It has been drummed into our heads to eat whole grains over refined grains: brown rice over white rice, whole-wheat bread over white bread, and whole-wheat pasta over white pasta. It makes sense, as the whole grain has more nutrients than the refined grain.
But interestingly, over half the world relies on a refined grain: white rice. Many of these people eat white rice for three meals a day every day. Growing up in an Asian household, I can attest to this fact.
Is half the world unhealthy because of refined grain intake? Most certainly not. But what if their health could be improved by whole grains? They may not be dying from white rice but they would be healthier by switching to brown rice. This was the perspective I held until I dug deeper.
After finding the nuances in rice, I wondered if there were nuances in wheat, the second most consumed cereal (as food) after rice. There, I also found a more complex situation than what conventional media portrays.
I’ll start the discussion around rice and then move to wheat. To get the full value from this article, you’ll need a basic understanding of a whole grain’s anatomy before we begin.
Rice
Rice is a staple of Asian cultures, with myths and ceremonies dedicated to this sacred grain. We could learn about rice from just about any Asian country, but China and India stand out as the two countries with the most wisdom on this topic. These two countries are the most ancient civilizations and have the longest history with rice.
Ayurveda (traditional Indian medicine) comes from India while TCM (traditional Chinese medicine) comes from China. We’ll use these frameworks to see what each culture thinks of rice.
Note that while Ayurveda and TCM are known as medical theories, they would be better known as overarching life philosophies.
Ayurveda
Rice is one of the rare foods Ayurveda recommends regardless of body constitution. According to Ayurveda, white basmati rice is the king of all rices. It has an inherent ability to cultivate balance in the mind, nourish bodily tissues, and sustain prana (life force).
When you think of traditional Indian dishes like chicken tikka masala and biryani, basmati rice is the rice used. Its nutty flavor pairs well with savory curries from South Asia. It’s that long-grain, aromatic rice you get from Indian restaurants.
Ayurveda does give brown rice a mention, but only when your digestive system is strong during the cooler months. This is because it’s harder to digest the bran and germ of brown rice.
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and firsthand accounts
While researching TCM’s take on rice, I wasn’t able to find mentions of brown rice or white rice, so I resorted to firsthand accounts from my Chinese family. Let me explain.
The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine is the highest authority on TCM. It is the foundation upon which TCM has been built for two millennia. My aunt, a TCM practitioner who has read the book in its original language, told me the book has no record of brown rice or white rice. There’s no differentiation between the two. It’s just rice.
Well, which rice is the classic referring to? I wasn’t satisfied, so I consulted the oldest primary source I knew, my grandparents. What kind of rice did their grandparents (my great-great-grandparents) eat? It was white rice. They never had brown rice at mealtime. I was shocked.
But what if they ate white rice only because milling machinery made white rice abundant? Maybe those who didn’t have access to advanced machinery ate brown rice.
This wasn’t the case. Before milling machinery was widespread, people refined rice by hand despite its high labor intensity. The experience of my great-great-grandparents confirms this fact: they used mortar and pestle and never had advanced machinery, as they lived their entire lives before the Chinese Industrial Revolution.
Before industrialization, almost everything took more time and energy: farming, building, getting around, and more. If time and energy were so scarce, why did people spend so much effort on refining rice, especially if brown rice was supposed to be healthier than white rice?
It turns out they refined rice to keep the digestible endosperm for themselves while feeding the leftover bran and germ to livestock (especially pigs). It was common practice as livestock couldn’t sustain themselves entirely by foraging.
Whereas today we have an excess of food and can feed the waste to livestock, back then people barely had enough calories for themselves. They couldn’t spare to feed livestock the crops they grew or the animals they caught, but they had to feed livestock something. Rice byproducts were regarded as less fit for human consumption, so they fed that to the animals.
I’d imagine this practice of feeding rice byproducts to livestock was done for most of Chinese history. The circumstances my great-great-grandparents lived in were roughly the same as those hundreds of years ago.
With this knowledge, it’s almost certain that the Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine is talking about white rice. That means people were eating white rice more than 2,200 years ago. This white rice is said to nourish the stomach and the spleen, balance the body, harmonize the organs, and strengthen qi (life force).
Similar to Ayurveda, TCM holds white rice with high regard and only recommends brown rice to those with a strong digestive system.
