5 Facts About White Rice That May Make You Never Eat It Again

White rice is probably one of the most common staple foods in the world. It can grow in many different countries and climates, lasts just about forever, and is so easy to make. For generations, many countries have thrived from these delectable little grains. From the European countries such as Spain, where a staple dish is a rice based soup called paella. Or perhaps when someone thinks of rice they think of Asian countries such as Japan, where it is common to eat a healthy serving of rice with every meal. With all the ways rice is great, many people probably think that rice is just about the best thing to be created since, well the beginning of man. However what if rice was entirely bad for you? What if through its processing to get that nice white color rice became somewhat toxic for your body? Well here are five facts to look at that will state exactly how bad white rice is for you and your health.

1. White rice contains arsenic

You know those boxes with the skull and crossbones that we saw quite often of television. These boxes may also feature a cartoon drawing of a dead mouse, or may be used as a reference to murder in more mature programming. We probably all know that the stuff in those containers is highly toxic, as it is called rat poison. What we probably don’t know is that it is called arsenic and that it is in the very same rice we eat. Arsenic is a highly toxic metallic compound that can be found in white rice. While the amount of arsenic that white rice contains is fairly minuscule, those amounts can still have ill effects on the human body. They can change how cells communicate which can result in ailments such as cancer or diabetes. It could also play a role in the development of vascular and lung diseases.

2. White rice has lost nearly all of its nutritional value through processing

Through processing rice loses all of its natural nutritional value throughout each of the steps it goes through. Once picked it is brown, and shipped across the country to plants where it is refined and transformed into those “lovely” white grains. As it ships the rice degrades, causing a fraction of its nutritional value to already deplete. Fortunately, however, a lot of it is held in due to the brown shell around the grains. This is what gives brown rice its brown color and nutty flavor. Well, that’s the first thing they get rid of, after all if can’t be white rice with that nice little shell. After this, the rice is dirty and must be cleaned by being soaked in a variety of solutions. These solutions give the rice its nice white color, however completely depletes it of all nutritional value whatsoever. To gain, even a portion of its original nutritional value the rice is fortified with some vitamins and minerals.

3. White rice increases the risk of type 2 diabetes

That’s right! With chemicals and toxins such as arsenic, and the fact that rice is a simple carbohydrate. By eating a lot of rice, you are increasing your risk for type two diabetes. Studies in Asia, the United States, and Australia have been made, and they show that individuals who eat a lot of white rice increase their risk of type two diabetes by over 50 percent.  So don’t risk a life of insulin shots, and instead keep away from the rice. There were a lot of research papers written about cancer but only medical magazines mention the risks of diabetes. People must pay attention on different health hazard.

4. White rice is one of the leading causes of food poisoning

Have you ever eaten a piece of sushi, and after some time you felt violently ill? You most likely blamed the fish for that dilemma. But what if we told you that the fish was most likely fine and that it was the rice that probably made you sick. That’s right; rice is quite possibly one of the leading causes of food poisoning across the globe. Rice is usually infected with spores known as Bacillus Cereus, and they can survive quite easily in the dry conditions such as the bag your rice travels in. Cooking your rice cannot kill off these spores, it activates them. Of course cooking your rice also gives those spores a nice healthy environment to thrive, creating that perfect environment for food poisoning if left out for enough time. The only ways to help this is to refrigerate your rice as soon as possible and to keep it for no longer than two or three days.

5. Rice is simply cheap and filling

Many of you might see this fact and think; well isn’t that a good thing. No, it isn’t, because of how cheap and filling rice is it is very easy to overfill on rice. This can cause you or your family to miss out on much-needed nutrients from other sources. Such as fruits and vegetables for vitamins and fiber, or meats and cheeses for protein. You don’t want an extra filling meal of cheap rice to make you miss out on that needed nutrients.

Rice, quite possibly one of the most common staple foods in the world could cause so many issues. With all of the risks towards your health, it’s a wonder why people even bother trying to eat the stuff at all. Why risk a lifetime of health issues over a few cents, when you can easily enjoy a healthy serving of something alternative, such as pasta or brown rice?