The study was conducted on 13 members of a Bengali family living in Middlesbrough, UK. White basmati rice was used in it. The rice was soaked in water overnight and left for about 12 hours at two different temperatures - 20 and 30 degrees Celsius. The amount of bacteria and micronutrients in these two types of rice were measured. The participants were given food and their blood sugar levels were measured after eating.
The way Panta is made is called fermentation. Microorganisms are usually born in food during the fermentation process. In this new study, probiotic-rich bacteria have been found in Panta, which can increase our immunity.
Professor Mosharraf Hossain Sarkar said, "We have done a comparative test of normal rice and Panta rice and found that a large number of beneficial microorganisms are found in Panta. We found that 10 times or more beneficial microorganisms were produced in Panta than in regular rice.’
The second major aspect of this study is the discovery of multiple micronutrients in Panta. These include iron, zinc, copper, calcium, manganese, magnesium, boron and potassium, which were much higher than in regular rice.
Whereas every two and a half grams of regular rice contains 0.5 micrograms of iron, the same amount is found in Panta with about 1 microgram. While the level of calcium is found in regular rice at 0.10 micrograms, it was found to be more than 0.40 micrograms in Panta.
Professor Mihir Lal Saha of the Department of Botany, Dhaka University, said, ‘The fiber present in rice is not released in regular cooked rice. But when the fermentation process occurs due to keeping it in water, these fibers are quickly released by microorganisms and as a result, a large accumulation of micronutrient particles can occur. The new study has given us such new information. This is very significant.