White vs Brown Rice: Why is Brown Rice Healthier?

Source: White vs Brown Rice: Why is Brown Rice Healthier?

by Dr. Edward Group

white-vs-brown-rice The next time you reach for the white rice, you may want to reconsider. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition recently conducted a study that confirms brown rice as the hands-down healthier choice for your dinner grain.

The Health Differences

Brown rice is essentially what almost all forms of white rice looks like before it has been put through a refining process. To process rice into the sparkling white pieces we buy in stores, first the out-side hull and bran is removed.^[1]. This makes rice lighter and faster to cook. Rice that has been stripped of its natural wholeness has been stripped of its fiber, proteins, thiamine, calcium, magnesium and potassium.^[2] It is commonly known how important fiber is for digestive health and maintaining a healthy weight.
Have you noticed white rice is usually labeled as “enriched?” White rice is usually full of unnatural fortifications and additives. These fortifications are used because the stripping process removes most of the iron, vitamins, zinc and magnesium from the rice. In fact, white rice is so devoid of nutrients that it does not offer the minimum nutritional requirements of the FDA. For this reason, white rice must be chemically altered with vitamins and iron just so that it can be sold in supermarkets. This is one of the main reasons why brown rice is much higher in minerals and vitamins. Nutritionally, there is no comparison between these two forms of rice.

After first removing the bran and germ, which hold nutrients, manufacturers enrich and fortify white rice with vitamins and minerals to get back some of the lost nutrients.^[3] This is one of the main reasons why a side by side comparison of enriched white rice and brown rice suggests they have comparable levels of minerals and vitamins.^[4, 5] Sometimes the enriched white rice may even list higher levels of certain nutrients; however, this is because synthetic vitamins and minerals were added to a food product that had been stripped of its previous nutritional value.

Added nutrients are not of the same quality as those that come from whole, natural foods. Studies have found that nutrients found in whole foods are used more effectively by the body than those given supplementally.^[6] I always say that you should get most of your nutrition from nutritious, organic food, and supplement where your diet is lacking.

1. Brown Rice is Rich in Selenium

Extremely high in selenium, an important trace mineral known to drastically reduce our chances of developing many illnesses. One cup of cooked brown rice provides 27% of the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) recommended daily value (%DV).^[7] Selenium is a trace mineral that supports the body in many ways. Selenium, along with iodine, is an important nutrient that’s necessary for the thyroid to produce hormones.

2. Brown Rice is Very High in Manganese

One cup of brown rice provides over 80% of our daily manganese requirement.^[4]. This mineral helps the human body create the important fatty acids that make healthy forms of cholesterol. It is also beneficial to the health of our nervous and reproductive systems.

3. Brown Rice Holds Naturally Occurring Oils

These heart-healthy oils are naturally found in brown rice and can help the body reduce LDL forms of cholesterol. One study found that while fiber offers its own benefits, it was the rice bran oil rather than fiber that lowered cholesterol by 7% in volunteers.^[8]

4. Brown Rice Promotes Weight Loss

Because of its fiber-richness and ability to keep healthy bowel function, brown rice “keeps things moving” in a way that promotes weight-loss and metabolic function. After one bowl of brown rice, you’ll feel more full despite eating a smaller amount of food. People who replaced refined grains with whole grains had an increased resting metabolic rate – meaning they burned more calories – and eliminated more energy in their stool, but this was above and beyond the effect of the fiber.^[9] It turns out that the whole grains improved the digestibility of other foods eaten, resulting in a higher metabolism.^[10]

5. Brown Rice is a Whole Grain

Unlike white rice, brown rice has not lost its wholeness. A nationally representative sample of people from the U.S. found that individuals who eat more whole grains had better diet quality and consumed more fiber and polyunsaturated fatty acids, and less sugar, saturated fatty acids, and cholesterol.^[11] Studies show that six servings of whole grains weekly can lower the creation of arterial plaque build-up and reduce chances of developing heart disease and high cholesterol.^[12]

6. Brown Rice is an Antioxidant

Most people associate antioxidants with blueberries and green tea, but many are unaware that brown rice is also a source of antioxidants.^[13] Red and black wild rice have even more phenolic compounds – a type of antioxidant– than brown rice. However, the phenolic compounds in brown rice increase substantially if the brown rice is germinated before eating.^[14]

7. Brown Rice is Very High in Fiber

Studies have correlated the high use of whole grains like brown rice with lowered levels of colon cancer. This may be related to its high fiber content. Studies show that fiber actually attaches to cancer-causing substances and toxins, helping to eliminate them from the body, and keeping them from attaching to the cells in our colon.^[16] Brown rice also contains the necessary components to stabilize digestion, prevent/relieve constipation and promote proper elimination/bowel function.

8. Brown Rice is a Slow-Release Sugar

Unlike stripped rice, brown rice can help keep blood sugar stabilized as it releases sugars slowly and in a sustained fashion. This makes it a better option for diabetics, as compared to white rice. While studies in Asia have shown a link between the consumption of white rice and risk of type 2 diabetes, new research shows that individuals who eat at least two servings of brown rice weekly can reduce their chances of developing diabetes 2 by up to 11 percent.^[17]. I personally recommend using organic wild brown rice as the best option. But, even if you don’t buy organic, just making the switch from white rice to brown rice is a great first step to a healthy diet.

Brown Rice and Arsenic: A Caution

There has been a lot of news about arsenic in rice, particularly in brown rice. Arsenic is a naturally occurring element found in soil, and exposure to or consumption of high amounts have serious negative health effects.^[18] When growing in soil, rice naturally takes up the arsenic, and because this is a natural process, even organically-grown varieties of rice can contain arsenic.^[18] The arsenic accumulates in the outer layers of a rice kernel, which are removed during processing of white rice, which is why levels are higher in brown rice.

The Food Safety and Sustainability Center tested 128 varieties of rice and found that brown basmati rice from California, Pakistan, and India had the lowest levels of arsenic – about one-third less than other brown rice varieties. Rice of all varieties from Arkansas, Texas, and Louisiana – and from the U.S. anywhere – had the highest amounts of arsenic.^[19] Other gluten-free grains you can look for with low or nonexistent levels of inorganic arsenic include buckwheat, amaranth, millet, and polenta.^[19]

According to the FDA, you can remove 40-60% of the arsenic from rice by cooking it in excess water (6-10 parts water to one part rice) and then draining off the extra water after cooking. With white rice, this also reduces the nutrition, because companies fortify the product by adding vitamins and minerals as a powder on the outside the rice kernel. However, the naturally occurring nutrients of unprocessed brown rice reside inside the kernel, so draining off excess cooking water will not reduce its nutritional content.^[18]

I recommend using organic wild brown rice as the best option. But, even if you don’t buy organic, just making the switch from white rice to brown rice is a great first step to a healthy diet.

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