This index ranks foods on a scale of zero to , where the higher the score, the more rapidly a food gets digested in the body, and the more quickly our blood sugars spike.

As a refined, or simple, carbohydrate, white rice has a glycemic index of 70 while brown rice measures in at Because of this, very frequent white rice consumption may put us at increased risk for type 2 diabetes, per a review.

White rice tends to offer a softer texture and more neutral, mild taste. Brown rice, on the other hand, has a chewier texture and nuttier flavor. And while white rice enjoyed in moderation can still fit into a healthy, balanced lifestyle, substituting for brown rice every so often can definitely provide in some wholesome benefits.

Some tasty ways to enjoy rice, both white or brown, include stir fries , fried rice , sushi, curry , rice and beans , rice pilaf , jambalaya, baked rice , soups , chicken and rice dishes , and stews. Use limited data to select advertising. Create profiles for personalised advertising.

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List of Partners vendors. By Christina Manian, RDN. Medically reviewed by Jessica Levinson, MS, RDN, CDN. Jessica Levinson, MS, RDN, CDN is a nationally recognized nutrition expert with over 16 years of experience in culinary nutrition and communications.

Learn More. In This Article View All. In This Article. Brown Rice vs. White Rice: Nutritional Comparison. Brown Rice Nutrition and Health Benefits. White Rice Nutrition and Health Considerations. Manganese is a mineral that is essential for energy production and antioxidant function.

Brown rice is an excellent source of this nutrient, while white rice is not. Brown rice is a good source of selenium, which plays an integral role in thyroid hormone production, antioxidant protection, and immune function. Selenium also works with vitamin E to protect cells from cancer.

Unlike white rice, brown rice is typically a good source of magnesium. The recommended daily intake of this important nutrient is determined by sex and age. Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding typically require a higher daily intake.

The average adult needs between and mg daily. Enriched white rice is a good source of folate. An average 1 cup serving can contain to micrograms mcg of folate, or about half of your daily recommended amount.

Folate helps your body make DNA and other genetic material. It also supports cell division. The recommended daily value for most adults is around mcg. Women who are pregnant should consume mcg, and women who are breastfeeding should get mcg.

Rice is known to be contaminated with arsenic, whether white, brown, organic, or conventional. In fact, the U. Food and Drug Administration issued a statement discouraging pregnant women and parents from using rice or rice cereals as the primary grain staple due to arsenic contamination.

Nuts, seeds, and whole grains like brown rice also contain phytic acid, a substance that can bind to the minerals calcium, iron, and zinc. White rice has lower levels of phytic acid due to processing.

Research is ongoing. Both white and brown rice can have a high glycemic index GI score. The GI score of a food represents the impact it may have on blood sugar levels.

White rice has a GI of 72 , so it can be quickly absorbed into your bloodstream. Brown rice has a GI of Although brown rice is slower to affect your blood sugar, it can still have a noticeable impact due to lower fiber content compared to other whole grains.

They can go over the potential effects it may have on any existing health conditions and advise you on how to safely add it to your diet. Find out how. Our experts continually monitor the health and wellness space, and we update our articles when new information becomes available. Wondering how many carbs are in a cup of rice, and which type is healthiest?

We'll dig into the details and also offer some veggie alternatives. You may have heard that eating complex carbohydrates is better than eating simple carbs. But why? When it comes to healthy grains, quinoa and rice both provide benefits. If you're living a gluten-free lifestyle, it can be challenging to incorporate grains into your diet.

Find out which types of rice are gluten-free. Studies examining how rice affects weight are conflicting. This article gets to the bottom of whether rice is fattening or weight-loss-friendly. Wild rice is a whole grain that is believed to have many health benefits.

Learn more about wild rice, including its nutrients, benefits and uses. Beautifully hued and packed with nutrition, purple rice is an ancient heirloom grain with origins in Asia. If you have diabetes, you're used to checking whether certain foods are OK to eat. How does rice stack up? Here's what you need to know.

This is a detailed review of Brown Rice Syrup also called Rice Malt Syrup , looking at its health effects and nutritional properties. A Quiz for Teens Are You a Workaholic? How Well Do You Sleep? Health Conditions Discover Plan Connect. Brown Rice vs.

White Rice: Which Is Better for You? Medically reviewed by Natalie Butler, R. Key nutritional differences Risks Rice and diabetes Takeaway. Brown rice vs.

