Besides consuming plenty of fruits, vegetables and a daily dietary supplement to ensure adequate nutritional intake, individuals who love the taste of hickory-smoked steak or mesquite-flavored chicken may have a pleasant surprise awaiting them in a recent issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

According to an article published in the periodical, liquid smoke – a flavoring agent and preservative typically made by passing woodsmoke through water – may be good for you if it is made with rice hulls.

Researchers from South Korea and the U.S. stated that ever year, 136 million tons of rice husks, or hulls, go to waste by being used, if at all, as little more than fertilizer. However, by burning them and using the resulting fumes to create liquid smoke, manufacturers may one day be doing their customers a valuable service.

The article stated that this product contains valuable antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds, of the sort commonly found in vitamin supplements. The research team said that all that remains to be determined is how safe this product is for human consumption.