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Question About my Rice (Botan Calrose Rice)

shaneozouf
shaneozouf Posts: 59 Member
edited December 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
I saw a post, a bit earlier on, that had a discussion on the calories found in rice. It made my realize that I have always thought my rice is startlingly low calorie. The brand is Botan Calrose "Extra Fancy" (makes it sound like cat food), and I buy it in Walmart.

The nutritional information on my bag of rice says that 1/4 C (45g) is 110 Calories, and when I googled it, I found most images of the same nutritional information states 1/4 C (45g) is 155 Calories. The carbohydrates and protein numbers are the exact same.

Below I have embedded an image showing this exact thing. Am I missing something here? Is my rice showing the nutritional value for cooked rice (when I assumed it was uncooked)? Should I try shopping for a different bag of rice? Maybe this one is misleading for some reason.

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I know that 45 calories per serving doesn't sound like a lot, but it is when I typically eat two "servings" (what I was assuming was 1/2 C (90g) of uncooked rice) in a meal, and have rice 1-2 times daily.

Replies

  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,179 Member
    The USDA food database has numerous entries for "Calrose rice", every one of them provided by commercial vendors. I saw values ranging from 155 calories per 1/4 cup serving to 180 calories per 1/4 cup serving.

    I've never actually heard of the calrose variety of rice before.
  • Amerane
    Amerane Posts: 136 Member
    edited January 2019
    IME 1/4 c cooked botan calrose rice is about 150g, not 45g so I don't think it's a cooked vs uncooked situation. I think they've gotten their math wrong on the 1/4 cup = 110 calories label. The first label says 1/4 cup has 35g carbs and 3g protein, both of which come in at about 4 calories per gram. So:

    (35+3)*4 = 152 calories

    Given that there is a small margin of error since fat is a teeeny component of rice, rounding up to 155 calories per 1/4 cup sounds right. The math for the second label is as follows, assuming carbs and protein are 4 calories/gram and fat is 9 calories/g:

    [(36+3)*4] + (0.5*9) = 160.5 calories

    So yeah, the math on the second label is messed up based on the nutritional info they provided. I'd trust the first label since it makes more sense.

    Disclaimer: I'm just doing armchair math, real caloric values are probably a bit more complicated but you get the ballpark idea at least.
  • shaneozouf
    shaneozouf Posts: 59 Member
    JeromeBarry1 wrote: »
    The USDA food database has numerous entries for "Calrose rice", every one of them provided by commercial vendors. I saw values ranging from 155 calories per 1/4 cup serving to 180 calories per 1/4 cup serving.

    I've never actually heard of the calrose variety of rice before.

    Used in making sushi. It's a highly glutenous rice.
  • shaneozouf
    shaneozouf Posts: 59 Member
    The importer must print the label for the nutritional values based on the country to which it's being imported. Because I find it funny that the exact same company has two different labels, with different facts.

    I guess I'll have to plan for higher calorie rice in the future, nothing I can do about the past. I might keep an eye out for a more accurate bag of rice at another store.
  • Amerane
    Amerane Posts: 136 Member
    shaneozouf wrote: »
    JeromeBarry1 wrote: »
    The USDA food database has numerous entries for "Calrose rice", every one of them provided by commercial vendors. I saw values ranging from 155 calories per 1/4 cup serving to 180 calories per 1/4 cup serving.

    I've never actually heard of the calrose variety of rice before.

    Used in making sushi. It's a highly glutenous rice.

    Calrose rice is not glutinous rice, which is why it works in sushi (sushi doesn't use glutinous rice as it wouldn't be firm enough). Glutinous/sweet rice is quite differently textured and much wetter, and it's usually used to make sweets or dumplings of various sorts.
  • Maxxitt
    Maxxitt Posts: 1,281 Member
    edited January 2019
    The math doesn't work out for the label on the right. Calories computed: 4/gm carb X 36 g = 144; 4/gm protein X 3 = 12; 9/gm fat X 0.5 = 4.5 for a total of ~160. Edited to add: If the label is not erroneous then the manufacturer must be assuming that you wash the rice and that a lot of starch (12 g or so) is lost in the process.
  • cheryldumais
    cheryldumais Posts: 1,907 Member
    I'm confused as to where you are getting 45 calories from? It says 1/4 cup (45 G). This refers to grams of weight not calories. The first bag says 155 calories and the second says 110 calories. The first bag clearly states uncooked. Personally I check rice in the database and go with what is average. Long grain rice is roughly 110 calories per 1/2 cup cooked rice. That's not alot of rice. I am unfamiliar with this type of rice but I am pretty sure it's not 45 calories raw or cooked.
  • Lounmoun
    Lounmoun Posts: 8,423 Member
    edited January 2019
    I use that kind of medium grain rice. The info on the label is for uncooked rice.

    Are you measuring/weighing your rice cooked or uncooked?

    It looks like 1/4 c of uncooked rice equals about 3/4 c cooked.
    If you look up cooked medium grain rice in the usda database 1/2 c or 93 g of cooked rice is about 64 calories.
    https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/foods/show/305250?man=&lfacet=&count=&max=&qlookup=&offset=&sort=&format=Abridged&reportfmt=other&rptfrm=&ndbno=&nutrient1=&nutrient2=&nutrient3=&subset=&totCount=&measureby=&Qv=1&Q334044=.5&Qv=1&Q334044=1
  • shaneozouf
    shaneozouf Posts: 59 Member
    cheryldumais wrote: »
    I'm confused as to where you are getting 45 calories from? It says 1/4 cup (45 G). This refers to grams of weight not calories. The first bag says 155 calories and the second says 110 calories. The first bag clearly states uncooked. Personally I check rice in the database and go with what is average. Long grain rice is roughly 110 calories per 1/2 cup cooked rice. That's not alot of rice. I am unfamiliar with this type of rice but I am pretty sure it's not 45 calories raw or cooked.

    An extra 45 calories per serving is what I meant. 155-110 = 45
  • shaneozouf
    shaneozouf Posts: 59 Member
    Maxxitt wrote: »
    The math doesn't work out for the label on the right. Calories computed: 4/gm carb X 36 g = 144; 4/gm protein X 3 = 12; 9/gm fat X 0.5 = 4.5 for a total of ~160. Edited to add: If the label is not erroneous then the manufacturer must be assuming that you wash the rice and that a lot of starch (12 g or so) is lost in the process.

    You should always wash rice, as I do every time I make it. This manufacturer's instructions state that you don't need to wash the rice, but that you can anyway. I do. I doubt 12 g of starch comes out for every 45g of rice, but that's an entertaining thought...
This discussion has been closed.

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