IMPORTANCE, HEALTH BENEFITS AND BIOACTIVITIES OF SRI LANKAN TRADITIONAL RICE (Oryza sativa L.) VARIETIES: A REVIEW

Abstract

Rice is the major staple food of almost half of the world’s population. It has significant nutrition and health implications. Being a major energy contributor to the body of rice consuming population, there is a huge increasing concern on rice worldwide. Sri Lankan traditional rice varieties have scientifically proven high nutritional values, low glycemic indices with antidiabetic effect, anticancer potency against human lung cancer cells, antiglycation and antiamylase effects. This review gathers studies mainly on health benefits and bioactivities of Sri Lankan traditional rice varieties and provides a critical overview of the current states of the consumption and benefits of rice