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What's the difference?

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kegstore

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I'm trying to understand something I've not seen discussed as a whole - the difference between brown and white varieties of rice, bread, pasta etc. When I was first diagnosed I immediately made the transition from all things white to the brown or wholemeal equivalent, and stuck with it for over 20 years. As soon as I started learning about GI - only 5 years ago - I started to question the switch.

I still see advice doled out that brown or wholemeal is better for you, but why? Apart from with bread, the absorption rate is about the same between the varieties (i.e. relatively low compared to other foods), and the only other slight difference I can see is related to fibre content. Anything else?
 
when cereals are processed, the husks are removed. That polishes them. The husks are indigestible and therefore,if left, they bulk up the "brown " version of the food. You feel fuller on the same sized portion, absorb less carb and give your gut a peristaltic workout into the bargain.

In rice, you have differing proportions of amylose and amylopectin,( differerent tarch molecules) according to variety. It's this that changes the GI.
 
White wheat flour is 60% or 75% extraction The part that gets removed includes the bran and the germ of the wheat grain-its most nutrient-rich parts.
In the process of making 60% extraction flour, over half of the vitamin B1, B2, B3, E, folic acid, calcium, phosphorus, zinc, copper, iron, and fibre are lost. (probably a bit less lost in UK bread flour which is normally 75% extraction)

Brown flour is 85% -90% extraction with the bran (10-15%) removed.

In the UK white and brown flour is then fortified with fortified with calcium, iron, thiamin and niacin (so actually has more calcium but still less of the nutrients than wholemeal)

Wholemeal is 100% extraction so nothing is in theory removed.
Unfortunately some 'wholemeal' breads are made by a reconstituted process, ie mill finely, extract the white flour, bleach it, reconstitute it with the bran and germ. One way to avoid this is to go for stoneground flour.

Though the nutritional value is different. The GI of white and wholemeal isn't always that different because some wholemeals are made from extremely finely milled flour.TLower Gi breads tend to be made from more roughly ground flour , or contain a mixture of grains with rye, barley or oats etc added or some of the grains are 'bits'.(technical term from my grandchildren) The raising process has an influence too, the light fluffy industrially made bread tend to be much higher gi . Sourdough breads are often much lower.

With rice its similar,The complete milling and polishing that converts brown rice into white rice destroys 67% of the vitamin B3, 80% of the vitamin B1, 90% of the vitamin B6, half of the manganese, half of the phosphorus, 60% of the iron, and all of the dietary fibre and essential fatty acids. In other words its turned from a rich source of nutrients to one almost devoid of them.
White rice in the US is required to "enriched" with vitamins B1, B3 and iron so that might very well apply to rice from the US. I haven't found any such regulation in Europe so I suspect much of the white rice sold here has no fortification

As Hana says rice GI depends upon the starch (As well as if the husk is present) and how long its cooked for.In general sticky rices like Thai and rissotto tend to be much much higher GI.
(the lowest boiled rice on the GI data base has a GI of only 17, the highest 112).
A bit of a minefield, I find a mixture of brown, white basmati and wild rice works best for me.


Lots of info on wholegrains on this site There are far more possibilites than just wheat and rice.

http://www.oldwayspt.org/wgc.html
 
Thanks for that. I'm sorry to say I went back to white rice and pasta on taste grounds (and with my newfound GI knowledge!), and on the same basis stayed with wholemeal bread. Anything I'm losing from the refinement process is certainly being made up with the rest of my diet. Given that I make or cook or grow most of what I eat, I'm extremely fussy about the ingredients too, so this is useful info.
 
I know what you mean, when my children were young , I used wholemeal everything on health grounds but as they grew older and work took over I gradually deviated.
With the advent of diabetes, I had to think again. I try to compromise on taste/health.Thats why my favourite rice is a combination. It tastes good, is fairly gentle on BS and still contains a fair amount of nutrients.(incidently the mixture I originally used came from Waitrose, I tried it and it worked, but now I combine my own rice mixture , much cheaper in the long run)
 
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