Staple food of millions of Filipinos

AS WE all know, rice is the staple food of millions of Filipinos. It is one of the most vital agricultural crops in the world, and cultivated in more than 100 countries.

Rice, either white or brown, is economical and easy to prepare, and brown rice in particular, can have numerous uses on the dining table.

Sad to note, however,that the younger generation of Filipinos, including majority of adults who were born and grew up in the metropolis, are not used to eating brown rice.

Many households don’t even recognize or know about the nutritive values and uses of brown rice in their daily cooking.

Brown or “unpolished” rice may not be as popular as white rice, but it is now slowly gaining recognition due to its nutritional and health benefits, says the Food and Nutrition Research Institute of the Department of Science and Technology (DOST-FNRI).

Brown rice can provide the necessary carbohydrate requirements of an individual, just like white rice. Its bran layer is a source of dietary fiber, minerals, and B vitamins.

However, the creamy color of brown rice is often mistaken for being “dirty.” This is because brown rice only undergoes minimal processing, thus, retaining most of its dietary fiber, minerals, and vitamins, including fatty acids.

Before the Westerners introduced the modern milling process which produced the white polished rice, Filipinos only consumed brown rice.

Bringing back the tradition of eating brown rice can help the country achieve its goal ofrice self-sufficiency in the near future in addition to helping address the country’s nutritional and health problems.

The production of brown rice can also help reduce the power demand needed for polishing the grain by as much 65 percent. With the bran and the embryo intact, and fewer broken grains, whole grain milling recovery is as much as 10 percent higher than for white rice.

Thus, with the higher recovery of milling, including the consumption of brown rice, our national rice importation requirement may be reduced.

It was learned that efficacy studies are being undertaken to verify the health claims associated with the consumption of brown rice.

In terms of nutritional value, the FNRI said that a serving of cooked brown rice can provide 10 percent of the energy, seven percent of the protein, two percent of the calcium, five percent of the iron, and 16 percent of the zinc daily recommended energy and nutrient intake (RENI) of an adult (19 years old and above).

In addition, the dietary fiber of brown rice can satisfy about eight percent of the recommended intake of an adult, the FNRI added.

Bringing back the tradition of eating brown rice will not only improve the health and nutrition of the Filipinos, but will also help the economy at large by reducing the rice importation requirement, and the cost of addressing the problems of malnutrition.

With the science and technology solutions being offered by the DOST-FNRI, local rice producers may soon be more confident in supplying brown rice to the market. (jaypeeyap@ymail.com/PN)

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