Though whfoods.com declares that "white rice is simply a refined starch
that is largely bereft of its original nutrients", the above stats show
that this is simply not the case.

Look at the data a little differently:

Nutrient Brown White % lost in
%DV %DV milling
---------------------------------------
Fiber 18% 3% 83%
Vitamin B1 17% 3% 82%
Vitamin B3 21% 4% 81%
Magnesium 26% 6% 77%
Manganese 50% 21% 58%
Phosphorus 23% 10% 57%
Vitamin B6 22% 12% 45%
Selenium 35% 22% 37%
Tryptophan 19% 16% 16%

I think it's reasonable to say that these data support the statement
that polished rice is "largely bereft of its original nutrients".

Although polished rice in the US is required to be enriched with B1,
B3 and Fe, rinsing it (which appears to be very widespread, IME), you
lose almost all of the fortification.

The intact bran also keeps the starches from hydrolyzing as much while
cooking, which reduces the speed with which eating it makes blood
sugar rise (compared to the same rice if polished).

I often prefer brown rice for white, though for biryani or Persian
chelo/polo, only polished basmati will do (and it smells HEAVENLY!).
Someone here suggested adding some gunpowder green tea to rice while
cooking it; that is really nice! (It's particularly good with brown
basmati. ;-)

For rice flour, I have never found an occassion where using brown
instead of white caused any noticeably different flavor or behavior,
so I always use brown.


N.