What's so special about brown rice?

rshields9093

I have always heard that brown rice is sooooo much better for you than white rice. But I just decided to look for myself and now I don't get where this comes from.

I compared 100g of white and brown rice here: http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/cereal-grains-and-pasta/5707/2 and here: http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/cereal-grains-and-pasta/5722/2

One of the big selling points I have heard about brown rice is the high fiber content, but based on these numbers it is only a 1% difference so not all that significant. The glycemic index is essentially the same. Total calories actually slightly favors the white rice (though again, it is an insignificant difference).

The brown rice has slightly more protein, but again only a 1% difference.

Some experts are saying that brown rice contains phytic acid that somehow interferes with the uptake of nutrients. This seems like a small strike against brown rice. Speaking of nutrients, research also tells me that while brown rice is higher in certain nutrients (e.g. selenium and manganese) white rice is higher in other important nutrients (e.g. folate and thiamine). So let's just call nutrient content a wash.

Actually, that is my whole point: it seems like the pros and cons between the two are minor and essentially a wash. So how did brown rice get such a good rep while white rice got shoved to the curb?

DanaDark

The brown rice has more: Vitamins, Minerals, Protein, Fiber.

If you think those things are NOT good for the body, then yes, I could see why you'd think white rice is better.

And your numbers are wrong. 2g to 4g is NOT 1%, it is 100% difference.

HIITMe

brown rice is NOT processed .... its closerr to its natural state and unlike white rice, it is a whole grain

Andreinne

I suppose it might depend on what brand you look to buy.....try to go to your local supermarket, and compare for yourself, rather than looking to the internet.
Grab white rice, and brown rice, of the same brand, and compare them, and see if different brands maybe have different amounts of the "good stuff"(i.e. fiber, vitamins, minerals, etc)

GauchoMark

I've noticed that as well and I can't explain it. I did find this:

http://www.usarice.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=100&Itemid=106

and the only thing I can figure is that the white rice nutritional data is for enriched rice. For now, I'll just stick with the "brown rice is closer to the natural form, so it is probably better for you" theory.

HIITMe

I've noticed that as well and I can't explain it. I did find this:

http://www.usarice.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=100&Itemid=106

and the only thing I can figure is that the white rice nutritional data is for enriched rice. For now, I'll just stick with the "brown rice is closer to the natural form, so it is probably better for you" theory.

right, white rice is bleached, enriched with excess baddies...

rshields9093

The brown rice has more: Vitamins, Minerals, Protein, Fiber.

Well, that is simply not true based on what I have been reading. The brown rice is higher in some good stuff while the white rice is higher in other good stuff (presumably b/c it has been fortified, but the numbers are still the numbers).

If you think those things are NOT good for the body, then yes, I could see why you'd think white rice is better.

Of course I know that nutrients are good for the body. But as I clearly stated in my OP and above, they each have their pros and cons regarding micro nutrients and the differences in macro nutrients are not very significant (for example, one more gram of protein per 100g serving is not that exciting).

And your numbers are wrong. 2g to 4g is NOT 1%, it is 100% difference.

Actually, I think you were comparing the 1 cup serving sizes but those volumes have different weights. I was quoting information from a 100g serving size for brown and white so that we are comparing the exact same amount of each. So the difference is 2g vs. 3g for protein and a difference of 1g vs. 2g for fiber . I was attempting to make the statement that that was only a 1 gram difference but I confused the issue by saying it is a 1% difference. My apologies for not stating that more clearly.

Anyway, I am not trying to change anyone's mind about brown rice. Heck, I don't have my own mind made up. I just know that I used to avoid white rice like the plague and on further inspection there just doesn't seem to be a huge difference between them and was seeking other opinions on the topic.

I think Gaucho put it perfectly that brown rice is simply less processed and that alone is a pretty good tool for choosing better foods.

