Rice is the most consumed grain worldwide. In particular, it goes well with any food and is loved as a staple food in Asia. According to the American food magazine ‘Food & Wine’, rice accounts for one-fifth of the total calories consumed worldwide.
There are various varieties of rice according to color, shape, and size. Among them, white rice is the most widely consumed variety. However, there is a perception that the bran and germ, which are the most nutrient-rich parts, are removed during the refining process called milling, so it is not conducive to health. It also has a stigma as a representative of bad carbohydrates. However, white rice is not just bad for health. Let’s find out what advantages white rice has.
nutritional value of white rice
Rice contains mostly carbohydrates and contains a small amount of protein. There is almost no fat. White rice is also an important carbohydrate source. Carbohydrates, which account for 75% of the nutrients in white rice, provide energy needed by the human body. In addition, it is rich in other nutrients such as protein, vitamins, and minerals.
Less arsenic than brown rice
Arsenic is a naturally occurring heavy metal that is a toxic compound found primarily in grains. Among rice, brown rice is known to have a very high arsenic content, but white rice has relatively less arsenic content than brown rice. Long-term arsenic intake increases the risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and chronic diseases. Rice produced in Korea is safe worldwide due to strict arsenic-related regulations. Nevertheless, if you are concerned about arsenic intake, you can use a lot of water to cook the rice. This is because arsenic is soluble in water because it has three anions attached to it.
How to eat more healthy white rice? with grain rice
In general, because white rice is polished a lot, the carbohydrate ratio is high and nutrients are relatively low. For this reason, most of the households cook multigrain rice rather than only white rice, but white rice is needed to properly see the efficacy of multigrain rice.
Multigrain is a lump of dietary fiber. There is an average of 5-8g of dietary fiber per 100g of mixed grains. If you eat an average of 300g of mixed-grain rice at one meal, you will consume about 15-20g of dietary fiber. This is close to the recommended daily dietary fiber intake of 20-25 g. If you consume too much dietary fiber, the absorption rate of micronutrients such as vitamins and minerals decreases and digestion is difficult. In particular, brown rice, which is used a lot in multigrain rice, is very difficult to digest because it contains a lot of protein.
If you cook rice with a ratio of mixed grains and white rice to 3:7, you can cook rice with the right balance of nutrients and easy digestion. For the elderly over 65 years old and children under 6 years old, the digestibility is low, so the ratio of white rice should be slightly increased to 1:9. Dietitian Hee-sun Jeong, nutritionist at Hidak, advised that when making brown rice, “It is good to adjust the ratio of brown rice to white rice at 5:5.”
Help = Hee-sun Jeong (nutritionist), nutrition counseling at Hidak