Health benefits of brown rice

Brown rice  has many important nutrients and it provides many health benefits:

Prevent hypertension

You can eat red meat, sweets and fats in small amounts. Have you heard about DASH diet? DASH stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. It is low in saturated fat, cholesterol and total fat. Grains are some of the recommended foods for daily consumption. Grains include bread, cereal, rice and pasta. Focus on whole grains because they have more fiber and nutrients than do refined grains. For instance, use brown rice instead of white rice, whole-wheat pasta instead of regular pasta and whole-grain bread instead of white bread. Look for products labeled "100 percent whole grain" or "100 percent whole wheat." The DASH diet also includes some fish, poultry and legumes, and encourages a small amount of nuts and seeds a few times a week.

Controlling blood pressure

If you suffer from high blood pressure or hypertension, then you should eat brown rice. Because, brown rice contain low sodium, which helps patients with hypertension and blood pressure. Therefore, eating brown rice may also reduce risk of heart disease.

Lowering cholesterol

No one assumes brown rice contains cholesterol, because it contains no harmful fats. In fact, low-fat and cholesterol-free, brown rice helps prevent obesity and weight control. The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition not too long ago,  conducted a study that confirms brown rice as the hands-down healthier choice for your dinner grain. Have you noticed white rice is usually labeled as “enriched?” White rice is usually full of unnatural fortifications and additives. 

These fortifications are used because the stripping process removes most of the iron, vitamins, zinc and magnesium from the rice. In fact, white rice is so devoid of nutrients that it does not offer the minimum nutritional requirements of the FDA. For this reason, white rice must be chemically altered with vitamins and iron just so that it can be sold in supermarkets.

This is one of the main reasons why brown rice is much higher in minerals and vitamins. Nutritionally, there is no comparison between these two forms of rice.

Protect yourself against cancer

If you do not like white rice as a source of carbohydrates, you can try brown rice. Brown rice is also full of soluble fiber that acts as a protective and prevents the growth of cancer cells.

Good for heart health

Brown rice is considered one of the world's healthiest foods. 

Brown rice contains rich in antioxidants are beneficial for health. Eating a serving of whole grains, such as brown rice, at least 6 times each week is an especially good idea for postmenopausal women with high cholesterol, high blood pressure or other signs of cardiovascular disease (CVD).

A 3-year prospective study of over 200 postmenopausal women with CVD, published in the American Heart Journal, shows that those eating at least 6 servings of whole grains each week experienced both:

Slowed progression of atherosclerosis, the build-up of plaque that narrows the vessels through which blood flows, and

Less progression in stenosis, the narrowing of the diameter of arterial passageways.

The women's intake of fiber from fruits, vegetables and refined grains was not associated with a lessening in CVD progression.