Tuesday Brief

So yesterday, the Congress Working Committee meeting ran on the expected line with Sonia Gandhi announcing that she is ready to step down and congressmen should choose new president. Rahul Gandhi blasted the members who wrote the letter, and said they all are working for BJP. With all the hype build around this meeting, it was expected there would be some serious discussions on the working of the party, but nothing of that sort happened. After 7 hours the resolution was passed that Sonia Gandhi will continue as interim president, and within next 6 months new president will be elected. It was victory for pro Gandhi family congressmen. So in the next 6 months all these pro Gandhi congressmen will again bow down to Rahul Gandhi and request him to come back as president of the party. So once again it has been proven that Congress is a family run party, and there is no talk of democracy. God knows what fate awaits for dissenter leaders like Kapil Sibal, Anand Sharma, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Manish Teewary and others who were signatory of that letter, you will have to wait and watch.

Now coming to my other topic of the day:

Rice is a staple food in many parts of the world, and especially in Asian countries including India. In India especially people for southern part basically consumes rice throughout the day from breakfast to dinner, for all meals. There are many different preparations of rice that is used for savoury and sweet taste. Hence rice is something that seems unavoidable if you are Indian. However due to many health concerns people are restricting the consumption of rice, even in south part of India.

So, is White Rice is not good for health and is Brown Rice better? Are there good and bad qualities in either? So should we avoid white rice or eat in moderation or should we switch over to brown rice entirely?

The  difference

Rice contain carbs entirely, with no fat and small amount of proteins. The significant difference between white and brown rice is that white rice has its bran and germ removed. The brown rice however, is full of grain one which retains all parts like the bran which is highly fibrous, the germ which is highly nutritious and the carb rich endosperm. This is one main reason why brown rice is said to be better and healthier.

Pros and cons

Brown rice has more vitamins and minerals, especially the likes of Vitamin B6, Mangnese, Magnesium, Iron and Zinc. It has more fibre and anti oxidants.

On the cons part, brown rice May have anti nutrients and toxic chemical called arsenic. Anti nutrients may reduce the body’s ability to absorb nutrients, where as long term consumption of arsenic can cause many diseases like cancer, heart disease and type 2 diabetes. The quantity of arsenic is more in brown rice as compared to white rice.

Impact on health

The magnesium content, it helps in regulating blood sugar levels this helps in diabetes management, but presence of arsenic in minute quantity somewhat reduces the impact of magnesium, but still impact of magnesium is better. So for diabetic patients, doctors advise to switch over to brown rice. The studies have proved that use of white rice on a bigger  way, can increase the risk of diabetes, and white rice has more glycemik index, which also increases the blood sugar level.

Coming to heart diseases, brown rice contains compounds like lignans, study suggests that lignin reduce the amount of fat in the blood, helps in lowering the blood pressure and also decrease the inflammation in the arteries. Brown rice will even lower bad cholesterol. Thus, it  helps in reducing many risk factors that contribute to heart disease.

The high amount of anti oxidants present in brown rice helps prevent many chronic diseases. Consumption of brown rice can help in reducing weight and maintain the Body Mass Index (BMI). It could help in preventing or reducing obesity, which again leads to many health issues.

So, in an overall comparison, considering the fact rice is always to be eaten in moderation, and in that brown rice may be better than white, as it helps in many ways. Eating white rice too, in moderate quantities, may not prove to be highly harmful.

Awaiting for your feed backs/comments/views.

Anil Malik

Mumbai, India

25^th August 2020.