities of black and red rice and their crude extracts have been studied, and the results demonstrated that the addition of the pigmented rice could increase antioxidant capacity, both in vivo and in vitro [64–66]. In a study involving the supplementation of diets with black rice pigment fractions, the diets that attenuated atherosclerotic plaque formation in apolipoprotein E-deficient mice [66] and the anthocyanin-rich extract of the black rice might play an important role in the enhancement of atherosclerotic plaque stabilization [8]. In another study, a mixture of brown and black rice improved the lipid profiles and antioxidant status in rats [67]. Another animal study also demonstrated that black rice bran pigment effectively escalated hepatic antioxidant enzyme activities including superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase in high-cholesterol-fed rats [68]. In addition to the in vivo studies, in a cell culture experiment, superoxide anions and reactive oxygen species were significantly suppressed after black rice extract exposure in HepG2 hepatocellular carcinoma [17]. When the antioxidant activities of pigmented rice were compared with those of nonpigmented rice in several studies [30, 41], the results demonstrated that the extracts from pigmented rice displayed higher antioxidant activity than did the nonpigmented rice. In another study, the radical scavenging activities of the extracts from white, black, and red rice were tested. The highest activity was observed in red rice (2.77 μmol of Trolox or vitamin E equivalents/ml), followed by black (0.92 μmol) and white (0.26 μmol) [41, 42]. Polymeric proanthocyanidins play an important role as radical-scavenging components in red rice. The relationships between the antioxidant activities and the components of pigmented rice were explored [41, 69, 70]. The antioxidant activities correlated well with the content of polyphenols and phytochemicals that contribute to the intense color of the pigmented rice. Interestingly, some studies have shown that the antioxidant activity of black rice may be reduced by up to 53%

Inflammation is an important mechanism of immune pathogenesis, which is our body's response to tissue injury, infection, and stress. Importantly, the prolonged production of inflammatory mediators by macrophage can cause damage to the host and can contribute to the pathology of many diseases including inflamm-aging, arthritis, asthma, cancer, diabetes, and atherosclerosis. Macrophage plays a key role in response to an immediate defensive mechanism of our body against attacking foreign agents, especially with a microbial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) [74]. Macrophage is activated and produces many kinds of inflammatory mediators including nitric oxide (NO), prostaglandins, and many cytokines such as interleukin 1 (IL-1), interleukin 6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α [75]. Many researchers have studied in vitro and in vivo models to elucidate that natural products are able

to ameliorate the inflammatory response in LPS-stimulated macrophage.

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.86962*

**3.1 Antioxidant activities**

during cooking [71–73].

**3.2 Anti-inflammatory properties**

will be described in greater detail in the following section.

Natural pigmented rice, such as black and red rice, may even offer more health benefits than brown rice. Not only is natural pigmented rice higher in the beneficial antioxidant activities of black and red rice, but it also displays strong anti-inflammatory activities as well as anticancer and anti-metastasis activities. The antiaging properties of the major components found in pigmented rice may be anthocyanins and proanthocyanidins, which have been found to be especially rich in content in the germ and bran extracts of black and red rice, respectively. The details of which will be described in greater detail in the following section.
