Rice is one of the most consumed foods in our everyday lives.

Especially here in the

Philippines and other Asian neighboring countries. Rice is essential in every meal that we have,
we can’t deny that almost every dish would go with rice very well. This high-calorie grain can be
bought at such a low price but produce much-needed energy, making it a staple food for various
countries. Rice comes in various colors and types. Even rice comes in different sizes and shapes.
The most common type of rice that we encounter is white rice, next to this is brown rice which is
known for being a great option for its benefits.
White rice has already undergone the milling process having its bran and germ already
removed. The process was done for the benefit of appearance, texture, and flavor. Milling rice
also makes white rice easier to digest and has an extended storage life. After the milling process,
this type of rice is already polished making it shiny and smooth in appearance. However,
acknowledge that through the milling process, white rice had its bran and germ removed which
are the nutritious parts of the grain. This means that most nutrients from the grain are more likely
decreased because of the process. Compared to brown rice, white rice is considered to have few
essential nutrients explicitly in fiber, 100 grams of cooked brown rice contains 1.8 grams of fiber
while white rice contains only 0.4 grams. A very distinctive difference. This does not necessarily
mean that a grain of white rice doesn’t contain any minerals and nutrients. Similarly, to brown
rice, white rice also secreted plenty of nutrients such as vitamin B6, manganese, magnesium,
iron, phosphorus, and zinc. It’s the amount of these nutrients in both types are what varies.
An unbalanced diet with too much contamination of white rice leaves people with
chronic diseases. Other than chronic diseases, there’s also a neurological disease called beriberi.
Beriberi is a disease due to the manifestation of low thiamine or vitamin B1 deficiency which is
responsible for the digestion of food and keeping the metabolism of an individual going. As
stated earlier, nutrients of the grain had been sucked up through the milling process, thiamine is
one of these nutrients. In addition, high consumption of white rice involves a high risk of
diabetes. You won’t imagine that the rice you’ve been eating since forever has these downsides.
Even though that’s the case, white rice is considered one of the cheapest types of rice making it
convenient to consume for a family that needs a meal.
Moving on, we have here now the brown rice. In contrast to white rice, brown rice
doesn’t undergo the milling process making the bran and germ of the grain linger. Since these
are the nutritious parts, we can say that brown rice is healthier and rich in nutrients compared to
white rice. I’d say organic is the right word. Studies also show that brown rice consumes fewer
calories, unlike white rice. In general, brown rice has higher amounts of vitamins and minerals
compared to white rice. As aforementioned, white rice is linked to a high possibility of diabetes.
In contrast to this, according to studies, brown rice does decrease blood sugar levels, therefore,
decreasing the rate of type two diabetes. We can use here the glycemic index (GI) range in both
types of grain. The glycemic index is a system of assigning a number to carbohydrate-containing
foods according to how much each food increases blood sugar. In GI; 55 or less (low GI), 56 to
69 (medium GI), and 70 to 100 (high GI).