Extraction of ceramide from rice bran for bioactive activities applied in skin care cosmeceutical products

At present, cosmetic business dramatically growth and trends to expand in the future. Particularly, cosmetic from natural products are high demand for customers. Rice represents a significant portion of Thai economy. In rice milling processes generated the rice bran as by product which low value about 6-8 baht. However, rice bran contains 20% of lipid content which compose of high amount of ceramide. Ceramide is the predominant lipid in rice brand which contributes to bioactivity and cosmeceutical properties. Ceramide widely applied in premium cosmetic products. Ceramide was found in stratum corneum of human skin that play important role in water holding capacity, keratin structure, skin protection and brightening. Generally, ceramide was found in plant such as rice wheat soybean pineapple and spinach etc., especially in rice. Ceramide could be directly absorbed on skin or digestive system. However, ceramide limited contain in rice while excess of rice consumption that mostly contains carbohydrate is an issue which possibly lead to overweight and obesity. Isolation and extraction of ceramide from plant sources are alternate way to recovery these benefits from rice sources into food supplements or cosmetic products. Organic solvent extraction is the most popular method to isolate plant extract but it causes of chemical hazard and none friendly environment. Supercritical CO2 and pulsed-electric field are the alternate way to reduce chemical toxics but these techniques require a high capital investment and lost some of activities by heating during process. Therefore, this study will be studied extraction of ceramide from rice bran by ultrasound assisted extraction for skin care cosmeceutical properties and applied in skin care cream. This research will be developed in natural cosmetic industry. In addition, results from this research will lead to novel rice innovation for value added Thai rice product, decrease import cost of ceramide which values 230,000 baht and reduce environmental pollution problem.