When did refined white rice become a staple food for the Asian diet?
2 Answers
I think Jim Gordon's answer is incomplete. Yes, a diet that primarily consists of white, polished rice can lead to beriberi. But the important word is 'primarily'. A diet of white rice that includes fresh vegetables, meat, barley, or beans[1] does not lead to beriberi.
Milling rice to remove the bran in fact improves its nutritional quality by removing anti-nutrients found in the bran. These anti-nutrients include
Milled rice as the primary diet of the poor is a bad choice, but it's not the cause of beriberi in itself. It is the poor diet that lacks other nutrients that causes it as well.
As with most food claims, things are far more complicated than a good/bad dichotomy.
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/w
2. http://www.oecd.org/scien
Milling rice to remove the bran in fact improves its nutritional quality by removing anti-nutrients found in the bran. These anti-nutrients include
- Phytates, which bind minerals such as calcium magnesium, iron, and zinc, preventing their absorption in the gut;
- Enzyme inhibitors which prevent the digestion of proteins, starch, and minerals;
- Pyroxodine glucosides which prevents the absorption of Vitamin B6;
- Lectins which irritate and play havoc with the intestinal lining[2].
Milled rice as the primary diet of the poor is a bad choice, but it's not the cause of beriberi in itself. It is the poor diet that lacks other nutrients that causes it as well.
As with most food claims, things are far more complicated than a good/bad dichotomy.
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/w
2. http://www.oecd.org/scien
Descriptions of beriberi date back to the Han Dynasty (206 BCE - 220 CE). The likely explanation for beriberi is thiamine (vitamin B1) deficiency because of the removal of rice's loose outer coating, which contains half of its thiamine.
The 19th-century development of milling machines made possible the
widespread polishing of rice grains, and led to even more widespread beriberi.
E.N. Anderson posits that
Anderson continues:
The Food of China, Yale University Press, 1988, pp 114-116
The 19th-century development of milling machines made possible the
widespread polishing of rice grains, and led to even more widespread beriberi.
E.N. Anderson posits that
"Starchy, overmilled grains are preferred because when one eats rice three times a day, every day, and gets most of one's calories from it, one wants it to have as little flavor and texture as possible. Variety in the diet is provided by the sung [toppings]."
Anderson continues:
Milling costs money, so white rice is more expensive than brown ... it became prestigious. ... polished rice is so unnutritious that even insects, except for a few weevils, cannot thrive in it; thus it stores better than brown. Today, since storage has become more expensive than milling, it is often cheaper than brown.
In China until recently, the ordinary rice ration -- ... -- was lightly milled, of pale grayish-tan color and pronounced grain flavor -- almost a brown rice. It was more nutritous than white rice ..., but its consumers regarded it with sadness and anger. Outside China and in Taiwan, Chinese everywhere eat polished rice almost exclusively.
The Food of China, Yale University Press, 1988, pp 114-116