The exact nutritional components will vary depending on the rice manufacturer, so be sure to read the food label on any rice that you buy. Brown rice is generally higher in fiber than white rice.

It typically provides 1 to 3 g more fiber than a comparable amount of white rice. Although fiber is best known for constipation relief, it offers a number of other health benefits.

It can help you:. Generally , men under the age of 50 need 38 g of fiber per day, and men who are 51 years or older need 30 g. Women under the age of 50 typically need 25 g per day, and women who are 51 years or older need 21 g.

Manganese is a mineral that is essential for energy production and antioxidant function. Brown rice is an excellent source of this nutrient, while white rice is not. Brown rice is a good source of selenium, which plays an integral role in thyroid hormone production, antioxidant protection, and immune function.

Selenium also works with vitamin E to protect cells from cancer. Unlike white rice, brown rice is typically a good source of magnesium. The recommended daily intake of this important nutrient is determined by sex and age.

Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding typically require a higher daily intake. The average adult needs between and mg daily. Enriched white rice is a good source of folate.

An average 1 cup serving can contain to micrograms mcg of folate, or about half of your daily recommended amount. Folate helps your body make DNA and other genetic material. It also supports cell division. The recommended daily value for most adults is around mcg.

Women who are pregnant should consume mcg, and women who are breastfeeding should get mcg. Rice is known to be contaminated with arsenic, whether white, brown, organic, or conventional.

In fact, the U. Food and Drug Administration issued a statement discouraging pregnant women and parents from using rice or rice cereals as the primary grain staple due to arsenic contamination. Nuts, seeds, and whole grains like brown rice also contain phytic acid, a substance that can bind to the minerals calcium, iron, and zinc.

White rice has lower levels of phytic acid due to processing. Research is ongoing. Both white and brown rice can have a high glycemic index GI score.

The GI score of a food represents the impact it may have on blood sugar levels. White rice has a GI of 72 , so it can be quickly absorbed into your bloodstream. Brown rice has a GI of Although brown rice is slower to affect your blood sugar, it can still have a noticeable impact due to lower fiber content compared to other whole grains.

They can go over the potential effects it may have on any existing health conditions and advise you on how to safely add it to your diet. Find out how. Our experts continually monitor the health and wellness space, and we update our articles when new information becomes available.

But as with anything you eat, choosing brown rice vs. white rice is all about balance and personal preference. Use limited data to select advertising. Create profiles for personalised advertising.

Use profiles to select personalised advertising. Create profiles to personalise content. Use profiles to select personalised content. Measure advertising performance. Measure content performance. Understand audiences through statistics or combinations of data from different sources.

Develop and improve services. Use limited data to select content. List of Partners vendors. By Genesis Rivas. Is Farro Healthy, Really? Creative Ways to Cook with Whole Grains. Laura Iu, R.

These Are the Best Healthy Cereal Options Out There. How to Eat Healthy Without Giving Up Anything. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Newsletter Sign Up. Part of what makes brown rice so good for you is that it's whole—a whole grain.

Grains are considered whole when their three original parts—the bran, germ, and endosperm—are intact. A grain's bran is its fibrous outer skin.

The germ is its embryo, which has the potential to sprout into a new plant. The endosperm is the germ's starchy food supply. The bran, in particular, is what you don't want to miss out on. Brown rice plays a very important role in regulating blood sugar by keeping blood sugar levels low.

It is also associated with a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Scientists think these effects are due to brown rice's whole-grain goodness. The bran layer seems to be why it takes you longer to digest brown rice than white rice.

This, in turn, could also be why eating brown rice prevents your blood sugar levels from getting as high as they do when you eat white rice. White rice is different because it's not a whole grain: It's refined, meaning the bran and germ are stripped away, leaving only the endosperm.

Unlike brown rice, white rice has actually been associated with a higher risk of type 2 diabetes. You may not associate rice with heart health, but there are reasons why you should. Cardiovascular disease CVD comes in many forms including high blood pressure hypertension , heart disease, heart attack, and stroke.

Eating brown rice may be able to help you lower factors that increase your risk of developing CVD. Specifically, these factors are high blood lipid levels, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure.

