The Anatomy of Rice apex (awn)

lemma

hull (husk)

Endosperm
aleurone cell layer Bran
endosperm cells

p h o t o s a n d i l l u s t r at i o n s : h i n d u i s m t o d ay
with starch granules

Germ (embryo)

FOOD

Why Brown Rice is Healthier

Almost everyone eats white rice—but should they?

an you guess which highly So what’s the reason behind white rice price of white rice, according to O’Donnell.
processed and very popular food anyway? Hinduism Today asked Tim O’ White rice got off to a rough start when,
contributes to diabetes and, if it wasn’t Donnell, vice president of sales and market- in 1897, it was found to be the cause of
fortified with vitamins by the manu- ing at Lundberg Family Farms, a Californ- beriberi, a potentially deadly disease caused
facturer, a deadly disease—beriberi? ian company dedicated to organic rice. He by lack of vitamin B1, which is stripped out
That’s right. It’s white rice. said the main reason is shelf life. White rice in the processing. Companies responded,
The vast majority of rice eaters won’t keeps much longer than brown rice and under government pressure, by enriching
touch brown rice. They consider it peasant’s therefore makes companies more money. the rice. They put back the naturally occur-
food or animal feed. Yet, the modern health Over the last century, too, people have ring vitamins, but not the nutrients called
food movement has proven unprocessed come to like the texture of white rice, as well phytochemicals, which includes the all-im-
grains, including brown rice, to be healthier as the shorter cooking time. White rice is portant fiber. Another hazard of white rice
than their refined counterparts. Certainly, also cheaper, because the factories are opti- is that it can contribute to diabetes. And, for
for thousands of years everyone ate brown mized to produce it. Switching the equip- those already diabetic, white rice is less safe
rice, for the complex processing equipment ment to make brown rice costs extra money. than brown rice because it breaks down into
needed to make white rice was invented But Lundberg’s factory, which is set up to glucose more quickly than brown rice, caus-
only in 1860, in Scotland. produce only brown rice, can match the ing a more drastic insulin reaction. ∏π

64 h i n d u i s m t o d ay november/december, 2001
 White Rice
After the husk is removed, the rice is milled
to remove the bran (the brown skin just un-
der the husk) and the germ or embryo (the
life of a rice kernel which grows into a rice
plant). In the milling process, complex ma-
chinery rubs the rice together under pres-
sure. All rice is brown rice before it is
processed into white rice. This process strips
out the life force of the rice along with most
of the nutrients and almost all of the fiber. In
Brown Rice order to compensate, 90 percent of Ameri-
can companies enrich white rice with pow-
Paddy Rice With minimal processing by machine,
hand pounding or, in some areas, putting
dered nutrients, in an attempt to replace
some of what they took out. But, if the rice
Right off the stalk, rice has an inedible out- the rice on the road and letting traffic dri- is rinsed before cooking, as it is in India,
er husk. The more than 100,000 varieties of ve over it, the husk is separated from the then the enrichment powder is lost. Many
rice come in many different shapes, sizes grain and then removed by winnowing. other nutrients are also removed in milling,
and colors. What’s left is brown rice. the importance of which scientists are just
beginning to understand. In the end, 55 per-
cent of the original paddy rice remains.

Let Us Count the Ways… How Brown Rice Stacks Up

The chart at right shows the dramatic dif- 350% 349% Against Fortified White Rice
ferences in nutritional value between en- (by percentage more)
riched processed white rice and unen- 300%
Brown Rice Fortified White Rice
riched, unprocessed brown rice. Even
with the enrichment required by law in 250%
most countries, including India, there are 219%
203%
still vast differences. Brown rice has 185%
200%
349% more fiber, 203% more Vitamin E,
185% more B6 and 219% more magne- 144% 147%
139%
sium. With 19% more protein, brown rice 150%
is a more balanced food. White rice does
include 21% more thiamin, B1, which is 100% 86%
added in the enrichment process. It is
noteworthy that brown rice has a low 37%
50% 33%
Glycemic Index, 55 compared to white 19% 25%
rice’s 70, or even more with additional 4% 0.2%
processing, such as parboiling, which White Rice
posts an 87. For reference, a donut is 76. -21%
The development of diabetes later in life -50%
has been linked to the overconsumpution
Th

Ri

Ph

Se
Ca

Pr

Ca

Di

Ni

Vi

Fo

Vi

Ma

Po

Zin
bo

ta

ta
et

ac

l
ia

le
ot

t
os
lo

rb

ac

gn

c
as

of foods with a high Glycemic Index.

ar

ni
m

fla
rie

in
ei

ph
oh

in

es

siu
in

in

um
in
n

(B
vi

or
s

yd

iu
Fib

B6

E
(B

m
n

3)

us
m
ra

(B
1)
er
t

2)
e

november/december, 2001 h i n d u i s m t o d ay 65