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Loading...Brown Rice vs White Rice: Benefits & Cautions
- Diana Herrington
- July 6, 2011
- 8:05 am
- 92 comments
Rice feeds the world!
“Without rice, even the cleverest housewife cannot cook.” –Chinese Proverb
Three billion people on this planet depend on rice for over half of their daily total calorie intake. Most of these people eat white rice.
Could the hippies and macrobiotics be wrong? What are the differences and benefits? Is this a smart carb?
Besides the obvious difference in color, there are further distinctions between long grain, short grain, and over 8,000 varieties.
Brown Rice is the whole grain with just the first outer layer (husk or hull) removed through milling. It still retains its fiber and the germ which contains many of the most vital nutrients.
White rice is brown rice that has first been milled to take away the bran and much of the germ. This reduces the fiber and many nutrients. It is further polished to take away the remaining layer of germ (called the aleurone layer) which contains its essential oils. It is these oils which oxidize and go rancid.
Sticky Rice or Not: Short grain rice has the highest starch content so makes stickier rice. Long grain is lighter and more fluffy.
Health Benefits of Brown Rice Over White Rice
Brown rice has:
- twice the manganese and phosphorus of white.
- 2.5 times the iron.
- 3 times the vitamin B3.
- 4 times the vitamin B1.
- 10 times the vitamin B6.
It is a great source of manganese, essential for energy production, antioxidant activity, and sex hormone production.
High fiber and selenium content reduces colon cancer:
The fiber in brown rice reduces the time cancer-causing substances spend in the colon. Selenium has been shown to substantially reduce the risk of colon cancer. White rice has very little fiber.
Next: More benefits & cautions
Read more: Diet & Nutrition, Eating for Health, Food, General Health, Health, brown rice, smart carbs, white rice
Diana Herrington
Diana Herrington turned a debilitating health crisis into a passion for helping others with healthy, sugar-free, gluten-free, eating and cooking. After testing and researching every possible healthy therapy on her delicate system she has developed simple, powerful principles which she shares in her recent book Eating Green and Lean, and as host to Care2 groups: Healthy Living Network and Healthy Cooking. She is the head chef at Real Food for Life, where she shares recipes and tips. Sign up for the Real Food for Life weekly newsletter or catch her on Facebook or Twitter (@DancinginLife).
Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may
not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.
people are talking
aww
Love Scotland and Mexico very cool.
Thank you for the information.
That's cute, thanks
completely agree with this!
92 comments
+ add your ownThank you :)
have both white & brown rice, will make brown rice for dinner tonight
Brown rice does help to keep fat off in the long term. Well, actually, it's probably replacing the white rice that keeps the fat off. www.sportsscience.co/nutrition/white-rice-vs-brown-rice/
I recently switthced from white Basmati rice to brown Basmati rice....very impressed and it keeps me fuller longer.
Ray
Sacramento, CA
I can honestly say I have switched to brown rice many years ago.
Researcher showed that eating five or more serving of white rice each wk led you to an increase of diabetes. Conversely, consuming just two servings of brown rice each wk led to a lower risk. And it's easy as it sounds: these data indicated that replacing roughly one third of a daily serving of white rice with brown rice would lead to a 16 percent reduction in overall type 2diabetes risk.
I LOVE brown rice, its all that I eat. I'm eating it right now with some tofu, grilled veggies, and teriyaki pineapple sauce. I just hope that it still has the same benefits when it is instant rice.
We eat brown rice, long grain. It is stored in our refrigerator and doesn't have a chance to go bad, one bag is eaten pretty quickly-- but still good to know that it would go bad. Thanks for the article, very interesting.
I tried brown rice before but didn't care for the taste however after reading this article I'm going to try it again and see fi I can aquire a taste for it. Thanks. Very useful information.
I love brown rice!!! It takes nuttier!! We had it for supper!! One drawback is that it takes longer to cook!!
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