White rice and brown rice.

[iradical18]

I've always read/been told that brown rice was better for you than white rice and I've only just now checked the nutrition labels so I could find out why. And my question is, Why is brown rice better for you? The labels are almost completely identical, is it the way they are processed?

 

[HoboWithARolex]

brown rice is better on the glycemic index. it keeps your insulin levels steady so it gives you energy longer and helps keep fat off

its like white bread vs whole wheat bread

 

[goober]

White rice has been milled with the outer layer where all the nutrients are located taken off. White rice is mostly carbs with less nutrional value. Here is a comparison I found on the web.

Brown Rice (one cup)/ White Rice (one cup)
Calories 232 /223
Protein 4.88 g /4.10 g
Carbohydrate 49.7 g /49.6 g
Fat 1.17 g /0.205 g
Dietary Fiber 3.32 g /0.74 g
Thiamin (B1) 0.176 g /0.223 g
Riboflavin (B2) 0.039 mg /0.021 mg
Niacin (B3) 2.730 mg /2.050 mg
Vitamin B6 0.294 mg /0.103 mg
Folacin 10 mcg /4.1 mcg
Vitamin E 1.4 mg /0.462 mg
Magnesium 72.2 mg /22.6 mg
Phosphorus 142 mg /57.4 mg
Potassium 137 mg /57.4 mg
Selenium 26 mg /19 mg
Zinc 1.05 mg /0.841 mg

That being said I still eat mostly white rice. If you are depending on your rice for your vitamins and nutrients you have bigger nutritional issues

 

[user92626]

I agree. Various nutrients which your body needs are only found in the brown coat of the grain. White rice is completely bleached of those but it tastes better though.

If you have to eat white rice, try NOT rinsing it before cooking to retain some of these loosen nutrients. Good thing that the US is only imported with premium rice, ie extremely clean and quality, while most of Asia still eat sand-mixed rice.

 

[Ben42]

I used to prefer white rice, but after eating brown rice most of the time now, I much prefer it. It's just got much more flavor.

 

[iradical18]

9 times out of 10 I eat brown rice anyway, I was just wondering why it was better for you. Thank for the info everyone.

 

[scotus]

Info in the above posts is correct.

When my wife was pregnant, she had gestational diabetes and had to measure her blood sugar everyday.

We found that every time she had white rice, her blood sugar would spike up like crazy.

But when she ate brown rice, the blood sugar remained very low.

There you have it.

 

[Sleepstream]

Info in the above posts is correct.

When my wife was pregnant, she had gestational diabetes and had to measure her blood sugar everyday.

We found that every time she had white rice, her blood sugar would spike up like crazy.

But when she ate brown rice, the blood sugar remained very low.

There you have it.

Did she eat the rice alone or with other foods?

 

[scotus]

Did she eat the rice alone or with other foods?

With other things, of course.

But when you measure your blood sugar 2X everyday, things normalize and you can see what the main factors are.

You will find that eating a lot of brown rice will help your blood sugar stay low even when you eat it with other carbs.

 

[stormholloway]

At Whole Foods here in NYC you can get your sushi with brown rice. It's quite tasty.

 

[SlapShot]

I switched to brown rice, wheat pasta, and wheat bread exclusively about a year ago, and I won't change back. I like a little flavor with my rice.

 

[LuckyR]

White and brown rice are more similar than different, nutritionally. All rice is "brown", white is just the part with the calories, ie the energy. The husk is the part with the fiber and most of the noncaloric benefit of rice. However, other than the calories, rice is not a great source of vitamins/minerals or even fiber.

Having said that, the texture and taste are quite different, that's how I'd choose between the two.

 

[tricky]

Short grain (i.e. sushi) brown rice is very tasty. Sweetness of the white bit, the nuttiness of the brown hull.

A lot of the vitamin and mineral information with commercial white rice is a little suspect, because it comes from a spray applied onto the rice. Meaning, after soaking the rice and all that, much of the "enhancement" is gone anyway. That said, yeah, you should be getting your nutrition elsewhere.

 

[richw76]

At Whole Foods here in NYC you can get your sushi with brown rice. It's quite tasty.

I wish more sushi restaurants would take the queue. Whole foods and a very expensive sushi place downtown are the only two I know that make sushi with brown rice.

I know sushi purist would die, but heck wasabi isn't really wasabi so whats' the big deal?

 

[LuckyR]

I wish more sushi restaurants would take the queue. Whole foods and a very expensive sushi place downtown are the only two I know that make sushi with brown rice.

I know sushi purist would die, but heck wasabi isn't really wasabi so whats' the big deal?

Amen, bro. Real wasabi is the way to go! Just say "no" to horseradish with green food coloring.

 

[EricW]

LOL how can anyone not know this answer? Brown rice is just rice grown, and sold. White rice is processed to get rid of most of the value (the nutrients), so it'll taste better

 

[Rickson]

I've always read/been told that brown rice was better for you than white rice and I've only just now checked the nutrition labels so I could find out why. And my question is, Why is brown rice better for you? The labels are almost completely identical, is it the way they are processed?

Brown rice has more fiber than white and it's also more complex. Sort of like a girlfriend.

 

[iradical18]

LOL how can anyone not know this answer? Brown rice is just rice grown, and sold. White rice is processed to get rid of most of the value (the nutrients), so it'll taste better

How can anyone not know anything? The other posters did a fine job of answering my question without smart ass remarks. Please try to do the same in the future.

 

[rbq4h4]

Info in the above posts is correct.

When my wife was pregnant, she had gestational diabetes and had to measure her blood sugar everyday.

We found that every time she had white rice, her blood sugar would spike up like crazy.

But when she ate brown rice, the blood sugar remained very low.

There you have it.

that is really intersting. i'm just curious, i guess the white rice is partly made of sugar to cause this kind of diabetes? thats funny because neither of them really tastes that sweet to me.

 

[scotus]

that is really intersting. i'm just curious, i guess the white rice is partly made of sugar to cause this kind of diabetes? thats funny because neither of them really tastes that sweet to me.

I think you are using the term "sugar" to refer only to the sweet-tasting substance derived from sugar canes.

When speaking of diets, sugar can refer to basically any carbohydrates. White rice may not taste sweet to you, but it is a carbohydrate and will break down to what is referred to as "sugar." When one is said to have high blood-sugar level, that doesn't mean the person's blood tastes sweet like chocolate.

If you are a diabetic, you not only want to control the intake of your sugar as in candy but also the "sugar" in your French Fries, baked potatoes, rice, etc.

 

[stormholloway]

Is brown rice not white rice with extra goodies? Why would white rice cause a blood sugar spike and not brown rice?

 

[843]

Is brown rice not white rice with extra goodies? Why would white rice cause a blood sugar spike and not brown rice?

Brown rice has low Glycemic Index (GI), which means sugar is broken down slowly and steadily. White rice, on the other hand, has high GI, which means sugar is broken down almost immediately upon digestion, hence the spike in blood sugar.

 

[scotus]

Is brown rice not white rice with extra goodies? Why would white rice cause a blood sugar spike and not brown rice?

Maybe we should think of it this way: White rice is brown rice stripped of its essential goodies.

There may be different theories on how the fibers and nutrients found in the outer coat of rice grain lowers the glycemic index. I, for one, really don't care. What we do know for certain, however, is that one does have a much lower glycemic index than the other.