The healthiest rice: which variety is better to eat

Rice is a valuable agricultural plant; more than half of the world's population feeds on it. On the shelves of supermarkets and shops, cereals are represented by a wide assortment of varieties that differ in taste, nutritional and useful properties.

What are the types of rice, which rice is the most useful, what is the beneficial effect on the body, possible contraindications and side effects - this will be discussed in the article.

What are the types of rice

The genus Rice includes 18 species, grouped into 4 sections... Species differ in grain shape. According to this parameter, the cereal is classified into round-grain, medium-grain and long-grain. Grains vary in color and taste.

Processing technology determines the chemical composition of the product, dietary and beneficial properties for the body. Many varieties of cereals are absent in the post-Soviet space, so we will focus on several of the most popular and affordable varieties.

White

The most famous variety is white rice. is he ideal for preparing everyday meals, but in terms of usefulness it has minimal indicators... To give a clean look and smooth shape, the grains are subjected to grinding, which removes them from the husk and bran nutritive shell, which contains the largest part of the compounds useful for the human body.

Reference. The main substance in the composition is starch, therefore the product has a considerable calorie content (350 kcal per 100 g of raw cereals), a high glycemic index - up to 85 units in dry form, and over 100 - in cooked form.

Some manufacturers in order to increase the attractiveness the final type of cereal is used to polish the rice using a conglomerate of glucose and talc. It is a carcinogenic compound that increases the risk of cancerous tumors and a nervous system disorder called beriberi. This disease is caused by a deficiency of vitamin B1, manifested by nausea, paresthesias in the legs, poor appetite, constipation, and decreased physical and intellectual performance.

Healthier foods include steamed white rice grits... Its value for the body is much higher in comparison with traditional white rice, which is achieved due to the applied grain processing technology - steaming.

Under the influence of hot steam, almost all useful components pass into the grain itself... The output is translucent, appetizing-looking rice, which is quickly cooked, boiled well, and retains friability.

Brown

The favorite food of healthy food advocates is brown, or brown, brown rice. Due to the preservation of the pityrious shell, the variety has a high content nutrients, micro and macro elements, vitamins. The grains have an unusual dark color and a rough texture. Due to the high concentration of fiber, it is rough and has a specific taste.

Cooking longer than its predecessors, the cooking process takes about half an hour, but all the compounds useful and nutritious for the human body are preserved in it: B vitamins, amino acids, folic acid, zinc, iron, potassium, iodine.

The black

Real black rice exists. A rare variety - Nero, which grows exclusively in Italy in the valley of the Po river.The black color is characteristic only for the shell of the cereal and is explained by the high concentration of antioxidants in the composition. The grains under the shell are light. The aroma is reminiscent of freshly baked bread or hazelnut.

It differs from other varieties in high protein content - more than 8 g and fat - 3 g (in dry white rice, the fat content is 1 g). Grain is best served as a separate dish or used as one of the ingredients in a salad. Groats are not cheap, about 210 rubles. for 350 g, so not everyone can afford it as a daily food.

Wild

Wild black, or African, rice - seeds of the herbaceous plant zizaniya, rice has no biological relation to the genus. Outwardly, the cereal resembles small dark needles, has a pleasant aroma and specific taste. Due to its natural hardness, rice must be pre-soaked for several hours, and only then boiled for 30-40 minutes.

Wild rice contains many protein compounds, their share in dry matter reaches 16%, but there is practically no saturated fat and cholesterol. Surpasses wild rice of its predecessors in the concentration of folic acid, its content is 5 times higher than in brown rice. But sodium was found 2 times less than in ordinary white cereal.

For reference. Harvesting of zizania is carried out on the water, which is why this plant is also called "water rice". In Europe and America, such a product is considered a delicacy; the complex assembly technology makes it more expensive than other types of cereals.

Red

Red rice is good for your regular diet and as part of a therapeutic or dietary food. Until recently, it was impossible to buy groats everywhere, but now they began to grow it in some regions of Russia, in particular, in the Kuban.

Grains are not sanded, which means that they retain the chemical composition, being a natural source of mineral salts, vitamins of groups B, E, H. The remaining bran shell allows you to preserve the shape of the grains during heat treatment and gives them a pleasant hazelnut aroma.

The red color of rice is provided by the content of procyanidins... They are powerful antioxidants (20 times more powerful than vitamin C and 50 times more powerful than vitamin E). Their benefit to the body lies in the ability to reduce the level of harmful cholesterol, prevent the occurrence of cancers of the digestive tract and internal organs. These substances contribute to weight loss and prevent the development of type 2 diabetes.

