We are what we eat

Commentary By Ron Beasley

One of the reasons our health care expenses are so high is that we Americans are not very healthy.  Yes, smoking, drinking and lack of exercise contribute to this but in addition the food industry is supplying us with unhealthy foods.  A case in point is rice and it's international and dates back 150 years.

After farmers harvest their rice, it typically goes to a mill. There, it is cleaned and the husks are taken off the grains of rice. At this point, it is referred to as �brown rice� or �unpolished� rice. Once the husk has been taken off the rice, there remain several very thin layers of wholesome bran. At this stage, the rice is full of nutrients, vitamins, minerals, and protein�and very healthy to eat.

The story would stop there were it not for the technological �modernization,� starting about a century and a half ago, of corporations developing technology to refine rice (and other grains) further. In the case of rice, milling technology created the possibility of peeling the bran off the grain and polishing what is left into shiny, white rice.

But polishing rice from so-called �dirty rice� into the sparkling white form that most people prefer has caused�yes, caused�a number of major, adverse impacts on health.

First, polishing removes most of the vitamins and minerals vital to one�s health. One example: the rice bran contains vitamin B and thiamine, both key to preventing beriberi. Indeed, in the largest World War II prison camp in the Philippines (where John�s grandfather was interned), American prisoners suffered from beriberi until they convinced the Japanese prison guards to let them cook the bran shavings that came off the polished rice; then the beriberi went away.

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And polishing rice also reduces the protein content of the rice, which can mean the difference between being well-nourished or malnourished. The bottom line on all of these health fronts is the same: the more polished the rice, the less healthy.

Since white rice is mostly carbohydrates it also increases the chance of Type II diabetes as well as malnutrition. 

I have eaten brown rice for years -  I knew it was healthier and I also enjoy the nice nutty flavor.   But I always thought it was another kind of rice not over processed rice. 

Of course rice is just one example of over processed food - think bleached flower and high fructose corn syrup.