A comparative nutrient analysis of multiple Saskatchewan wild rice (Zizania palustris L.) populations and commercially available grains

Wild rice ( Zizania spp.) is an aquatic grass grown in North America and East Asia. It is an ancient food source for Indigenous Peoples and is now commercially available as a specialty grain. Despite interest in its nutritional profile, a systematic investigation is lacking. In this work, a thorough analysis of the nutrient components in fresh and processed wild rice from northern Saskatchewan was conducted. This covered macronutrients (proteins, starch and lipids), micronutrients (vitamin Bs and minerals), phenolic compounds and their antioxidant potential. Compared to selected cultivated rice and wheat grains, wild rice has higher protein content (9.8–12.1 %), similar levels of starch (73.7–76.5 %), and lower amounts of lipid (around 1 %) with a significantly higher proportion of omega-3 fatty acids (50–57 %) than rice (33–40 %). Compared to wheat, wild rice has twice the level of total vitamin B (77.1–107.2 μg/g), and three times the concentration of soluble phenolic compounds (87.6–111.7 μg/g). Strong antioxidant potential was also observed in wild rice (2.6–4.9 mg/g, trolox equivalent). Wild rice is a good source of minerals including potassium (1963–3031 μg/g), sulfur (1385–1757 μg/g), phosphorous (2215–3667 μg/g), magnesium (662–969 μg/g), and calcium (73–110 μg/g). The results showed that wild rice is a nutrition rich grain well suited for a healthy diet. • Wild rice has twice the level of total vitamin Bs as found in wheat. • Wild rice has higher antioxidant capability than wheat or cultivated rice. • Industrial processing impacts the nutritional quality and bioactivity of wild rice. • Wild rice is shown to be a nutrition-rich, gluten-free healthy grain.