Others

Other healthy varieties of rice - Basmati and jasmine... Basmati is famous for its delicate aroma, noble taste, and specific grain shape. The composition of cereals contains a large amount of a rare substance - amylase. This is a digestive enzyme that regulates the functions of the pancreas, with its dysfunction relieves nausea, loss of appetite, flatulence.

Reference. Basmati is recommended to be used as a therapeutic food in case of pancreatic insufficiency, cystic fibrosis, acute and chronic hepatitis, toxicosis during pregnancy.

Jasmine - the best rice for the people of Southeast Asia... It is appreciated for its excellent taste, pleasant milky aroma with notes of jasmine. The cereal is free of gluten and gluten, so it is completely safe for people suffering from gluten enteropathy.

Composition, trace elements and calories

The best product in terms of availability, pricing and useful properties Brown brown rice, alternatively white steamed cereal.

Dry brown unpolished rice has calories 367 kcal, 7.5 g protein, 3.2 g fat, 72.7 g carbohydrates. Cooked rice loses 2/3 of its calories, and then a serving contains:

• calories - 123 kcal;
• proteins - 2.7 g;
• fats - 1 g;
• carbohydrates - 24 g.

Rice is high in carbohydrates and poor in protein and fat compounds... The carbohydrate complex includes starch, dextrins, and sugars. Grains contain up to 70 g of water, pectin fibers, ash, amino acids. Found in the composition of a complex of B vitamins, betaine, vitamins K and E, nicotinic acid, mineral salts (zinc, calcium, potassium, sodium, phosphorus, copper, selenium, manganese, iron).

The benefits of rice for the body

Rice has a wide range of therapeutic activity... With its help, you can improve health in case of diseases of the heart, blood vessels, liver, kidneys, nervous system, improve the functioning of the digestive tract and metabolism, activate the burning of fatty deposits, and improve the body as a whole.

Slimming

Cooked rice has a low calorie content, but almost completely retains its inherent useful qualities... Boiled rice is nutritious, quickly and for a long time saturates the body with one small portion. Carbohydrates are absorbed by the body within a few hours, filling the body with energy, while not turning into fat stores.

Grain contains a large amount of plant fiber, which enhances intestinal peristalsis, activates metabolism, improves digestion. Her benefits slimming is the ability to accelerate the breakdown of fats, increase endurance and performance, which leads to stimulation of physical activity and additional burning of calories.

Rice cleanses the liver, kidneys, blood, removes harmful toxins and toxins from the body, excess fluid, thereby reducing puffiness.

For cleansing

The starch in rice cereal acts like a sorbent: binds toxic substances and removes them from the body, protects the surface of the mucous membrane of the gastrointestinal tract from aggressive mechanical and chemical influences. Grain cleans the bile ducts well, provides active cleansing of the liver, dissolves salts, and helps in the treatment of urolithiasis.

The obvious advantage of rice is that it removes excess fluid from the body., due to which the puffiness disappears. Its diuretic abilities are used to reduce high blood pressure, treat and prevent heart failure, atherosclerosis.

Read also:

Is rice allergy possible and how does it manifest?

What is better for losing weight - rice or buckwheat

For pregnant

Rice is especially useful for pregnant women due to the presence of folic acid in the composition... This is vitamin B9, without which normal growth and development of organs and tissues of the embryo, including its brain, is impossible. To a large extent, the substance affects appetite, mood, and the state of the nervous system. With a deficiency of folic acid, the risk of placental detachment, miscarriage, and fetal growth retardation increases.

Another reason why pregnant women need rice, - its ability to cleanse the intestines of toxins and toxins, remove excess water from tissues, due to which the edema, which worries almost every pregnant woman, disappears.

Rice is a source of useful and nutritional components, which partially satisfies the body's needs for iron, calcium, potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, zinc, which is important for the normal course of pregnancy, has a positive effect on the health of the mother and the unborn child.

For reference. Vitamin B9 during breastfeeding is responsible for milk production, prevents postpartum depression, states of apathy, weakness.

For kids

Rice is a natural source of calcium, which creates favorable conditions for the normal growth and development of the child's body, takes part in the construction of bone tissue, mineralization of teeth.

Equally important for a growing organism is the presence of gamma-aminobutyric acid... This biogenic substance stimulates the processes of brain activity, regulates the production of growth hormone, improves metabolism in brain tissues. There are many protein compounds in rice that are important for the functioning of the entire cellular system, maintaining the muscle frame in tone.