Scientists studying the effect of brown rice consumption on inflammatory markers and CVD risk factors in 40 non-menopausal female adults who had overweight or obesity had good news. A diet consisting of brown rice was shown to significantly reduce inflammatory markers, including C-reactive protein , as well as other CVD risk factors.

In addition to cardiovascular protection, brown rice may be beneficial when it comes to weight management. Compared to white rice, brown rice was not found to be associated with weight gain in a study among Japanese workers.

However, the workers who ate equally high amounts of white rice gained more than 6. Eating brown rice in your diet may also help you keep your weight stable.

Some evidence even suggests that brown rice could increase your resting metabolic rate. A higher resting metabolic rate means that you burn more calories when you're sitting or relaxing. Brown rice contains many types of antioxidants : phenolic compounds, flavonoids , anthocyanins, and others.

Antioxidants are powerful molecules found in foods like fruits and vegetables. Their power comes from their potential to prevent or delay some types of cell damage.

Phenolic compounds are a common antioxidant group. They are known to protect cells against damage linked to a greater risk of type 2 diabetes, obesity, cancer, and heart disease. Take note: You won't get the same antioxidants from white rice as you will from brown rice.

The most antioxidant effect is found in the bran in whole grains. Boost your antioxidants even more by incorporating black, purple, and red rice into your diet along with brown rice.

One cup of cooked long-grain brown rice contains the following nutrients:. Brown rice is also rich in vitamins and essential fatty acids. Manganese is a mineral that benefits immune function, reproduction, and strong bones. Magnesium is required for muscle and nerve function, DNA production, and blood sugar and blood pressure regulation.

Cooked brown rice also supplies other essential nutrients needed for optimal health. One concern about brown rice consumption is the levels of arsenic. Arsenic is a groundwater contaminant linked to potential health risks, including adverse pregnancy outcomes and certain cancers. However, arsenic risks due to rice consumption of any kind are not that easy to assess.

Identifying the precise link between rice consumption and health outcomes is complicated by several factors: Populations being studied don't always have comparable rice consumption patterns relative to their total caloric intake.

Plus, the amounts of arsenic in water used to cook rice varies widely. This makes the risk from the rice itself difficult to tease out.

Look for parboiled or converted brown rice if you're concerned about arsenic levels.

Effect of brown rice consumption on inflammatory marker and cardiovascular risk factors among overweight and obese non-menopausal female adults.

Int J Prev Med. Sawada K, Takemi Y, Murayama N, Ishida H. Appl Physiol Nutr Metab. Karl JP, Meydani M, Barnett JB, et al. Substituting whole grains for refined grains in a 6-wk randomized trial favorably affects energy-balance metrics in healthy men and postmenopausal women.

Am J Clin Nutr. Goufo P, Trindade H. Rice antioxidants: phenolic acids, flavonoids, anthocyanins, proanthocyanidins, tocopherols, tocotrienols, γ -oryzanol, and phytic acid. Food Sci Nutr. Department of Agriculture FoodData Central.

Rice, brown, long-grain, cooked. Office of Dietary Supplements. Manganese - fact sheet for consumers. Food and Drug Administration.

Nutrition facts labeling RDIs nutrients. World Health Organization. Menon M, Dong W, Chen X, Hufton J, Rhodes EJ. Improved rice cooking approach to maximise arsenic removal while preserving nutrient elements. Sci Total Environ.

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Use profiles to select personalised content. Measure advertising performance. Measure content performance. Understand audiences through statistics or combinations of data from different sources. Develop and improve services. Use limited data to select content.

List of Partners vendors. Wellness Nutrition Nutrition Basics. By Cynthia Sass, MPH, RD. Cynthia Sass, MPH, RD. Cynthia Sass is a nutritionist and registered dietitian with master's degrees in both nutrition science and public health.

Frequently seen on national TV, she's Health's contributing nutrition editor and counsels clients one-on-one through her virtual private practice.

Cynthia is board certified as a specialist in sports dietetics and has consulted for five professional sports teams, including five seasons with the New York Yankees.

She is currently the nutrition consultant for UCLA's Executive Health program. Sass is also a three-time New York Times best-selling author and Certified Plant Based Professional Cook. Connect with her on Instagram and Facebook, or visit www.

health's editorial guidelines. and Erica Meier. Erica Meier. Erica Meier is quality team and development editor for Health.

In her role, she is a champion for those who are seeking health-related information by making jargon-laden medical knowledge available and accessible to everyone.