If white rice has sustained people for millenniums, I doubt it’s harmful. Otherwise, people would’ve stopped eating it and switched to brown rice a long time ago.
Wheat
While rice is the staple of the East, wheat is the staple of the West. We’ll look at how wheat was treated in Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, the two oldest Western civilizations. Though these civilizations are no longer standing, archaeological excavations and historical accounts give us insight.
Both civilizations prized wheat, dedicating festivals and gods to this sacred grain. The question that remains is whether they used predominantly whole-grain wheat or refined wheat. I’ll be using information from The Daily Bread of the Ancient Greeks and Romans for much of this section.
Ancient Greece
During the time of ancient Greece, the breeds of wheat were einkorn and emmer, the most primitive forms of wheat on Earth. These breeds are easier to digest and contain more nutrients than modern wheat breeds.
Greece actually grew barley and relied almost exclusively on imports for wheat. Regardless, we can still find out whether they ate whole grains or refined grains.
People used mortar and pestle to remove the hull from grains and then used the rotary hand quern mill to make flour from those dehulled grains. The Olynthus mill was invented after the rotary hand quern mill and was a mild improvement.
Despite these mills producing very coarse flour, the grain was ground only once since milling was so labor-intensive. It took almost an hour to grind a pound of flour.
After the grinding, people sifted the coarse flour multiple times. The refined flour was reserved for the elites while the coarser flour was for the poor. The standard bread had no less than a 90% extraction rate, meaning at least 90% of the grain was made into flour during the milling process. That means no more than 10% of the grain was sifted out.
For reference, modern white flour has a 70% extraction rate, which means 30% of the grain is sifted out. So if you blended one part white flour with two parts whole-grain flour (which has a 100% extraction rate), you would get a 90% extraction rate flour.
Nowadays, traditions from the Greek elderly confirm such grain refinement. The refined flour was to make bread for human consumption while the bran was fed to farm animals. Thessaly (a region of Greece) has a term for whole-grain bread: skylopsomo, which translates as “dog bread”.
Ancient Rome
In 146 BCE, the Greek city-state of Corinth fell to the Roman Republic, marking the eventual takeover of Ancient Greece by Ancient Rome. Because Ancient Rome controlled a much larger territory than Ancient Greece did, Romans had access to a wider variety of grains. During this time, the cultivation of breeds of wheat like spelt increased.
Bread became a core component of society. The social status of bakers rose and there was a huge growth of bakeries and large-scale grain mills. In the 2nd century BCE, the more efficient rotating Roman mill was invented. Production moved towards skilled artisans, making bread cheaper and widespread.
Bread tasted better too: along with better milling, there was better sifting. And levain, or bread starter, was commonly used to make bread rise. These leavening agents are roughly the same as the sourdough starters we have nowadays.
All these developments made bread even more of a staple food. By 50 CE, bread from sifted flours was being produced on a commercial scale throughout the empire. Like in ancient Greece, the wealthier you were, the more refined bread you ate. As a whole, the extraction rate was around 90% (two parts whole grain to one part refined).
The Roman Empire fell in 476 CE but milling and sifting technology continued to advance. In the Middle Ages (500 CE to 1500 CE), the lowest extraction rate was 80% (one part whole grain to two parts refined). It stayed there until just the last half century when industrial roller milling produced pure white flour with a 70% extraction rate.
What Science Gets Wrong
Clearly, traditional cultures have been eating refined grains for thousands of years. Then why does science tell us 100% whole grain is the best way to go? This misguided conclusion is the result of some misconceptions listed below.
Glycemic index
A common argument you get for whole grains is that their glycemic index is lower than that of refined grains. Let’s unpack this.
The glycemic index (GI) is a measurement of your blood sugar after eating a specific food. Foods with a high GI spike your blood sugar more than foods with a low GI. The index ranges from 0 to 100, with 100 being the GI of pure sugar.
According to the ADA (American Diabetes Association), brown rice has a GI of 68 while white rice has a GI of 73. Whole-wheat bread has a GI of 74 while white bread has a GI of 75. So it’s true that whole grains have a lower GI and spike your blood sugar less than their refined counterparts do, but not by much.
The key thing to understand is that GI is a measure of the body’s blood sugar response to a single food.
How often do you sit down to a meal and eat only plain rice or bread? Almost never. You most likely eat it with some protein, fat, and vegetables, which all decrease the GI of your meal. For example, if you had rice with kidney beans (which have a GI of 24), the beans make the GI of the grain largely irrelevant.
