My good friend @smurray_32 absolutely crushed this post! This such an important concept that most people have a hard time grasping… Scotty wrote the rest!! (science incoming)👇👇
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White or brown? Which is your favourite?
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I’m sure you have all heard it at some stage or another “white rice is bad & brown rice is good” however is it true? To an extent yes however as with any food, no food is really “good” or “bad”, simply “superior” or “inferior” in terms of micronutrient composition.
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Therefore, as you can see, brown rice does have a slightly superior micronutrient profile than white as white rice will have its bran & germ layers removed thus losing some of its micronutrients. however is this a “bad” thing? IT DEPENDS.
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As with anything, when comparing one food & another you need to consider them in the context of your diet as a WHOLE. For someone who eats countless amounts of vegetables, fruits etc. per day, ALREADY achieving large amounts of micronutrients & fibre, white rice may actually be a BETTER option in order to avoid gastric discomfort by increasing fibre content even more. Conversely, for those who eat pop tarts all day & thus, highly micronutrient/fibre deficient, brown rice may be a better option, it’s all about CONTEXT! In fact, studies show that, despite the higher nutrient contents of brown rice compared to white rice, experimental data does not provide evidence that brown rice diet is in any way “better” than white (Callegaro & Tirapegui 1996).
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Furthermore, in terms of the glycaemic index, yes, white rice will be higher GI than brown (Miller et al 1992) however this is only relevant when the food is consumed in ISOLATION. However, via the addition of fat, fibre and/or protein (as you would by eating rice with some veggies and meat etc.) the GI response is diminished (Moghaddam et al 2006, Cui et al 1999). These effects also seen for if a food is taken before or after the consumption of a high GI carb (Sugiyama et al 2003).
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Moral of the story: B