What's wrong with white rice?

Rice, like all members of the grass family, has a grain made up of the husk, which is removed. Under that is the bran layer and the germ (the actual growing part of the seed). When those are removed, the result (which is mostly starch) is white rice. Because the germ contains oils, brown rice is more difficult to store because the oils can go rancid, but, like all whole grains, it is much better for us. White rice is not bleached and it is certainly not 'enriched' in the way that white flour is. The reason that white rice is looked down upon these days (it wasn't always so) is because it is almost pure starch and much of the goodness - fibre, minerals, oils - has been removed. For more information, try Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_rice and this site (for kids): http://www.funpcgame.com/health/brown-rice-vs-white-rice-nutritional-difference.htm

Hi Rice goes through a variety of processes before it's ready for cooking. After harvesting, the seeds are run through a rice huller/husker for milling to remove the outer grain husks. After this process, you're left with brown rice. To create white rice, there's added steps. The germ and the inner husk (bran) is removed, the grain is then polished, usually using glucose or talc.The worst thing is that these added steps to turn brown rice to white remove nutrients that are sometimes then introduced back in via synthetic sources - this is called fortified white rice. The loss of nutrients is broad and substantial. Plain white rice has far less Vitamin E, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Folacin, Potassium, Magnesium, Iron and over dozen other nutrients. Added to that, the dietary fiber contained in white rice is around a quarter of brown rice. So, brown rice certainly appears to be more healthy.

I was looking for a straight comparison chart so I could put it here, but no luck. Basically, because white rice is milled and polished it is about one fourth as nutritious as brown rice. If someone were to try to live on a diet of white rice they would likely develop beriberi. White rice is enriched and has some of the nutrients added back in, in the United States. White rice is rice from which many things have been removed.

The bum rap with white rice is the same with white bread saying that it is baaad for you. I live in a country where rice is a staple in our diet and a few years back because I was experimenting on our diet with my mom who has cancer, we switched from white rice to brown organic rice. It was like chewing on cardboard and had no flavor like the white rice. Health "experts" like the brown rice more because it has more fiber content than the white rice. But if you ask me, it's still rice. It's still carbs. I have also gone on a whole wheat bread regimen and so far the only whole wheat bread I have liked so far that did not require me to wish for extra molars (because of the chewing) was this brand of whole wheat bagels I found in our local supermarket. The price is even lesser than other whole wheat breads and I like it because it does not contain any egg.

Yup, I prefer brown rice too. White rice is said to be too starchy, and so brown is considered better for health. But, of course, many people prefer white rice too. Jasmine white rice is a very popular variety of rice.

Brown rice is more nutritious than white rice as said in the previous posts, it's just that in the Philippines and I think it started in the 1950's or sixties that white rice just became a status symbol, when you have guests or when people see that you cook brown rice instead of white, then they would say agh, this family is becoming poor, the same goes if you use white sugar. I think people here should have a rethinking, my family owns a small rice field in the southern Philippines and I always insist that they send us brown rice or some of it whenever we get our share but my mom's cousin who is in charge of sending just does not find it appropriate or nice if they give us brown rice, so in the Philippines I think there should be a rethinking when it comes to this. BTW there is also sticky, black or violet rice, hope you got to taste it already , delicious and smells so good.

Well, there are definately a lot more starches and Carbrohydrates, etc. in white rice compared to brown. White rice actually turns straight to sugar and can be quite harmful for Diabetics. Rice period does not treat me well. But when it comes to white rice they say that it is actually one of the worst foods out there for most people and I always hear them say either Brown rice or Jasmine rice for sure.

Who says it's a bum rap? It is well deserved. The nutritional value of brown rice is due to THE LACK OF PROCESSING it goes through. Brown rice is just the way it was grown, nothing added and nothing taken away. Brown rice is just the way Mother Nature intended it to be. Looked at in another way, which would you expect to be less expensive the white rice which has been subjected to so much processing, or the brown rice which is merely picked and packaged?

Just as you said the brown rice contains more nutrients than white rice .However we don't see much of it.If the white rice can make more profit.As a matter of fact,supposing we eat the polished white rice for a long time, we are liable to suffer from Beriberi which results from vitaminB1 deficiency.

I all ways wash my white rice before I cook it to get some of the starch off of it. I don't think there is nothing wrong with it.