Fiber
It’s true that whole-grain foods have more fiber, but it’s not by much. According to the USDA, one cup of cooked brown rice has 3.5 grams of fiber while one cup of cooked white rice has 0.6 grams of fiber. A 28-gram slice of whole-wheat bread has 1.9 grams of fiber while the same serving of white bread has 0.8 grams of fiber.
What’s more important is the type of fiber: soluble and insoluble. Soluble fiber is found mainly in fruits and vegetables while insoluble fiber is found mainly in whole grains.
Soluble fiber forms a gel with water in your digestive tract, slowing the passage of food and allowing more time for nutrient absorption. On the other hand, insoluble fiber does not dissolve in water and rather makes food pass quicker through your digestive system.
Studies show insoluble fiber is more likely to trigger symptoms in IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) patients, while soluble fiber may bring relief. Furthermore, research has found that soluble fiber increases energy digestibility while insoluble fiber decreases it. This makes sense as soluble fiber slows the passage of food while insoluble fiber speeds it up.
Insoluble fiber isn’t bad, however. It’s just that insoluble fiber may irritate those with a sensitive gut. So while whole grain foods do have more fiber, it’s not a significant amount and the fiber may actually irritate the body.
Absorption
You are not what you eat; you are what you absorb. While whole grains have a higher vitamin and mineral content from the bran and germ, you can’t absorb all those nutrients. It’s because the bran and germ contain antinutrients, compounds that reduce the body’s ability to absorb nutrients.
Studies have shown no significant difference between iron absorption from brown rice compared to white rice, despite brown rice having more iron than white rice. Further experiments have shown that white rice refined with traditional mortar and pestle has the highest mineral absorption, beating that of brown rice.
With wheat, studies are more mixed. Some say there is more nutrient absorption with whole wheat while others say the body treats them roughly the same.
When it comes to grains (and food in general), digestibility is just as important as the nutritional content. All the nutrients in the world are of no use if you can’t absorb them.
Major Caveats
Notice the title of this article is “How Refined Grains Can Be Healthy” not “How Refined Grains Are Healthy”. There are many cases when you should not be eating refined grains.
Different grains
While traditional cultures refined rice and wheat to a certain degree, some grains were rarely refined. For example, my Chinese grandparents only ate millet as a whole grain since the tiny size of millet grains made them infeasible to mill. Similarly, quinoa was eaten whole by the indigenous people of South America.
These grains still have just as many antinutrients, but it’s not practical to get a refined counterpart. Have you ever seen refined oats being sold?
It’s perfectly okay to consume whole grains and their antinutrients at times. There are even some benefits of antinutrients, as long as you don’t overdo it.
Preparation
To get rid of antinutrients in whole grains and seeds, people have used age-old food preparation techniques. These properly prepared whole-grain foods have all of the good stuff with less of the bad stuff.
Some grains are stubborn and require unique preparation methods. As an example, for brown rice, it’s recommended to soak the rice for 24 hours, reserve 10% of the soaking liquid, and use that soaking liquid in the next batch.
Even with the best preparation methods, antinutrients are never completely eliminated. For instance, sourdough bread only decreases phytates (an antinutrient) by 64%. Still, it’s much better than 0%.
Sometimes we just don’t have the time and energy to prepare grains properly. That’s when high-quality refined-grain foods are handy. But when possible, properly prepared whole-grain foods are some of the most nutritious foods you can consume.
Quality
When I’m talking about choosing refined grains, I’m talking about choosing high-quality refined foods like artisanal sourdough bread and organic white rice. The large majority of refined-grain products are low-quality: preservative-laden white bread, instant rice, donuts, and sugary breakfast cereals.
The low-quality options are really low-quality. According to the What’s With Wheat documentary, a lot of wheat has at least ten applications of chemicals: a spray for seeds to sprout, a spray to make their stalks strong, fumigants in the warehouse, and more.
If your only choice is between low-quality refined options and whole-grain options, choose whole grains every single time.
Best Use Cases
Still, there are certain cases when it’s better to err on the side of refined grains. Here a just a few.
Weak digestion
Refined grains are typically better for children and the elderly. They’re less able to tolerate the whole-grain antinutrients because they have weaker digestive systems. As such, they should consume more digestible foods. An anecdote from the olden days in China illustrates just this.
