Health News Desk: For centuries, white rice has been the first choice of Indian people, but now a wide variety of black, brown, bamboo green, pink rice has come in the market. It is claimed that they are low in fat and calories, which helps in controlling weight. At the same time, they also contain more nutrients which reduce the risk of diseases compared to white. This is the reason why people are making them a part of their diet instead of white rice, especially brown rice. Health conscious people eat brown rice with great gusto, but recently a research has claimed that even brine rice is not completely beneficial for health.
Actually, to make white rice, its upper brown layer is removed, which contains many nutrients. From health point of view, only unrefined natural brown rice is beneficial. It is not polished, due to which its minerals and nutrients like B-complex remain intact. But, it contains a nutrient which is harmful for health. According to experts, it contains high amounts of an anti-nutrient called phytic acid. This anti-nutrient is a compound found in various plant-based foods, which prevents the body from absorbing nutrients. This element called phytate or phytic acid is found not only in brown rice but also in legumes, nuts, seeds, and whole grains.
This is how they cause great harm to health:
According to reports, phytic acid limits or prevents the absorption of iron, magnesium, zinc and calcium in the body. Due to this the body does not get much nutrients. At the same time, due to deficiency of iron and zinc, hemoglobin is not formed properly, due to which you can become a victim of anemia. At the same time, it gets digested slower than white rice which is not good for digestion. However, its advantages still outweigh the disadvantages. To avoid this, experts say that you should soak brown rice in high temperature water for at least 20-25 minutes. Then wash it several times and cook it in a clean bowl. According to Howard Health, soaking or sprouting it reduces phytic acid levels somewhat. Of course, brown rice is healthy but phytic acid is responsible for the deficiency of nutrients, hence eating it occasionally will be beneficial for health.
