Fermented brown rice protein is a plant-based protein that offers various benefits.
Brown rice contains very interesting and high-performing proteins. One of the advantages of brown rice protein is its ease of digestion. It contains 13 grams of protein per 15 grams of product, gluten-free and zero carbs.
An excellent alternative to whey and soy proteins. Brown rice protein does not contain any common food allergens and is therefore an excellent alternative.
Brown rice protein has several health benefits.
It contains good lipids as they help reduce and balance cholesterol levels in the body. The lipids in rice act on LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol). It is also to be favored because it contains very few carbohydrates and a good fiber content.
Brown rice protein is one of the most favored by high-level athletes looking to maintain or develop their muscle mass; it is considered as effective as whey protein (also known as milk serum). Astonishing! An American study (1) was conducted with 2 groups of 12 young men. The two observed groups followed the same weight training program for 8 weeks, with 3 sessions per week. The difference was that the first group received 48 g of whey protein immediately after the workout, while the second group received 48 g of rice protein at the same time. The result: there was no significant difference between the physical performance gains or body composition of the two groups. This means that both groups gained strength, muscle mass, and lost fat in the same way, despite the intake of two different protein sources after training. Whey protein did not demonstrate superiority over rice protein on this occasion.
Brown rice protein helps increase athletic performance, improve recovery after exertion, and contributes to the increase in muscle volume, strength, endurance, power, and stamina. These amino acids provide the body with the energy it needs even during the most demanding sports training sessions. The body uses the amino acids at its disposal to regenerate and repair muscle tissues.
It is filling, contains a significant amount of nutrients.
Increasing protein intake can also be beneficial for weight loss. Roberta Anding, a registered dietitian, certified specialist in sports dietetics, and spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association, mentioned in an article for "Today's Dietitian" that increasing protein intake promotes greater satiety and more sustainable weight loss.2
By allowing brown rice to sprout before turning it into powder, a portion of the phytic acid contained in the grain is eliminated, which affects the absorption of certain minerals by the body (often causing deficiencies in vegetarians who consume a lot of whole grains) with the help of the enzyme phytase also present in rice.
In summary
Rice protein is a highly valued protein among vegetarians and vegans or for anyone who wants to increase their protein intake without exceeding the recommended amount. Its texture is creamy and easily integrates into smoothies, pancake mixes, snacks, cookies, muffins, and even sauces, etc. Rice protein is a tasteless plant protein that easily blends into all our recipes and dishes.
Jean-Yves Dionne's perspective on fermented proteins, proteins, and muscle mass in this live session from August 19: (in French)
The definition of fermented proteins (02:47)
Normally, just in plant-based proteins, we also extract things you don't want. So, often we create a fermentation process to break down those things we don't want and make the protein more digestible. (The same principle as soy). You will find it in all sorts of grains, seeds, legumes, or even potatoes. If we want, we can extract the protein, and then it comes down to: Okay, it's a protein concentrate, do I have a good amino acid ratio? Will fermentation suit me? The perpetual obsession "Beware of food intolerances" rice is one of the most well-tolerated proteins by the vast majority of the population, very, very few intolerances to rice. If you go to soy, other legumes, pumpkin, potato, there is a whole bunch of things that one person among many will say, oh no, that gives me a stomach ache.
Is it true that it's fermented or not? That's where you need to check with the supplier to see how they operate. Jean-Yves worked on an Excel spreadsheet with all the proteins to achieve an optimal amino acid ratio. Because we want, it's not just about saying "I eat protein," this protein needs to meet my needs, and here, I have the concept of essential amino acids, conditionally "essential" amino acids like arginine, and non-essential amino acids. What do I want more or less, what combination? That's what he tried to do with his Excel spreadsheet, and then he stopped at one point with: Wait a minute, this legume has lectins in it, so by concentrating it, am I increasing that risk? Is the product fermented, and then the supplier didn't have the answers? For example, we offered him potato protein. Potato protein, do we concentrate the soelanins or not? Because the potato is not a source of protein, but there are proteins in it. If industrially speaking, we concentrate them, we can have an interesting product, but at the same time, in the potato, there are substances that can interact with certain constitutions, and that's where there was a lack of information to give it the green light. Rice is one of the most well-tolerated food substances in the population.
Is a fermented ingredient necessarily changed?
The rice is changed by the fermentation process. Where you need to be careful with the industry, with the labels, is when you have products like fermented glutamine. You need to understand glutamine, it's a single amino acid of a pure molecule, how is it made? In a laboratory or in a test tube, not quite! We produce it through fermentation from a substrate, it is fermented in the sense that in industry, we have enormous tanks in which we put nutrients that will ensure the bacteria inside will produce glutamine for us. But it is not a fermented product in the sense that he understands it.
Is rice protein complete? Yes and no. No in the sense of the food, yes in the sense of the extract. The amino acids are there, but if we base it on the ratios, the final protein will not be complete, in the sense that there are not enough essential amino acids, hence the combination with other foods. But when we make the extract, we can have enough essential amino acids to qualify as complete.
If the mixture is not fermented. We could have taken the mixture and fermented it later, yes, but it adds so many tasks that the product will be overpriced afterwards, and the time between, I order a raw material, I formulate the thing and send it for fermentation, it takes X more weeks.
A non-fermented protein for the majority of vegetarians, still, okay? When it's done right, yes. Normally for most people, yes! Always taking the individual into consideration.
When we talk about a protein extract, the amount of carbohydrates on the label will be minimal. Rice is primarily carbohydrates, just like potatoes. But if we extract the protein, a part of the carbohydrates will come, but it will be minimal. It won't just be carbohydrates, so it will be noted on the label, like your portion of X grams of protein, you'll have a tiny bit of carbohydrates, but not much.