Zumaria1

I think the biggest difference is that white rice has some of the grain removed, which is why it cooks so quickly, and why brown rice takes longer to cook. http://www.livestrong.com/article/404203-is-whole-grain-brown-rice-a-good-carb/ Also, brown rice has the ability to help lower cholesterol from your body. http://www.livestrong.com/article/321153-does-rice-lower-cholesterol/

ayamagali

It's tasty :blushing:

regina456

I've heard that in general most white carbs (bread, flour, rice, pasta) are addictive in nature so you tend to eat a lot more of them than you would of their wholegrain counterpart, so that could be why brown rice gets a better rap than white.

KeithChanning

It's tasty :blushing:

Quite right. Apart from which, studies show that most studies are paid for by people who have an interest in the results of the study and should perhaps be taken with a bit of your daily sodium allowance.

VelociMama

it seems like the pros and cons between the two are minor and essentially a wash. So how did brown rice get such a good rep while white rice got shoved to the curb?

There is a movement out there demonizing "white" foods (white rice, white pasta, etc.).

Personally, I prefer white rice, and I don't see a huge difference in nutritional quality versus brown rice either.

Generally speaking, eating foods as close to their natural state as reasonably possible is good, but that doesn't mean a processed version is significantly worse if you prefer the taste or enjoy it more for your recipes.

MoreBean13

There is a movement out there demonizing "white" foods (white rice, white pasta, etc.).

Ricist food movement is ricist!!!!!

Lyadeia

Brown rice tastes better to me.

That's the ONLY reason I prefer it.

White pasta tastes loads better than whole wheat. I will never eat whole wheat pasta.

I get vitamins/minerals/fiber in all my other foods throughout the whole day. One serving of a "white" food isn't going to kill me.

cmcollins001

There is a movement out there demonizing "white" foods (white rice, white pasta, etc.).

Ricist food movement is ricist!!!!!

QFT

WinnerVictorious

i don't detect a difference in taste between white rice (bland) and brown rice (bland), so if the brown rice is marginally better in nutrition, then why not choose brown rice?

also, i buy brown rice so that racist eel above doesn't judge me.

shorty35565

Brown rice tastes better to me.

That's the ONLY reason I prefer it.

White pasta tastes loads better than whole wheat. I will never eat whole wheat pasta.

I get vitamins/minerals/fiber in all my other foods throughout the whole day. One serving of a "white" food isn't going to kill me.

whole wheat pasta tastes like dirt LOL I eat brown rice pasta lol

Oishii

There is a movement out there demonizing "white" foods (white rice, white pasta, etc.).

Ricist food movement is ricist!!!!!

Is that a conger eel? I like them on white rice, so I can see why he'd have an opinion on this :laugh:

Fibre is a big deal in our family (DS's health issues) so we have brown rice at home. However, I do let DS have white rice too, partly because it's tasty and partly because, as he's 50% Japanese, it's part of his heritage. I want to try nanabun rice, which is meant to be 7/10 wholegrain.

PikaKnight

i don't detect a difference in taste between white rice (bland) and brown rice (bland), so if the brown rice is marginally better in nutrition, then why not choose brown rice?

also, i buy brown rice so that racist eel above doesn't judge me.

Some brown rice has a nuttier flavor. I like it fine..but...

Don't mess with my white rice. That's all I'm saying :P hahahah...

And I figure if a lot of my ancestors ate it and ended up okay....maybe I might luck out and be okay too....

WinnerVictorious

i don't detect a difference in taste between white rice (bland) and brown rice (bland), so if the brown rice is marginally better in nutrition, then why not choose brown rice?

also, i buy brown rice so that racist eel above doesn't judge me.

Some brown rice has a nuttier flavor. I like it fine..but...

Don't mess with my white rice. That's all I'm saying :P hahahah...

And I figure if a lot of my ancestors ate it and ended up okay....maybe I might luck out and be okay too....

for me, rice is just the bed on which tastier stuff is placed. so white or brown makes no difference to me, so if brown rice is marginally more nutritious, then that seems marginally better to me.

PikaKnight

i don't detect a difference in taste between white rice (bland) and brown rice (bland), so if the brown rice is marginally better in nutrition, then why not choose brown rice?

also, i buy brown rice so that racist eel above doesn't judge me.

Some brown rice has a nuttier flavor. I like it fine..but...

Don't mess with my white rice. That's all I'm saying :P hahahah...

