Brown rice is a healthy fiber and vitamin rich food with a multitude of health benefits. Unlike white rice, brown rice only has the outermost layer of the rice kernel removed, the hull, leaving much of the nutritional value of the rice in tact. In fact, white rice is required to be enriched by the FDA with vitamins B1, B3 and iron because when it is milled, 67% of vitamins B3, 80% of B1, 90% of B6, half of the manganese , half of the phosphorous and 60% of the iron, and all of the fiber are destroyed.
One especially beneficial substance in brown rice is manganese. One cup of brown rice provides us with 88% of our daily intake of manganese which helps produce energy from proteins and carbohydrates contributing to a healthy nervous system, helps produce sex hormones, and offers a multitude of antioxidant capabilities.
Brown rice, and the consumption of whole grains has been medically proven to help women keep weight off. In fact, in a Harvard Medical School/ Brigham and Women’s Hospital study, women eating whole grains were 49% less likely to gain weight than women eating refined grains.
Brown has reduces the risk of colon cancer. Brown rice is packed full of fiber. One cup supplies 14% of our suggested daily intake of fiber. By preventing cancer causing substances to remain in our colon, colon cancer risks are drastically reduced. Brown rice also contains Selenium which has also been shown to reduce the rist of colon cancer.
In addition to helping to prevent colon cancer, brown rice’s large dose of fiber also helps prevent gallstones by speeding up how long food remains in our colon and preventing increased bile secretion.
The high doses of fiber have also been suggested to prevent childhood asthma. One study suggested eating high doses of whole wheat and fish can reduce childhood asthma by 50%.
There is 27.3% of our daily allotment of Selenium in brown rice, which helps thyroid hormone metabolism, immune function and antioxidant defense systems. Selenium helps our bodies remain cancer free, reduce the risk of heart disease, asthma and rheumatoid arthritis .
Brown rice contains oils that also have been medically proven to lower cholesterol . Health benefits increase for post menopausal woman who ate whole grains, including brown rice at least six times a week by slowing the build up of plaque in blood vessels.
The American Institute for Cancer Research suggests that in studies of brown rice, phytonutrients , may produce results the same of higher in that of fruits and vegetables to prevent cancer. One of these phytonutrients is lignans , found in brown rice which lowers the risk of heart disease and breast cancer. Premenopausal women who ate an adequate amount of whole grains reduced their cancer risk by half.
Studies of brown rice have shown that it lowers the risk of Type 2 Diabetes significantly. Because of it’s high levels of magnesium, it aids in the body’s use of glucose and insulin secretion. Magnesium has also been proven to help reduce symptoms of asthma, lower high blood pressure, risk of stroke and heart attack and help lesson the frequency of migraine headaches.
Magnesium in addition to all it’s other beneficial qualities is also necessary for bone strength. One cup of brown rice supplies 21% of your daily magnesium needs to help replenish our bones.
For such a small grain of rice, the health benefits are astounding. The next time you are at your favorite Chinese restaurant, and the waiter asks brown rice or white, take a moment and think what a vast difference one cup of brown rice can make.