Proteins to lose fat and increase muscle mass without changing anything (57:02)
Let's return to two opposing phenomena in our body called anabolism and catabolism.
Anabolism, its ability is to build itself up. We think of anabolic steroids. We all have anabolism. The child is in an anabolic process almost 100% of the time, they are growing. At his age (sixties), there is an effort to be made to avoid being in catabolism, in destruction.
Catabolism is destruction, but the body does not destroy. The body seeks to recycle, so we are in an anabolic-catabolic balance.
The problem is that the diet is not what it should be, and the level of stress, whether physical (physical activity, wear and tear) or psychological stress, leads to an inflammatory state regardless. We should be in balance.
It happens that many people in our society do not consume enough protein. What is happening? Their muscle mass, therefore the body's protein levels, are melting away. We lose muscle mass as we age. It's the norm. Is it normal? It's not necessarily the same thing. We need to be careful with what the statistical norm is and what it should be.
When we age, the great anti-aging challenge of aging healthily is not to fall into the typical pattern of elderly people, in poor health, who become rigid and whose interests become limited, they almost become like children and stop eating anything. We see it in long-term care facilities, sick people losing their independence; it's rare for them to have all their faculties. They are all there, but they don't have the mental sharpness they had at 20. And it's easy as you age to fall into a pattern of "I always do the same thing." So, it's a personal challenge. When we age, we need to be smarter, and that's where we must seek tools that allow us to perform correctly rather than just adequately, and not only maintain but improve our health.
Studies from McGill on the elderly have established a direct link between quality of life, muscle tone, and protein intake.
We can go further than that: the intake of proteins distributed across the 3 meals. Very often, someone can eat enough protein, have a full carbohydrate breakfast with almost nothing else. Example, toast and a cup of tea. And that's where we need to go, the goal is not to tell people to eat just proteins, no, but know that the main building block of the body is proteins, amino acids. We talk about collagen, why collagen has an impact on joints, the dermis, the skin, it's because we are made of collagen and when we give a higher dose of nutrients, the body tends to use them to repair those tissues.
A concept, a theory put forward by Mr. Bruce Ames, called the triage theory. Triage, think of the hospital, the triage nurse will select between cases, emergency or otherwise. Same thing in a train station, it goes through, it doesn't go through, it goes left, it goes right. The body does the same thing. So, a borderline deficiency occurs, we have just enough but it's not optimal or we're lacking, what does the body do? The body chooses based on what is most urgent.
Let's return to vitamin K, if we have a borderline deficiency, what will it choose? Vitamin K serves two main functions, several but two main ones: blood coagulation and bone health. If we lack vitamin K, what will it choose? The urgency, it will maintain the quality of coagulation because if there's a problem there, you risk dying from it.
The body chooses this, the Bruce Ames theory, is that all nutrients have this pattern. There are long-term benefits, which Jean-Yves wants to prioritize and seek out to achieve an optimal level in everything he does because his idea is to still be the old pest in 30 years and beyond. But the body will say no, no, no; if there is a deficiency, forget about the long term. It will focus on the short term. That's where we want to optimize, not overdose, and not fall into the other phenomenon which is extreme anabolism, which pushes the body to want too much. For example, if we eat too many carbohydrates, the body pushes and that's when growths appear (small nipples, small tumors, acrochordons, symptoms of insulin resistance).
So, that's where the notion of balance comes in: I want to optimize, I don't want to maximize. The goal is not to become bigger; the goal is to be in shape as much as possible.
When we take enough protein, does the body build muscle mass even if we don't train? To bring you back to where you should be. That's the idea, someone who has low muscle mass, often, if you dig a little deeper, you'll see that the person isn't eating enough protein, and that's were taking in sufficient protein over the following weeks and months leads to muscle toning. It will gain in size. On the contrary, someone built like a fridge, if they have the muscle mass, increasing the amount of protein won't change anything for them. It's the notion of optimization that comes into play here.
The body will try to maintain itself by all means, and muscle mass might not be urgent. If it wants to maintain it, it needs to be given sufficient tools, and indeed, it's a sufficient protein intake. We're seeing this more and more; the first doctor who talked about it was Ted Naiman in his book PE Protein Energy, and we're seeing it spread in the community where people say, "I start eating a little more than the recommendations and I'm leaner and stronger without changing anything, ah! my physical activity becomes more effective."
It's clear that if we are sitting in front of the TV, eating more protein means eating more calories, it won't change anything, but if we are at least somewhat active, the body will seek to maintain itself, to use, we give it the nutrients, what does it do? It will reach its optimum. You want to expend the optimum because you want to practice performance sports, that's a whole different ballgame. We're not there at all. We are focused on optimizing our state.
References :
1. Jordan M Joy, Ryan P Lowery, Jacob M Wilson, Martin Purpura, Eduardo O De Souza, Stephanie Mc Wilson, Douglas S Kalman, Joshua E Dudeck, Ralf Jäger. The effects of 8 weeks of whey or rice protein supplementation on body composition and exercise performance, Nutr J 2013 Jun 20;12:86., doi: 10.1186/1475-2891-12-86. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23782948/
2. https://www.todaysdietitian.com/newarchives/020810p34.shtml
Warning: Maison Jacynthe disclaims all responsibilities. The information contained on this page does not seek to substitute a justified allopathic treatment nor to dismiss the expertise of the medical profession. It is up to each individual to take charge of their health, to inform themselves, and to make the necessary changes to improve their condition. Therapeutic supervision by a qualified healthcare professional is obviously recommended.
