All that glitters are not really gold. We have heard it many times and being healthy, I guess it matters most for everyone.

Everyone do realize this sooner than later in this busy life.The most important content in everyone person daily meals is rice and how many of us really cares for it? lets get some facts right and then will leave at your wisdom to ponder upon.

It’s always said that cut down on fat and you would slim down. But, its been observed that many people despite cutting down on fat, still put on weight. The reason for this is simple carbohydrates which Indian population gorges on without knowing the facts.Indian diets comprises more of simple carbohydrates which mainly consists of white rice, sugar, maida. There is definitely a substitute for everything.

Let’s talk about how beneficial brown rice is over white rice! The difference between white and brown rice is not that of colour alone but there is lot more to it. The outermost layer, the hull, is removed to produce brown rice. This process avoids the unnecessary loss of nutrients that occurs with further processing. If brown rice is further milled to remove the bran and most of the germ layer, the result is a whiter rice, but also a rice that has lost many more nutrients. At this point, however, the rice is still unpolished, and it takes polishing to produce the white rice we consume.

First, polishing removes most of the vitamins and minerals vital to one’s health. One example: the rice bran contains vitamin B and thiamine, both key to preventing beriberi. Polished rice further contributes to diabetes risk because it causes blood-sugar levels to rise more rapidly than brown rice does.The layers removed during the polishing of rice contain nutrients that guard against diabetes. Polished rice further contributes to diabetes risk because it causes blood-sugar levels to rise more rapidly than brown rice does.

Unpolished rice are those from which the hulls, germs, and outer bran layers but not the inner bran layers have been removed. Bran contains several things of major importance – two major ones are fiber and essential oils. Fiber is not only filling, but is implicated in prevention of major diseases in this country such as certain gastrointestinal diseases and heart disease. The National Cancer Institute recommends 25 grams of fiber a day, a cup of brown rice adds nearly 3.5 g, while an equal amount of white rice not even 1 g. Also, components of the oils present in rice bran have been shown in numerous studies to decrease serum cholesterol, a major risk factor in heart disease.
Article taken from http://fitnessgrain.weebly.com

Polished rice has less moisture, mineral, biotin, niacin, protein and fatty content than brown or lightly milled rice. The outer coat of the rice grain in brown rice (below the husk) is called the aleurone layer, which, along with the underlying subaleurone layer, contains most of these components. The greater acquired preference for polished rice is probably due to the change in texture (removal of insoluble fiber), the better digestibility, the easier chewing, and decreased protein content in this form. Polished rice is easier to cook and has a more delicate taste, which may account for its sudden rise in popularity in most parts of the world.

Brown Rice and Good Health
Whole grain consumption has been shown to be positively correlated with good health. The reason may be the increased content of fiber, minerals, vitamins, plant phenols, phytoestrogens and other bioactive phytochemicals. These include γ-oryzanol and tocotrienols (vitamin E precursors) in whole grain rice. However, very few people consume whole-grain rice, but a small percentage does prefer brown rice in which the outer husk has been removed. All whole grains contain roughly similar amounts of carbohydrates, and milling causes the loss of most of the aleurone layer which contains much of the vitamins and minerals. To compensate for this, many processed grains are enriched with these nutrients but fiber is difficult to add back without altering the taste.

Fats in Rice Bran
Rice bran contains vitamin E (72% being in the form of tocotrienols) at about 180-390 mg/kg, and also a relatively high lipid content among food grains. The lipids include oleic, linoleic and alpha-linoleic acids, among unsaturated fatty acids, with palmitic and stearic acids among the saturated fatty acids, as well as tocopherols, policosanols, saponins and phytosterols. These fractions contain many different types of compounds with synergistic effects upon physiological functioning.

Minerals in Rice Bran
Other nutrients in the outer layer of rice include iron, zinc, and vitamin A.Iron-deficiency anemia has been a major problem in all parts of the world, but especially in the developing regions with diets based on rice consumption. This includes the Middle East, Africa, Asia and some parts of South America. One cause for the 50% prevalence of anemia in women, and over 65% prevalence in children under five, is that polished rice loses most of its iron content, and this loss is usually not replaced by other sources of iron. Polished rice has only about 4 ppm, and this too has a low bioa-vailability.

Zinc deficiency is another danger in rice-reliant countries who eat mostly polished rice nowadays. It leads to impaired neurodevelopment, as well as lowering of immunity and thus increasing the incidence of diarrheal disease in the vulnerable pediatric population. Zinc deficiency thus pushes childhood mortality up, as well as being associated with intrauterine growth restriction, fetal anomalies and difficult birth. Stunting is a common associated effect in about 40% of children under 5 and over 80% of women in pregnancy.

Vitamin A in Rice Bran
Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin which is closely associated with visual function, and whose deficiency results in xerophthalmia, night blindness and eventually full blindness. Rice contains little β-carotene (below 0.2 ppm) and this is confined to the bran, which is lost during milling. Thus, those who depend exclusively on polished rice consumption for their supply of staple carbohydrates are at high risk for vitamin A deficiency, which is a major health issue in preschoolers in over a hundred developing nations, with a prevalence ranging between 6% and 36%.

What Nutrients are Removed on Milling Rice?
All the nutrients in the whole grain are negatively affected by milling, and the more polished the grain, the greater the loss.

By way of illustration, rice which has been 5% milled has lost 40% of its ash compared to 62% after 10% milling. The corresponding figures for other nutrients are as follows, for 5% and 10% milled rice respectively:

Nutrient loss from milled rice

Nutrient	Loss with 5% milling (%)	Loss with 10% milling (%)
Iron	51	67
Magnesium	40	64
Calcium	36	57
Zinc	2.8	4.6

Conclusion
Though brown rice may not look appealing at first look, is harder to chew, and requires longer to cook, its nutritional benefits may fairly be said to far outweigh these disadvantages. It is rich in fiber, many important vitamins, and a host of antioxidant molecules, besides the health effects of resistant starch. It should be exploited as a cost-effective way to supply healthy carbohydrates and reduce metabolic risk from refined carbohydrate consumption, besides its antitumor, immunostimulatory, antidiabetic and cardiovascular effects.

Thanks if you have made it to this point. So, Think before you buy so that you pay for your asset (health). We offer Brown unpolished rice to keep you connected with native foods (Mantra to have sustained better health).