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an you guess which highlyprocessed and very popular food

contributes to diabetes and, if it wasntfortified with vitamins by the manu-facturer, a deadly diseaseberiberi?

Thats right. Its white rice.The vast majority of rice eaters wont

touch brown rice. They consider it peasantsfood or animal feed. Yet, the modern healthfood movement has proven unprocessedgrains, including brown rice, to be healthierthan their refined counterparts. Certainly,for thousands of years everyone ate brownrice, for the complex processing equipmentneeded to make white rice was inventedonly in 1860, in Scotland.

So whats the reason behind white riceanyway? Hinduism Today asked Tim ODonnell, vice president of sales and market-ing at Lundberg Family Farms, a Californ-ian company dedicated to organic rice. Hesaid the main reason is shelf life. White ricekeeps much longer than brown rice andtherefore makes companies more money.

Over the last century, too, people havecome to like the texture of white rice, as wellas the shorter cooking time. White rice isalso cheaper, because the factories are opti-mized to produce it. Switching the equip-ment to make brown rice costs extra money.But Lundbergs factory, which is set up toproduce only brown rice, can match the

price of white rice, according to ODonnWhite rice got off to a rough start wh

in 1897, it was found to be the causeberiberi, a potentially deadly disease causby lack of vitamin B1, which is stripped oin the processing. Companies respondunder government pressure, by enrichithe rice. They put back the naturally occring vitamins, but not the nutrients callphytochemicals, which includes the all-iportant fiber. Another hazard of white ris that it can contribute to diabetes. And, those already diabetic, white rice is less sthan brown rice because it breaks down iglucose more quickly than brown rice, caing a more drastic insulin reaction.

F O O D

Why Brown Rice is HealthierAlmost everyone eats white ricebut should they?

The Anat omy of Rice

Endospermaleurone cell layer

endosperm cellswith starch granules

Germ (embryo)

Bran

lemma

hull (husk)

apex (awn)

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Paddy RiceRight off the stalk, rice has an inedible out-er husk. The more than 100,000 varieties ofrice come in many different shapes, sizesand colors.

Brown RiceWith minimal processing by machine,hand pounding or, in some areas, puttingthe rice on the road and letting traffic dri-ve over it, the husk is separated from thegrain and then removed by winnowing.Whats left is brown rice.

White RiceAfter the husk is removed, the rice is milleto remove the bran (the brown skin just under the husk) and the germ or embryo (thlife of a rice kernel which grows into a ricplant). In the milling process, complex machinery rubs the rice together under presure. All rice is brown rice before it processed into white rice. This process stripout the life force of the rice along with mo

of the nutrients and almost all of the fiber. Iorder to compensate, 90 percent of Amercan companies enrich white rice with powdered nutrients, in an attempt to replacsome of what they took out. But, if the ricis rinsed before cooking, as it is in Indiathen the enrichment powder is lost. Manother nutrients are also removed in millingthe importance of which scientists are jubeginning to understand. In the end, 55 pecent of the original paddy rice remains.

Let Us C ount t he WaysThe chart at right shows the dramatic dif-

ferences in nutritional value between en-riched processed white rice and unen-riched, unprocessed brown rice. Evenwith the enrichment required by law inmost countries, including India, there arestill vast differences. Brown rice has349% more fiber, 203% more Vitamin E,185% more B6 and 219% more magne-

sium. With 19% more protein, brown riceis a more balanced food. White rice doesinclude 21% more thiamin, B1, which isadded in the enrichment process. It isnoteworthy that brown rice has a lowGlycemic Index, 55 compared to white

rices 70, or even more with additionalprocessing, such as parboiling, whichposts an 87. For reference, a donut is 76.The development of diabetes later in lifehas been linked to the overconsumpution

of foods with a high Glycemic Index.

4%19%

0.2%

349%

-21%

86%

33%

185%

144%

203%

219%

147%139%

37%25%

-50%

White Rice

50%

100%

150%

200%

250%

300%

350%

Calories

Protein

Carbohydrate

DietaryFiber

Thiamin(B1)

Riboflavin(B2)

Niacin(B3)

VitaminB6

Folacin

VitaminE

Magnesium

Phosphorus

Potassium

Selenium

Zinc

Brown Rice Fortified White Rice

How Brown Rice Stacks Up

Against Fortified White Rice

(by percentage more)