Should you eat white or brown rice?

At Chipotle, once you’ve declared that you want a burrito or a bowl, the first question is always the same:

“White or brown rice?”

What’s your answer? Before I give you my answer, let’s start with some background.

What is rice?

Rice is an edible, starchy cereal grain consumed by roughly one-half of the world’s population, including virtually all of East and Southeast Asia. There are many types of rice. Several common ones include the following:

• Arborio
• Basmati
• Brown
• White
• Jasmine
• Wild
• Black
• Sushi

For today’s discussion, we will consider two common varieties of rice: white and brown.

Nutrition

According to Healthline, this is the approximate nutritional breakdown based on 1/3 cup of cooked rice:

Brown rice is higher in fiber than white rice. Brown rice is also a good source of the following: