Health Benefits of White, Brown And Basmati Rice

Rice is consumed in almost every state of India. States like Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar, Jammu & Kashmir, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, and Odisha, rice is eaten as a staple diet whereas as in the rest parts of the country, it only forms a part of diet.

There are a number of varieties of rice grown in India, but most consumed rice include white rice, brown rice, and Basmati Rice.

Why are these three types of rice eaten widely in this country? Read on to know their benefits. Let us begin with the white rice.

White rice

White rice has some most important vitamins and nutrients, but processing removes these all and also reduces it to just starch. To make it very nutritious, the WHO has issued guidelines for the white rice consuming countries to first fortify it with essential vitamins and minerals to make this fit for the consumption. The WHO also requested those nations to do more fortified experiments on the white rice to make it very nutritious.

Health benefits of white rice:

1. Due to its less fiber content, white rice can be easily digested and it takes less than 1 hour to digest it completely.
2. Due to its good digestive property, it helps get rid of conditions like dysentery, colitis, diarrhoea, and also morning sickness.
3. As it takes very less time for digestion, it’s fit for people of all age ranging from baby to
4. It is an excellent source of energy-providing carbohydrates
5. It’s a good source of proteins. About 150 grams of white rice contain around 5 grams of protein.
6. Also, apart from being nutritious food, the white rice is very beneficial in the treatment of several skin problems, such as smallpox, inflammation, prickly heat, measles, burns and scalds.

Brown rice

Brown rice is more nutritious than the white rice, however being costly and little unawareness about its benefits, most of the people in India prefer eating white rice over brown rice.

Health benefits of brown rice:

1. Unlike the white rice, the brown rice is a rich source of fiber, and removes the bad cholesterol from blood, and in turn lowers blood pressure.
2. The oil present in brown rice helps increase healthy HDL cholesterol in your body
3. Due to high fiber content, it is digested very slowly which means that sugar would be released in blood slowly for hours together.
4. Brown rice has essential minerals and nutrients, unlike the white rice the nutrients of which are almost lost during processing.

Basmati rice

Basmati rice is one of the most rice varieties grown in India. Although expensive than the white and Brown rice, basmati rice has unique flavor which makes it the top choice for parties and marriages. Basmati pulao is the most popular dish of India prepared of this rice. Also, there are different varieties of basmati rice grown in this country. Among all other popular rice varieties, brown and white varieties are top choices of most of the people.

In terms of nutrition, basmati rice is nearly equivalent to the brown rice with slightly higher fiber content.

Health benefits of basmati rice:

1. The health benefits of basmati rice are nearly same as of the brown rice.
2. This rice is very popular due to its unique flavor.
3. It is mostly used to prepare the pulao when cooked with butter, Jeera, ghee, or vegetables.