Rice Bran Oil should be refined or unrefined?

I'm about to purchase some rice bran oil for cooking, but first i'd like to know what to look for. Should i look for refined or unrefined?

Also, does anyone recommend any particular brand?

I'm interested in rice bran oil because it has a higher tocotrienol content than palm oil and has some gamma oryzanol. It's high in omega-6 though. But, i'm supplementing with fish oil to balance that out. I also get a little bit of extra virgin olive oil and unrefined toasted sesame oil in my diet too,.

jksl - If you have unrefined available go for that. The reason is that refined oils have a great deal of missing nutrients and in the case of most commercial oils the entire process is pretty horrific.

Yeah some methods use a chemical to extract the oil and others the high heat will burn up most of the healthy molecules in it. Unrefined, expeller pressed or cold pressed is usually top quality. May be more expensive but worth every penny.

thanks for the reply guys. I had to ask because i heard that some oils should be refined. i wasn't sure if that was true or not though.

anyway, the only expeller-pressed rice bran oil i could find was Loriva's rice bran oil

http://www.loriva.com/products/productdetail.aspx?s=036023004060:100%25+Pure+Rice+Bran+Expeller+Pressed+Oil+-+12.7+++++++OZ.

i'll probably give that one a try

jksl - One thing I should point out, is while it suggests there is a high heat point, coconut oil is the safest to do any frying with. Anything that has a good portion of polyunsaturated fatty acids is not recommended for high heat, because these fats and generate millions of free radicals.

Thanks for the tip CS. I don't really fry my foods, so i think i'm okay. I always cook my meats in a mini-grill (it's like a foreman grill, but not really). I get it to a medium-rare, if i'm cooking red meat. I use EVOO on my salads and unrefined toasted sesame oil for seasoning. Sometimes i'll bake with EVOO though. I'll coat strips of sweet potatoes with it and then put it in the oven to make sweet potato fries.

i'm just gonna use the RBO when i feel like making my version of "fried rice". It'll be used for a minute or two at low to medium heat when tossing hot rice, veggies, and cooked meat in the pan.

BTW, i just found out that NOW brand's RBO is unrefined, hexane extracted. So, i'll be staying away from that.

Okay, so i found out that Loriva's Rice Bran Oil is expeller-pressed, but REFINED. NOW's Rice Bran Oil is hexane extracted, but UNREFINED. So, now i don't know which one to go for... Someone help me decide

Is it true that unrefined oils will go rancid quick? If that is true, should i even bother with the NOW brand? (they don't have expiry dates on their RBO labels).

I personally cook my rice with some organic expeller pressed coconut oil and it gives a nice subtle nutty taste to it. You might want to also look into some sesame oil as long as you use medium heat.

thanks for the recommendations hapyman. On a rare occasion, i'll use coconut oil, but only if i'm pan frying something. I rarely ever fry anything. I use toasted sesame seed oil already, but i never cook with it. I use it as seasoning only.

I'd still like to purchase some RBO for the tocotrienols and the low saturated fat content. I just don't know which is the lesser evil. Hexane-extracted, but unrefined. Or expeller-pressed, but refined.

Tough call there... me personally would want to stay away from the chemicals. Refined may ruin some of the nutritional value but want 'add' any chemicals.

Yeah, i might just forget about RBO (and purchase some toco-8 lol). I think found some RBO that is expeller-pressed and unrefined, but it's for horses.

http://www.brusselsagri.com/horses/hs_mccauley.htm

i think the RBO is only stable for about 2 months when it's unrefined.

I just found out that Japanese women use RBO on their skin to 'plump' it up and reduce fine lines. It's a really good moisturizer, apparently. I wonder if it would be a good oil to rub into the scalp like emu, olive, or coconut oil...

jksl wrote:I'm about to purchase some rice bran oil for cooking, but first i'd like to know what to look for. Should i look for refined or unrefined?

Also, does anyone recommend any particular brand?

I'm interested in rice bran oil because it has a higher tocotrienol content than palm oil and has some gamma oryzanol. It's high in omega-6 though. But, i'm supplementing with fish oil to balance that out. I also get a little bit of extra virgin olive oil and unrefined toasted sesame oil in my diet too,.

rice bran oil because it has a higher tocotrienol content than palm oil ;would you provide refrence or links for this ?