For problems with the gastrointestinal tract

Brown brown rice has a positive effect on the organs of the digestive system... Boiled cereals are prescribed as a therapeutic food for gastrointestinal diseases of an ulcerative and erosive nature. It well reduces the level of acidity, envelops damaged mucous membranes, protecting against the aggressive action of irritating substances, and accelerates the healing process of ulcerative defects.

The cereal will be useful with diarrhea... Due to the high concentration of starch, it contributes to the formation of feces of normal consistency. In addition, it prevents dehydration of the body, fermentation processes in the digestive tract, reduces the manifestations of flatulence, relieves the feeling of bloating.

Other

When consumed correctly and regularly, brown rice helps the vascular system. reduce cholesterol levels, which serves as a good prevention of atherosclerosis. Groats help to normalize and control blood sugar levels, which helps prevent the occurrence of relapses and complications of diabetes. Grain has a beneficial effect on the work of the heart muscle, increases the elasticity and strength of the vascular walls, and reduces their permeability.

Due to its diuretic action, rice resists developing hypertension, reduces the risk of heart failure, myocardial infarction. The action is manifested in the removal of excess fluid from the body, a decrease in peripheral vascular resistance, and a decrease in the load on the heart.

Boiled brown rice will benefit the nervous system... Since cereals contain many B vitamins, micro- and macroelements, eating cereals stimulates cognitive processes, improves memory and concentration, and has a positive effect on brain activity. This type of rice acts as a sedative, relieves insomnia, reduces the effects of stress, relieves irritability.

Important. The absorbent qualities of rice porridge make it useful for people with diseases of the musculoskeletal system - osteochondrosis, arthritis, arthrosis, gout. Rice normalizes disturbed metabolic processes, improves blood circulation, regulates the exchange of purines. The amino acids contained in the composition well dissolve the deposits of crystals of uric acid salts, which serves as a prevention of the formation of gouty nodes.

Harm and contraindications to eating rice

Health damage can be caused by eating unpeeled bran-cased ricewith a shelf life exceeding 12 months. Bran containing rice oil can turn rancid and cause food poisoning.

Eating large portions of rice uncontrolled increases the risk of constipation... Frequent ingestion of cereals adversely affects the concentration of potassium and iron in the body, which can negatively affect the functioning of the cardiovascular system.

In people with individual intolerance rice with its use there is a high probability of allergies in the form of rashes, peeling on the skin, itching, swelling.

Before using rice for medicinal purposes, you need to pay attention to the presence of possible contraindicationswhich include:

• hypersensitivity to one or more components of the composition;
• a predisposition to constipation;
• the formation of large stones in the departments of the urinary system;
• diseases of the heart and blood vessels in the acute stage;
• low pressure.

Rice based traditional medicine recipes

Grain grains have an absorbent effect and cleanse joints well, remove salts, help to cope with muscle pain.Such cleansing is beneficial for different organs and systems.

Recipe for cleaning joints:

1. Rinse 3 kg of rice well until clear water, pour 10 liters of purified water.
2. For a week, thoroughly rinse the grains every day (10-15 minutes), then fill in with clean water.
3. On the last day, drain the water, rinse and dry the grains, put them in a paper bag.

Then, for a month, you need to cook porridge every morning. from 1 tbsp. l. cereals, boiling it for 25 minutes. Nothing is added to the porridge. After breakfast, you cannot eat or drink for another 4 hours.

Rice Broth Helps Fight Upper Respiratory Disease - tonsillitis, pneumonia, ARVI, ARI. For treatment, a decoction made from rice, mint, onions is used:

1. Rice is washed to clear water, poured with water in a ratio of 1: 7.
2. When the water boils, add fresh mint and coarsely chopped onions.
3. The broth is cooked under a lid over low heat for 20-30 minutes.
4. Cool, filter through a sieve, squeeze the products.

Take 3 times a day 100 ml each.

Conclusion

Considering the beneficial properties, taste, availability, pricing policy, brown (brown) unpolished rice leads the rating of rice, followed by white steamed cereals. Both varieties are characterized by a high content of vitamins, nutrients and valuable for the human body, micro- and macroelements, which are almost completely preserved even after cooking.

Other varieties of rice (black, red, Basmati, Jasmine) also have a beneficial effect on the body, but they are more expensive, so not everyone can afford to eat them all the time.