Enriched white rice is a good source of folate. An average 1 cup serving can contain to micrograms mcg of folate, or about half of your daily recommended amount. Folate helps your body make DNA and other genetic material.

It also supports cell division. The recommended daily value for most adults is around mcg. Women who are pregnant should consume mcg, and women who are breastfeeding should get mcg. Rice is known to be contaminated with arsenic, whether white, brown, organic, or conventional.

In fact, the U. Food and Drug Administration issued a statement discouraging pregnant women and parents from using rice or rice cereals as the primary grain staple due to arsenic contamination.

Nuts, seeds, and whole grains like brown rice also contain phytic acid, a substance that can bind to the minerals calcium, iron, and zinc. White rice has lower levels of phytic acid due to processing. Research is ongoing. Both white and brown rice can have a high glycemic index GI score.

The GI score of a food represents the impact it may have on blood sugar levels. White rice has a GI of 72 , so it can be quickly absorbed into your bloodstream. Brown rice has a GI of Although brown rice is slower to affect your blood sugar, it can still have a noticeable impact due to lower fiber content compared to other whole grains.

They can go over the potential effects it may have on any existing health conditions and advise you on how to safely add it to your diet. Find out how. Our experts continually monitor the health and wellness space, and we update our articles when new information becomes available.

Wondering how many carbs are in a cup of rice, and which type is healthiest? We'll dig into the details and also offer some veggie alternatives. You may have heard that eating complex carbohydrates is better than eating simple carbs.

But why? When it comes to healthy grains, quinoa and rice both provide benefits. If you're living a gluten-free lifestyle, it can be challenging to incorporate grains into your diet.

Find out which types of rice are gluten-free. Studies examining how rice affects weight are conflicting. This article gets to the bottom of whether rice is fattening or weight-loss-friendly.

Wild rice is a whole grain that is believed to have many health benefits. Learn more about wild rice, including its nutrients, benefits and uses. Beautifully hued and packed with nutrition, purple rice is an ancient heirloom grain with origins in Asia.

If you have diabetes, you're used to checking whether certain foods are OK to eat. How does rice stack up? Here's what you need to know. In a study of Japanese factory workers, those who ate a lot of white rice for a year gained weight, whereas those who ate less white rice maintained their weight.

Those who ate brown rice maintained their weight regardless of how much of it they consumed. One review of studies from looked at a possible link between white rice intake and the risk of type 2 diabetes.

The authors found evidence to suggest that a higher intake of white rice could increase the risk of type 2 diabetes, especially in Asian people. The researchers concluded that eating brown rice could help lower the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, especially if people switch from white to brown rice.

Some of the beneficial effects may be due to the higher amounts of insoluble fiber and magnesium in brown rice. What is the best way for people with diabetes to eat rice?

Storing and reheating rice can entail a risk of food poisoning. To avoid this, people should only cook as much as they need for one meal.

Overall, brown rice seems to be a more healthful choice than white rice, although white rice may be a better choice in some circumstances. However, people will only reap the benefits of any kind of rice if they consume it as a part of an overall healthful diet. This includes favoring rice dishes that involve fresh vegetables rather than a meat sauce, for example.

Another consideration is that some types of rice suit a rice dish better than others. Rice desserts, paella, and sticky rice, for example, may only be successful with a white variety of rice. Although brown rice contains more fiber than white rice, it has less fiber than many other whole grains.

This may make it a good option for people who want to add more whole grains to their diet but who wish to add fiber gradually. Adding high fiber foods to the diet too quickly can lead to bloating, constipation, and other forms of abdominal discomfort.

When buying white rice, it is best to choose enriched rice. This ensures that it has a higher nutritional value. Rice is not an ideal carbohydrate to have with every meal due to its low fiber, mineral, and protein content, as well as the risk of arsenic.

Other whole grains and carbohydrates — such as sweet potatoes, legumes, barley, wild rice, quinoa, rye, and others — are more nutrient dense. A serving of cooked rice is one-third of a cup.

Large amounts of rice can increase blood sugar. Try to serve rice with protein, vegetables, and fat to provide more balanced nutrition and to slow down carbohydrate absorption. Natalie Butler, RD, LD Answers represent the opinions of our medical experts. All content is strictly informational and should not be considered medical advice.

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