White rice

Cooked white rice

White rice (also known as polished or milled rice) is produced by putting brown rice through a milling process, in which the bran, husk, and germ are removed from the rice grain, resulting in its characteristic white appearance. This removal of the bran layers also significantly reduces its nutritional value as it removes essential nutrients such as fiber, vitamins, and minerals. Milling leaves the grain softer in texture and milder in flavor.^[1] The development and spread of white rice over time resulted from historical changes in rice cultivation, trade, and advances in milling technology.

Milling rice

See also: Rice huller

Early milling methods were labor-intensive and involved hand-pounding techniques, with large mortar and pestle type devices resulting in low production and high labor costs.^[2] With the introduction of mechanical milling in the late 19th century, larger quantities were produced, and after 1870, production was mostly done industrially.^[2] Machines such as the Huller & Sheller mills (1870) and the Engelberg Milling Machine (1890) further enabled the large scale production of polished white rice.^[3] Some versions of this improved uniformity of the product, but with mechanical milling, much larger quantities were produced.

By 1955, new machinery had been developed in Japan that had significantly improved the quality and output capacity.^[4] Following these advancements, rice milling continued to develop in order to reduce labor demands while also increasing efficiency and production.^[5] In the decades after 1955, improvements in milling technology allowed for the processing of larger quantities of rice with greater speed. These developments were part of the trend of industrialization in the rice industry. Technological advancements and innovations completely changed the practices of production and further expanded rice availability in the global market.^[6]

Nutritional content

Rice, white, long-grain, regular, unenriched, cooked without salt

Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)
Energy	130 kcal (540 kJ)
Carbohydrates	28.2 g
Sugars	0.05 g
Dietary fiber	0.4 g
Fat	0.28 g
Protein	2.69 g
Vitamins and minerals Vitamins Quantity %DV^† Thiamine (B1) 2% 0.02 mg Riboflavin (B2) 1% 0.013 mg Niacin (B3) 3% 0.4 mg Pantothenic acid (B5) 8% 0.39 mg Vitamin B6 5% 0.093 mg Folate (B9) 1% 3 μg Minerals Quantity %DV^† Calcium 1% 10 mg Iron 1% 0.2 mg Magnesium 3% 12 mg Manganese 21% 0.472 mg Phosphorus 3% 43 mg Potassium 1% 35 mg Selenium 14% 7.5 μg Sodium 0% 1 mg Zinc 4% 0.49 mg
Other constituents	Quantity
Water	68.4 g
Link to USDA FoodData Central entry
^†Percentages estimated using US recommendations for adults,[7] except for potassium, which is estimated based on expert recommendation from the National Academies.[8]

Cooked white rice is 68% water, 28% carbohydrates, 3% protein, and 0.3% fat (table). In a reference amount of 100 g (3.5 oz), cooked white rice supplies 130 calories of food energy, and is a rich source (20% or more of the Daily Value, DV) of manganese, and a moderate source of selenium, with no other micronutrients in significant content (table).

Fortification

White rice may be fortified with micronutrients stripped from it during processing. Enrichment of white rice with thiamine, niacin, and iron is required by law in the United States when distributed by government programs to schools, nonprofits, or foreign countries.^{[citation needed]}

Consuming only unenriched white rice may cause beriberi due to a deficiency of thiamine, which caused a major health issue in Japan by the 18th century.^[2]

Adopted over brown rice in the second half of the 19th century, white rice was favored by traders because of the removal of the bran and germ which improved its storage life during long distance transports. The expansion of long distance trade contributed to the widespread consumption of white rice in Asia and other regions,^[5] as rice spread from East Asia to West Asia and Europe by land and sea via trade routes that later became associated with the Silk Road.^[9] Ease of cooking, palatability, and longer shelf life are all reasons white rice became more widely used than brown rice.^[10] Historically, in some societies, eating white rice was a symbol of high status due to its scarcity, and it was widely preferred to brown rice in many regions.^[2] At various times, starting in the 19th century, brown rice and other grains such as wild rice have been advocated as healthier alternatives. The bran in brown rice contains significant dietary fiber and the germ contains micronutrients. This discovery led to the advocacy for the consumption of unpolished grain and greatly influenced health and dietary policies in many different countries.^{[citation needed]}

See also

• Food portal

• Parboiled rice
• Rice husks
• Rice mill
• Rice huller
• Rice polisher
• Whole grain
• Red rice
• Maratelli

References

1. Yılmaz Tuncel, Neşe; Andac, Ali Emre; Polat Kaya, Havva; Tuncel, Necati Barış (2025-02-01). "The impact of milling degree on physicochemical, nutritional, rheological, textural properties, and in vitro digestibility of rice: From brown rice to white rice". Food Chemistry. 464 141795. doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2024.141795. ISSN 0308-8146.
2. Carpenter, Kenneth J. (2000). Beriberi, White Rice, and Vitamin B : A Disease, a Cause, and a Cure. University of California Press. pp. 19–23.
3. Pervez Z, Sohail MK (2018). Literature Review on the Developments of Rice Milling Machines. Springer. pp. 89–100. ISBN 978-3-030-03538-9.
4. Zhang, Baichun (2019). Explorations in the History and Heritage of Machines and Mechanisms. Springer. pp. 90–94. ISBN 9783030035389.
5. Sweeney M, McCouch S (2007). "The Complex History of the Domestication of Rice". Annals of Botany. 100 (5): 951–7.
6. Coclanis, PA (2015). Rice: Global Networks and New Histories. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 219–317.
7. United States Food and Drug Administration (2024). "Daily Value on the Nutrition and Supplement Facts Labels". FDA. Archived from the original on 2024-03-27. Retrieved 2024-03-28.
8. "TABLE 4-7 Comparison of Potassium Adequate Intakes Established in This Report to Potassium Adequate Intakes Established in the 2005 DRI Report". p. 120. In: Stallings, Virginia A.; Harrison, Meghan; Oria, Maria, eds. (2019). "Potassium: Dietary Reference Intakes for Adequacy". Dietary Reference Intakes for Sodium and Potassium. pp. 101–124. doi:10.17226/25353. ISBN 978-0-309-48834-1. PMID 30844154. NCBI NBK545428.
9. Spengler, Robert N.; Stark, Sören; Zhou, Xingying; Fuks, Daniel; Tang, Li; Mir-Makhamad, Basira; Bjørn, Rasmus; Jiang, Hongen; Olivieri, Luca M.; Begmatov, Alisher; Boivin, Nicole (2021). "A Journey to the West: The Ancient Dispersal of Rice Out of East Asia". Springer Nature. 14 (83) – via Springer Nature.
10. Fukagawa, Naomi K.; Ziska, Lewis H. (2019). "Rice: Importance for Global Nutrition". Journal of Nutritional Science and Vitaminology. 65 (Supplement): S2–S3. doi:10.3177/jnsv.65.S2.