Wazzup Pilipinas!
Brown Rice is essentially healthier and more nutritious than white rice.
"Brown Rice has more vitamins B1 (thiamine), B2 (riboflavin), and B3 (niacin) than white rice because 60 to 80% of the said vitamins gets loss during milling.
There is also an estimated loss of 40% manganese, 60% phosphorus, 40 to 75% dietary fiber, 70 to 90% fat, and 15% protein."
But why do we patronize the latter rather than the former?
It's because the brown rice variety is simply more expensive and is considered "gourmet" and can only be mostly found in groceries because of that. We are all familiar with the law of supply and demand - less supply would be a factor to jacking up the price for those who wants it, but high demand would also mean many would try to supply the said commodity, and would eventually lower the price if many would satrt competing for a more competitive sale. But until many would embrace the use of brown rice, we will still experience the higher cost just to buy and try it.
The shelf life is also less, give or take six months, and depending on how you stored it, as compared to the well-milled variety. However, I am sure there will be ways to make it last longer if the demand for brown rice will become higher. We've done a tour of the IRRI properties, and they showed us this plastic resealable bag that would allow you to store rice or any commodity safely and longer, away from harmful insects that may feast on your stored food. If there is a high need of something, I am sure there will be more efforts to come up with something to address those needs. So it all boils down on the ultimate desire to pursue a goal.
To promote the better alternative!
IRRI in partnership with PhilRice and the National Nutrition Council has made efforts to pursue a goal that is worth the admiration - and that is to make our eating habits more nutritious by reintroducing to us the brown rice - by the way, brown rice can have many other varying colors. It is actually the less milled rice - rice that does not go through the tedious process of making it "white" and more attractive for our plates. The original colors mostly gets removed after going through several milling processes. I don't know exactly the technicalities and every procedure but they've shown us a demonstration of how rice is prepared.
But I will not bore you with the technicalities - I will just assure you that the beautiful white rice you now see infront of you may have been an ugly duckling before it went through a process. However, that ugly duckling was more beneficial to your health rather than the beauty you normally eat 3 to 5 times a day as our staple food in our every meal.
We've also seen another breakthrough of Science that might be available soon after a couple more years - the Golden Rice!
It is literally golden with its color that seems like our white rice with margarine added. But its not from any margarine brand or with any food coloring. It is a product of years of research and studies of scientists with the aim to improve the condition of our sustenance - better source of vitamins and nutrients for better health. It is projected that many more countries will begin eating rice as their staple food, aside from the fact that many are still not getting the right amount and have been hungry and lacking food sources.
We need to prepare for our future now! Not just during Nutrition Month - not when the world has gone hungry because it was too late to act. We need to act now!
More pictures will be uploaded soon at the Wazzup Pilipinas Facebook Fan Page:
https://www.facebook.com/wazzuppilipinas
this project of DOST is very helpful not only to those who are in the brown rice farmers but also for us Filipinos who usually consumes rice. eating more healthful foods will makes us more healthy and hence, more productive citizen.
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to the availability of these varieties of rice! This is one of the keys to solve malnutrition in the country. However, I hope that the prices of these rice varieties would be affordable, especially to those who experience malnutrition. For we all know that not all Filipinos eat three times a day, these varieties of rice would be enough to suffice the needed vitamins and minerals by our bodies, even if others could not eat three times a day.
ReplyDeleteSentence Construction: I can't see any error in the sentences.
Paragraph Organization: The sentences were grouped logically.