Saving the World with Waste
What is the largest wasted food product in the world?
If you guessed rice bran, you are correct. Rice bran is the outer hull or shell of the grain of rice. When peeled from the grain, rice bran goes rancid in 48 hours or less. All of the world’s rice bran has simply been discarded until recently. It turns out that this waste product is not only the most nutritious part of the rice, but it also has the highest antioxidant content of any food on earth. Oddly enough the millers are stripping the nutrition from the rice and throwing it away. To find out more about the nutritional composition of rice bran click here.
One Woman’s Dream
Patricia McPeak founder of Rice X, Nutristar and now Nutracea had a dream. Her dream was to capture the rice bran and make it into a viable food source to save starving children in third world countries. She is on her way to succeeding and has in many ways. Nutracea supplies many third world countries with their product. In addition to being a powerful agent against malnutrition, it seems to help with arthritis and has a stabilizing effect on blood sugar levels. You may have seen her on ITV, the infomercial channel, selling Rice and Shine a meal replacement shake based on stabilized rice bran. You will find Nutracea’s branded products on the label of many nutritional supplements in the aisles of your local Whole Foods Market. In addition to Nutracea’s human line, they also use their proprietary formula as an additive in animal feeds.
Drive!!!!
Although it took 30 years to see the realization of her dream, we can all take one lesson from Patricia McPeak. The lesson is simple, never quit if you believe in something. Now I have never interviewed her and there are no biographies written about her, but you can see she has drive and passion. Ms. McPeak has been through many rounds of funding and corporate name changes. Her companies have teetered on the brink of bankruptcy on more than one occasion. However she never gave up and now it looks as if rice bran is here to stay. That being said I will end with a personal quote.
People love to tell you why your idea won’t work; it is up to you not to listen to them.
Disclosure: In the interest of full disclosure I do own shares of NTRZ which trades on the over the counter exchange.