And I figure if a lot of my ancestors ate it and ended up okay....maybe I might luck out and be okay too....

for me, rice is just the bed on which tastier stuff is placed. so white or brown makes no difference to me, so if brown rice is marginally more nutritious, then that seems marginally better to me.

Well, I was raised on it..heavily. I can totally taste and even smell (sometimes) the difference between American rice and Asian rice real fast. And yes, I actually order Japanese rice..lol.

Hendrix7

The brown rice has more: Vitamins, Minerals, Protein, Fiber.

If you think those things are NOT good for the body, then yes, I could see why you'd think white rice is better.

And your numbers are wrong. 2g to 4g is NOT 1%, it is 100% difference.

That would be fine if I ate rice as a source or vitamins, minerals, protein or fibre, but I don't.

Fruits and veg are a far superior source of vits, fibre and vitamins and lean meat is a far superior source of protein.

If you eat rice purely as a carbohydrate, there is almost zero difference between brown and white.

Comparing the protein content of 2 different types of rice is about as irrelevant as it gets.

wisteri

White rice is just brown rice with the bran polished off. This is why the water turns milky with white rice but not brown. While the bran does contain some nutrition, the biggest deal is in how your body digests it. Bran is very hard,relatively speaking so it is harder to digest brown rice. With white rice,the carbohydrates contained in the rice are easily accessible so you absorb more of them during digestion. You don't actually absorb all the nutrients from all the food that you eat, so essentially brown rice lets you eat carbs without digesting all of them.

In general,food science is bad science because it doesn't take into account how your body uses food. More processed foods generally have more accessible sugars and carbs so our body takes in more of them. Carbs and sugars your body doesn't readily need get stored as fat. Thus, less processed is better because it is technically less nutritious, but when we live with cave man bodies built to make the most of meager nutrition in a world with an over abundance of food, that's what we need to be thin.

If you look at the nutrition info for butter versus olive oil,you'll see that a tablespoon of each containes the same amount of calories. We now know that olive oil is better for you than butter because of the type of fat it is. The same is true for carbs and sugars. The scientists simply don't have all the answers yet. You might be interested in reading the book In Defense of Food which explains it quite beautifully.

msmil

The most special attribute about brown rice is that it is not white. Somewhere along the way, some genius declared war on anything white... Sugar, bread, rice, flour, potatoes.. Personally, I tend to believe that a carb is a carb is a carb, and as long as you keep your correct calorie and macronutrients ratios, the source is irrelevant. This is just my opinion and it is not a popular one. But for the rice argument, the only thing I can note as being 'bad" about white is that it is higher on the GI scale, which will cause a spike and drop in bloo glucose, whereas lower GI foods keep those levels steadier.

marvybells

I love rice. I am probably in the minority here but i love it so much that I'll eat it plain. nothing on it, just rice.

To me, brown rice does taste nuttier than white & while i prefer brown, i love them both.

rice chex are a favorite cereal of mine & i could gobble up a pound of rice pudding in one sitting. i prefer soups with rice grains or noodles over pasta.

Aw man, i just remembered that i have some purple sticky rice in the cabinet. it is slightly sweet and oh so tasty. In fact, it is so darn delicious my mouth is watering thinking about it. i may have to cook some up tomorrow....

ok now i'm off to bed with dreams of rice cakes dancing in my head....

wisteri

Technically that is not true. There is a big difference between simple carbs like white bread and complex carbs like vegetables. I think one of the big nutritional misconceptions is that only starchy foods contain carbs, only meats have proteins, or only animal product contain fat. The truth is these things are the building blocks of life and are found in all living things in various forms, and it really does come down to form. While the macronutrients in two things could be the same the way your body can use then will be different depending on the shape of the molecule. Digestion occurs at a molecular level, so it's all about the molecular biology.

sunsnstatheart

i don't detect a difference in taste between white rice (bland) and brown rice (bland), so if the brown rice is marginally better in nutrition, then why not choose brown rice?

also, i buy brown rice so that racist eel above doesn't judge me.

Some brown rice has a nuttier flavor. I like it fine..but...

Don't mess with my white rice. That's all I'm saying :P hahahah...

