Fortune Rice Bran Health Oil - A product review

Rice Bran oil is the new buzzword in Indian markets and advertisements touting its healthy value are in plenty. When blogadda sent me an email asking if I would like to review Fortune's Rice Bran Health oil, I decided to jump on the bandwagon too and see for myself what the benefits of using this oil were.
I am reviewing this healthy heart oil as a part of the BlogAdda's Product Review Program for Indian Bloggers.'

A 2 litre can of the oil arrived, neatly packed in a recycled box and I have been using it for my regular cooking since then. Here's a look at the use that Fortune's Rice Bran Health oil has been put to in my kitchen.
It has been used to make a simple stir fry with methi leaves (recipe coming up soon)

Mixed vegetable kuzhi paniyaram for an evening snack (recipe here)
 
to fry up some perfectly delicious puris and pappadams

and to make the best and easiest murukku ever (recipe here).

Now, after doing all this, I sat wondering how I was going to "review" this oil? I couldn't just say that I made all this and that the oil worked just fine, could I? So, I've compared this oil, on certain parameters, to the two oils that I use regularly in my kitchen - refined oil and coconut oil.
Odour - While coconut oil has a distinct odour that I absolutely love, though not everybody shares that love, Fortune's rice bran oil is almost odourless. I say almost because there is a very, very light sweetish odour which you can discern if you sniff hard enough :-)
Colour - While the refined oil I use and coconut oil are colourless, the rice bran oil has a light yellowish shade, which, however does not detract from its uses.
Viscocity - Found almost no difference on this count, except that it seems to be a runnier  and hence lighter oil when compared to olive oil.
Fortune also claims that Rice Bran oil has the following health benefits:

• Heart friendly as it a cholesterol lowering oil
• One of the key ingredients in this oil is Oryzanol which is said to improve HDL/LDL ratios.
• The balance of Poly unsaturated Fatty acids and Mono unsaturated fatty acids in this oil is stated to be ideal for cleaner blood vessels.
• The presence of Tocotrienols and phytosterols gives it anti-cancer properties.
• Squalene - an ingredient in the oil helps improve skin tone and delays wrinkle formation.
• Vitamin E helps maintain balance of nervous system.
• Natural antioxidants protect against various diseases.
• Ferulic acid stimulates hormonal secretion and rejuvenates health.

When I used this oil for deep frying, one of the things that I really liked is that the food did not seem to "drink" oil. The oil absorption was quite low. All in all, I would say that at an MRP of Rs 115 per litre, which is only slightly higher than most refined oils, this is something you should try out at least once.