45

Converting to white rice destroys:
-67% of Niacin (Vitamin B3)
-80% of thiamine (vitamin B1)
-90% of the vitamin B6
-50% of the manganese
-50% of the phosphorus
-60% of the iron
-Over 75% of the dietary fiber and essential fatty acids

Not all carbohydrates are equal - any nutritionist will confirm that those obtained from whole grains are healthier than those from refined, white ones. And some kinds of fat, in moderate amounts, are good for you, and in fact, are essential for health and life.

Between white rice and brown, which is more nutritious does not depend on the rest of the diet! If you are comparing two things, and which is more nutritious, you cannot say that it depends on whether or not you also eat a bunch of other things! This makes no logical sense.
Of course someone who eats a wide range of fresh, high quality food together with white rice will be better nourished and healthier than someone who eats brown rice and almost nothing else, or brown rice and crap, but we are not talking about the rest of the diet here. We are talking about the nutritional merits of two things - white rice vs brown.
Nutritional merit is generally assessed with reference to vitamins, minerals, fibre, healthy fats and complex carbohydrates - and as you can see from the list above, there is just no question as to whether white rice or brown has more of these elements.
By the way it's time people woke up and realised that not all fat (for example that found in brown rice for god's sake!!) is bad for you.

Edited by: emd_one on Jan 30, 2013 11:09 AM

46

Brown rice fell in much the same category as wild rice, which resembled something that looked for all the world like organic tea.

47

Which is more "nutritious" will depend on the rest of the diet of the person concerned.

48

Do you eat brown rice where it's available, N?

49

HenningWessel,
Yes I do eat brown rice where it's available, and when I can't get M&Ms. Especially when I'm going into insulin shock and have cholera.

50

This is probably a pretty good explanation.

http://drbenkim.com/node/82

51

Except that he left out needing more fuel to cook brown rice. Otherwise it's what has been said here.

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I believe there are two reasons that Asians do not eat brown rice 1/ When European nations dominated China they would send rice back to Europe only after processing and polishing. Chinese copied this practise. 2/ Apparently during one of the great famines in China (and Asia in general) the only rice available was discoloured (dark) rancid rice; from those days brown rice has been considered bad rice in China

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Botned: (1) you think the Chinese ate brown rice until some time after that Europeans in China began exporting rice from there?

(2) When? And do you mean that polished rice became discolored when it went rancid? Are you sure?

(3) Have you read the explanations given earlier in the thread? In what way do you think they are wrong?