And I figure if a lot of my ancestors ate it and ended up okay....maybe I might luck out and be okay too....

^This. Look the entire continent of Asia eats white rice in huge quantities. Having lived in Japan for several years I can say with complete sincerity that you are going to be hard pressed to find any Japanese that are as overweight as our Western populations are, and yet Japanese guys are scarfing two to three bowls just at lunch time. I remember being looked at like I was bat **** crazy on more than one occasion when eschewing white rice "because it isn't good for you". Of course that's anecdotal. Months of reading later and I'm feeling pretty sheepish. Now, I'm not saying the Japanese diet is so much better than the American diet because that completely misses the point, just like the white rice debate does. Its calories in/calories out for weight loss and macro balance for body composition. If white rice fits into your diet and you are otherwise getting the nutrition you need then enjoy white rice.

neanderthin

Technically that is not true. There is a big difference between simple carbs like white bread and complex carbs like vegetables. I think one of the big nutritional misconceptions is that only starchy foods contain carbs, only meats have proteins, or only animal product contain fat. The truth is these things are the building blocks of life and are found in all living things in various forms, and it really does come down to form. While the macronutrients in two things could be the same the way your body can use then will be different depending on the shape of the molecule. Digestion occurs at a molecular level, so it's all about the molecular biology.

White bread is a complex carb.

Firefox7275

I have always heard that brown rice is sooooo much better for you than white rice. But I just decided to look for myself and now I don't get where this comes from.

I compared 100g of white and brown rice here: http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/cereal-grains-and-pasta/5707/2 and here: http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/cereal-grains-and-pasta/5722/2

One of the big selling points I have heard about brown rice is the high fiber content, but based on these numbers it is only a 1% difference so not all that significant. The glycemic index is essentially the same. Total calories actually slightly favors the white rice (though again, it is an insignificant difference).

The brown rice has slightly more protein, but again only a 1% difference.

Some experts are saying that brown rice contains phytic acid that somehow interferes with the uptake of nutrients. This seems like a small strike against brown rice. Speaking of nutrients, research also tells me that while brown rice is higher in certain nutrients (e.g. selenium and manganese) white rice is higher in other important nutrients (e.g. folate and thiamine). So let's just call nutrient content a wash.

Actually, that is my whole point: it seems like the pros and cons between the two are minor and essentially a wash. So how did brown rice get such a good rep while white rice got shoved to the curb?

You are comparing a glutinous rice to a long grain rice! Those are different strains which behave differently during cooking and in the body due to the amylose/ amylopectin content. And you've chosen to compare cooked rice with cooked rice.One tends to be cooked until the starches start breaking down (potentially absorbs more water) the other is normally only boiled or steamed until the grains remain separate and fluffy so of course the calories will be different, there is more water in one than the other. You may as well compare apples to oranges.

Firefox7275

Technically that is not true. There is a big difference between simple carbs like white bread and complex carbs like vegetables. I think one of the big nutritional misconceptions is that only starchy foods contain carbs, only meats have proteins, or only animal product contain fat. The truth is these things are the building blocks of life and are found in all living things in various forms, and it really does come down to form. While the macronutrients in two things could be the same the way your body can use then will be different depending on the shape of the molecule. Digestion occurs at a molecular level, so it's all about the molecular biology.

Actually one of the biggest misconceptions is that white flour is simple, you are applying the classification system incorrectly. Simple = sugars complex = starches, regardless if they are whole or refined, fast or slow digested/ absorbed. Not sure you really understand what is studied in the field of molecular biology either.

zlauerMom

I'm from a long line of diabetics. So my doctor many moons ago sent me off to a nutritionist and I asked her this same question. She told me, that in calorie content there is no difference. The difference comes in the ease of access to those calories. The carbs (sugars) in white rice are readily available. The white rice is easier for your body to breakdown, causing a spike in blood sugar. Your body has to work at getting to the carbs of the brown rice. The brown rice takes longer to breakdown causing the sugars to enter the blood stream more slowly.

If you want to get super anal about calorie consumption, the brown rice ends up being less calories overall because your body expended more calories to get at it. But the big benefit is to avoid spiking your blood sugar.