Your diet is important in ensuring you obtain enough nutrients to provide you with energy and keep your organs and tissues functioning properly. In the long term, a healthy diet can also help you avoid certain potentially serious disorders such as heart disease and diabetes. Adding whole grains such as brown rice to your daily meals is a good strategy to help keep you healthy and disease-free. There are so many health benefits of brown rice. Brown rice, is natural and unrefined. Many people choose to eat brown rice instead of white rice because of its health benefits. But why should you eat brown rice? What makes it so healthy? Read on to find out the health benefits of brown rice.
- High in Fiber: Brown rice supplies 14 percent of the recommended daily value for fiber, an important nutrient that protects against colon cancer and breast cancer. Fiber tends to latch onto the chemicals that cause cancer and steer them away from the cells in the colon and breasts, preventing cancer from developing in those areas. Fiber also has many other health benefits including promoting cardiovascular health and maintaining a healthy bowel system. This is among most popular health benefits of brown rice
- Lowers the Risk Of Developing Diabetes: Eating at least two servings of brown rice per week can lower the risk of developing diabetes. It has been found that by eating just 50 grams of brown rice a day reduces the risk of type 2 diabetes by 16 percent, while other whole grains, such as barley and whole wheat, can lower the risk by 36 percent
- Prevent Weight Gain: The fiber content of brown rice keeps bowel function at its peak since it makes digestion that much easier. Brown rice is the perfect addition to the daily diet for those seeking bowel regularity. In addition, brown rice also makes the tummy feel full which translates to smaller meal portions
- It Can Lower Cholesterol: Benefits of brown rice also include the reduction of bad cholesterol. The oil in brown rice has been shown to lower levels of LDL cholesterol, also known as the bad cholesterol, by up to seven percent. At the same time, a diet high in whole grains can increase the level of HDL cholesterol, or the good cholesterol
- Cancer Prevention: Brown rice contains plant lignans & phytoestrogens that are associated with a decreased risk of hormone-dependent cancers such as breast cancer, ovarian cancer, endometrial cancer, and prostate cancer
- Maintains Blood Sugar Level: Brown rice manages the blood sugar level naturally. Brown rice helps stabilize blood sugar levels; therefore, it’s an excellent food choice for those suffering from diabetes. Studies show that those who consume one half cup of brown rice daily reduce their risk of developing diabetes by 60%. On the other hand, those who consume white rice regularly increase their chances of developing diabetes.
- Promotes Bone Health: Last but not the least among health benefits of brown rice is that it is a good source of magnesium, a mineral that is essential to bone health. Just one cup of brown rice contains 21 percent of the recommended daily value of magnesium. Most of the magnesium in the body is stored on or in the bones, so to keep a high level of magnesium in your bones, and to reap its other health benefits, eat plenty of brown rice each week.