According to nutritionists, brown rice is a great source of starch, vitamins and trace elements, but not everyone understands the nutritional composition, benefits and ways to properly incorporate brown rice into the diet.
The difference between brown rice and regular white rice
Brown rice is the type of rice that retains the bran (the thin layer on the outside), the shoot (the part that is likely to grow into a new plant) and the tripe (the source of the tripe starch), so they provide twice as much fiber as white rice. Not only that, white rice is a refined grain, so it has fewer vitamins and trace elements than brown rice.
Nutritional Ingredients of brown rice
According to data from the US Department of Agriculture, 200 grams of cooked brown rice contains 248 calories, 5.5 grams of protein, 52 grams of carbohydrates and 3 grams of fiber. Not only that, this amount of brown rice also provides 88% of the demand for manganese (a mineral that supports the immune system) in a day, 20% of the demand for magnesium (a mineral that regulates blood sugar and blood pressure) as well as other vitamin and trace elements such as copper, phosphorus, vitamin B.
Brown rice has the ability to regulate blood sugar
Medical experts have proven that brown rice helps people with type 2 diabetes control blood sugar better or helps prevent the possibility of developing this disease. Brown rice has this effect because it contains a lot of fiber, slow-burning starch and antioxidants such as phenolics. These trace minerals and elements help nourish beneficial bacteria in the gut such as Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium which have the ability to prevent obesity and diabetes.
Brown rice benefits the heart
Regular consumption of brown rice reduces cholesterol levels, significantly reducing the risk of cardiovascular diseases. Not only that, coenzyme Q10 in brown rice can also prevent the risk of stroke and cardiovascular complications.
Brown rice contributes to weight control
A study conducted in Japan in 2019 showed that brown rice can help women control their weight and shrink their waistlines. Accordingly, participants who used brown rice instead of white rice in their diet had an unchanged weight over the course of a year, while those who ate regular white rice typically increased by 2.7kg. Specifically, brown rice reduces calorie intake thanks to its high fiber content while speeding up the process of burning calories, thereby keeping the weight stable.
Can you eat brown rice every day?
With the great benefits that brown rice brings, everyone certainly wants to use them every day to replace white rice every day, but does this have any negative impact?
In fact, nutritionists recommend that people should only consume 150-200 grams of brown rice per day, because eating too much will be counterproductive, hindering the absorption of iron and calcium. In addition, brown rice is also harder to digest than white rice, so people with digestive problems are advised not to use this grain.
