WHITE RICE... PRETTY LITTLE GRAINS OF BERI-BER

This was the conclusion the 1929 Nobel Prize winner, Christian Eijkman declared in 1896 on his return to the Netherlands, after ten years of research in Batavia, Java in the Dutch East Indies (now Jakarta, Indonesia). If you want to learn about his research an his findings that white rice does indeed cause beri-beri, a
horrible disease that killed many people, click here to read about him.

Perhaps a good place to start this discussion  and comparison is with the question of why we have white rice. The same questions and
answers also apply to refined and unrefined sugar and refined and unrefined flour. In all cases the unrefined is healthier and the refined is more frequently used. The answer is based on economics and history. 

 

First, the economics, live plants have a shorter shelf life before they spoil. The refining process removes matter that will decay. Most bugs won’t even bother to get into white rice because they sense that there is nothing to sustain their lives in it.

Now, for the history...When the milling of grains started and the resulting flour was so fresh and clean looking, the wealthy and the aristocracy felt that they deserved to have this delicacy and even kept it from the common people. The same thing happened with white rice and white sugar. 

 

That feeling of having something special, carried over even after the common people were allowed to have it, just because they were allowed. That made them feel special. Fortunately, at that time, the products were more expensive so a lot of people still couldn’t afford them. Because of that, many people have been convinced that white bread, white sugar, and/or white rice are more desirable. So, one bottom line is that we, the consuming public, choose to buy less healthful products and convenience. 

 

The differences between brown and white rice begins shortly after harvest.  The rice we eat is the seed of the rice plant. For brown rice, the outer husk of the seed is removed by milling. This leaves the product that we call brown rice. Whole grain Basmati rice looks more like white rice but has the benefit of being very healthy. White rice is the result of a polishing process in which the germ (the nutritious part that spoils sooner) and bran of the rice are also removed.

Removing the germ and bran results in a considerable nutrient loss. Brown rice offers a number a health advantages. The body’s insulin response to brown rice is significantly lower that for white rice. Brown rice is higher in fiber, B vitamins, Vitamin E, potassium, magnesium and macronutrients than all types of white rice.  Brown rice also has more dietary fiber than white rice, and it has been shown to maintain a superior microflora in the intestine. Studies show higher numbers of beneficial bacteria and lower numbers of harmful bacteria in the colon.   This is very important because many disorders including diverticulitis, cancer, and constipation are known to result from larger numbers of harmful bacteria and insufficient numbers of beneficial bacteria in the colon.

Fortified white rice is sold, and in some cases the label may indicate higher vitamin and/or mineral levels than brown rice. But, the synthetic vitamins used in fortifying are less bioavailable; that is they
are not assimilated as well for purposes of feeding the cells. Thus the brown rice is still a healthier choice. This is another example of a good principle, whenever you take a natural food from nature and change its composition or strip nutrients from it, you will always have less human nutritional benefits. Mother Nature really knows best.