Is rice bad for cholesterol?
Rice is one of the most important components of the daily diet for many around the world. For some, it acts as the main meal every day, like in Bangladesh and some other countries. It is taken as a whole-grain; hence most of its nutrients remain intact till we consume it. For that reason, it becomes more important that we discuss the effects of rice on human health.
With every passing day, human health is facing more problems, and we are becoming more health-conscious. Be it is blood sugar level, blood pressure, cholesterol, or other bodily substances. People are getting curious about them and getting to know about any effect our diet may have on the body.
When we talk about food that may negatively affect cholesterol levels, food like fatty meat comes to our mind. Although it is true that fatty meat causes cholesterol levels negatively, it is also important to mention that carbohydrates from refined whole grain, such as rice, also affect cholesterol levels negatively.
How rice should be taken to control cholesterol?
There are two scenarios that need to be discussed here in order to measure the effects of rice and that of cholesterol. First, what food can be consumed along with rice in a single meal or during the day. Since, rice comes from plants; hence they contain very few amounts of cholesterol, and it can be taken with good quality fats.
However, as white rice is refined whole grains, it should be consumed as the whole source of cholesterol in meals, and any additional cholesterol inducing food will be bad for health.
The second scenario is consuming rice by people who already suffer from high levels of cholesterol. We will discuss how rice in their daily diet affects them, but instead of connecting rice to cholesterol as a whole, we should look at individual components of cholesterol such as LDL, HDL, triglycerides, and lipid ratios.
People who have high levels of triglycerides should avoid rice altogether, along with other refined carbs.
Here are some important points to keep in mind while consuming rice.
- Check your cholesterol levels before taking rice if you suffer from high cholesterol.
- If you get whole grain rice with the bran intact, it will be your best bet to be safe as far as cholesterol is concerned.
- Avoid refined whole rice grain to keep your cholesterol level in control.
Conclusion
Remember that everything that is edible is not bad itself, but it affects person to person depending upon various factors that make it good or bad for health. So, next time you need to know about the effect of any food on human health, also keep the condition of the person in consideration.