Due to an uneven distribution of heat, the cooked rice in the pot would have different consistencies. The rice in the middle, having the closest contact with the fire, would be soft. The rice on the edges would be harder. The soft middle portion was for the children and elderly, the intermediate portion was for adult women, and the edge portion was for adult men.
Refined grains are also advised when your digestion weakens in the summer or if you’re fighting an illness. It’s the same logic: if your digestive system is weak, you should eat easily digestible foods.
Around the world, refined-grain foods are prevalent when it comes to food for the sick. Throughout China, white rice porridge (congee) has been considered a medicinal food. It’s even been proven to treat acute symptoms like diarrhea. On the Western side, folk wisdom has suggested “light” foods like toast when sick.
High physical activity
Throughout athletic circles, white rice is often preferred over brown rice. For athletes who need a lot of calories, eating only whole grains can cause too high of an antinutrient and fiber intake. Whereas, the refined grain is easily digested and provides a quick source of fuel.
It makes intuitive sense as athletes need to spend their energy on performing, not on digesting. They need large amounts of energy to sustain their training, and extracting that energy is easier with refined grains.
To illustrate just how much grains athletes consume, let’s look at carbohydrate loading, a common practice among athletes. For a few days prior to the main event, athletes consume a high-carbohydrate diet, filling up their muscles with glycogen (the body’s way of storing carbohydrates). Come race day, the carbohydrate-loaded athletes are full of energy to perform.
Multiple studies have shown that athletes who practiced carbohydrate loading performed better than those who didn’t. The foods they loaded up with were mostly refined-grain foods: bagels, muffins, toast, and refined pasta. In fact, it’s recommended to choose mostly refined-grain foods for carbohydrate loading.
Taste and intuition
Maybe you prefer the taste and texture of white rice over brown rice. Maybe you prefer partially-refined sourdough bread over 100% whole-grain bread. Maybe you prefer refined pasta over whole-wheat pasta. Listen to whatever preferences you may have, as traditional cultures place great importance on taste.
Ayurveda says the food you eat must have these five key characteristics: satvik (wholesome), seasonal, local, fresh, and tasty. No matter how nutritious a food may be, if you don’t find it delicious, you cannot receive all its benefits.
Similarly, TCM maintains that flavors are a significant aspect of food, as flavors can heal the body or cause distress. Of course, modern junk foods have hijacked this aspect of taste. But with whole foods, it’s safe to rely on taste and intuition.
Furthermore, some people just do better with refined grains like white rice. Their body would feel uncomfortable after eating whole grains. For example, even if you gave my grandparents the best properly prepared brown rice, they would feel bloated after eating it.
If intuition tells you that whole grains like brown rice do not sit well in your stomach, then go with refined grains. This gut intuition is a key indicator of how nutritious the food will be specifically for you. Never force-feed yourself a food that you don’t enjoy.
My Recommendation
If you’re still undecided between whole and refined grains and want a definitive ruling, I’ll give you one. But before I do so, I want to emphasize that each individual’s body is unique, so my recommendation will be a middle ground. Some will do best with only refined grains, like my grandparents. Others will do best with only whole grains, properly prepared of course.
I recommend you make half your grains whole. This gives you the benefits of the nutrients of the bran and germ while curbing the increased digestive burden and antinutrient content that comes with whole grains.
For your optimal health, you should adjust this baseline 50% to fit your lifestyle. If you properly prepare grains, increase the percentage. If you’re very active, decrease the percentage. If it’s wintertime, increase the percentage. If it’s summertime, decrease the percentage. I think you get the point.
For now, let’s keep it at 50% whole grains so we can see what it looks like in practice.
When it comes to wheat flour, 50% whole grains means one part whole-wheat flour to one-part white flour, giving us an 85% extraction rate flour. If you remember, ancient Rome had an average extraction rate of 90%, meaning they had only slightly more bran and germ in their flour.
When it comes to rice, you could mix one part white rice with one part brown rice. There’s also germ rice, the Goldilocks option between white and brown rice. The rice is specially milled so that the bran is removed but the germ is kept intact.
There are many ways to achieve 50%: white sourdough bread this meal, quinoa the next; white rice today, millet tomorrow; oatmeal at breakfast, baguettes at dinner. Play around and see what works best for your body.
After all this research and analysis, the wisdom of the ancients remains truer than ever: balance is the key to health. Grains are no exception.