Copyright © 2012 American Scientific Publishers All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America RESEARCH ARTICLE Advanced Science Letters Vol. 5, 1–5, 2012 Phytochemical, Antioxidant and Nutrient Analysis of Medicinal Rice (Oryza Sativa L.) Varieties Found in South India R. S. Rimal Isaac 1 ∗ , Aparna S. Nair 2 , Elize Varghese 3 , and Murthy Chavali 1 1 Department of Nanotechnology, Noorul Islam Centre for Higher Education (N.I. University), Kumaracoil, Kanyakumari District, 629 180 Tamil Nadu, India 2 Department of Chemical Engineering, Annamalai University, Chidambaram., 608 002 Tamil Nadu, India 3 Department of Biotechnology, Vivekanandha College of Engineering for Women, Elayampalayam, Namakkal District, 637 205 Tamil Nadu, India Ten medicinal rice cultivars collected from South Indian states were investigated and compared for their phyto- chemical composition, nutrient content, antioxidant activity and reducing power. From the phytochemical analy- sis, Kullakar showed the highest flavonoid (176 ± 6.12 g/mL) content, whereas Njavara yellow had the highest phenol (152 ± 3.80 g/mL) content. The antioxidant properties and reducing power of the rice varieties were found out. Ambimohar and Njavara yellow showed the highest reducing power and Ambimohar had the high- est antioxidant property. The total protein content was high in Njavara yellow (10.92 ± 0.28%). Hakkalasali, Njavara black and Chennellu showed the highest carbohydrate content (74.5 ± 2.65%). The medicinal rice Kul- lakar showed high thiamine content (0.53 ± 0.01 mg/100 g), while the riboflavin and niacin content was high in Karikalaveya (0.08 ± 0.01 mg/100 g and 16 ± 0.58 mg/100 g respectively). The present study shows that the ten medicinal rice cultivars possess phytochemical, anti-oxidants and nutrient content which is at par with or higher than Njavara. Keywords: Medicinal Rice, Njavara, Pytochemicals, Antioxidant Activity, Radical Scavenging Activity. 1. INTRODUCTION Rice is an easily digestible fine cereal used as staple food by large part of the world population. Rice is also a good source of insoluble fibre, protein and vitamins. In addition to the fibre, protein and vitamins, pigmented rice varieties promote human health because they contain antioxidative compounds that have the ability to inhibit the formation of reactive oxygen species. 1 Antioxidant activity of rice is associated with the presence of phenolic compounds, tocopherols, tocotrienols and gamma oryzanol. 2 Ancient ayurvedic literatures mention the use of rice for curing various neuro-muscular, digestive and respiratory illnesses. 3 Tricin and rare flavonolignans present in Njavara pos- sesses antioxidant and antiinflamatory properties. 4 These results support with the privileged use of Njavara in Ayurveda. Certain varieties of rice are being used by traditional healers to cure var- ious maladies including cancer (http://knol.google.com/k/pankaj- oudhia/leucoderma-and-medicinal-rice/3nerdtj3s9l79/4#). Rice is processed for storage by removing the outer layers leaving ∗ Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. only the endosperm, preventing the rice from becoming rancid. 5 The rice endosperm contains only starch and protein bodies but it lacks many essential nutrients like carotenoids. 6 The medic- inal property of the rice is preserved by using only dehusked rice. In India, medicinal rice varieties are being used in Ker- ala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, the Western Ghats, and Himachal Pradesh to treat skin diseases, fever, paralysis, rheumatism, leucoderma, diabetes and other disorders (http://www2.bioversityinternational.org/publications/ pgrnewsletter/article.asp?id_article=11&id_issue=122). It is also used as a health tonic. 7 The anticancerous and anti-oxidative properties of pig- mented rice varieties had been studied by Nam et al. and the results showed remarkable anti-oxidative, anti-tumor- promoting and anticarcinogenic activities on mammalian cells. 1 Another investigation revealed that brown rice is rich in phe- nols that interfere with the colony-forming ability of breast and colon cancer cells. 8 Germinated brown rice possesses certain growth factors which are involved in regulating the blood sugar level (http://www.ayurvedictalk.com/germinated- BROWN-rice-found-to-have-medicinal-value-for-diabetics/795/). Adv. Sci. Lett. Vol. 5, No. xx, 2012 1936-6612/2012/5/001/005 doi:10.1166/asl.2012.2174 1