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Brown rice and white rice are really the same grain—the only difference being that white rice has been milled more to remove everything but the white endosperm portion of the grain. What’s left on brown rice is the bran and germ in addition to the inner endosperm. This leaves the grain looking brown, and as we all know, people believe that brown versions of things are more nutritional: brown rice, wheat bread, wheat pasta, etc.⠀
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Brown rice has more fiber and protein than white rice, which is good, but brown rice also has more calories, more carbs, and more fat than white rice, as well. If you’re just looking at the numbers, white rice seems slightly healthier. That said, white rice has a higher glycemic index, meaning your body breaks it down faster, creating higher levels of blood glucose and promoting higher levels of insulin response. That can be troubling for those at risk of type 2 diabetes, but not a big deal for others. Brown rice is packed with more nutrients like magnesium, phosphorus, manganese, selenium, copper, and potassium. But a lot of white rice is enriched, which helps close the nutrient gap between the two.One 1996 study out of Portugal found there to be no “evidence that the brown rice diet is better than the diet based on white rice,” despite the higher nutrient contents of brown rice.⠀
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Now let’s talk phytate, something brown rice has but white rice doesn’t. Phytic acid is considered an “anti-nutrient” that reduces your body’s ability to absorb beneficial nutrients because it has a strong binding affinity to important minerals. For example, when iron and zinc bind to phytic acid, they become insoluble and are difficult for your intestines to absorb. Phytic acid also affects your nitrogen levels and protein digestibility, according to one 1987 study out of Japan.⠀
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The nitrogen balance was negative on both diets, but more negative on the brown rice diet. The phosphorus balance on the brown rice diet was significantly negative, but other minerals were not affected.
Nutrition 