Rice: nutrition per 100 g

1. 01

   Carbohydrate first

   Milled rice has 78.2 g carbohydrate per 100 g, 1st of 14 cereals and millets and 2nd of 256 foods. It is an efficient energy source, which is why it pairs best with dal, vegetables and curd that bring what it lacks.

2. 02

   Minerals mostly milled away

   White rice ranks 14th of 14 grains for iron at 0.65 mg, calcium at 7 mg, magnesium at 19 mg and zinc at 1.21 mg per 100 g. The bran and germ removed in milling carried most of them.

3. 03

   Brown rice keeps more

   Brown rice gives 4.4 g fibre and 1.02 mg iron per 100 g against 2.8 g and 0.65 mg for white. It is still modest beside millets, but the gap is real.

4. 04

   Low in thiamine

   Milled rice has 0.05 mg thiamine per 100 g, 13th of 14 grains, covering only about 3 per cent of daily need. Diets built almost entirely on polished rice once caused beriberi for this reason.

Values per 100 g of the edible portion. Source: Longvah T, Ananthan R, Bhaskarachary K, Venkaiah K. Indian Food Composition Tables 2017. National Institute of Nutrition, Indian Council of Medical Research, Hyderabad. Daily-need shares use the ICMR-NIN 2020 recommended dietary allowances for a 65 kg man and a 55 kg woman doing sedentary work (ICMR-NIN brief note). Nutrients IFCT did not analyse for this food are left out rather than shown as zero.

• Steamed rice with dal, sambar or fish curry: the everyday plate in most of South, East and North-East India.
• Idli and dosa batter: rice soaked and ground with urad dal, then fermented overnight.
• Khichdi and pongal: rice cooked soft with moong dal, a little ghee and cumin or pepper.
• Biryani and pulao: long-grain rice layered or cooked with spices, meat or vegetables.
• Kheer and payasam: rice simmered slowly in milk with jaggery or sugar and cardamom.

Many homes cook rice in plenty of water and drain the starch, which pours away part of the little thiamine and niacin that milling left behind; absorption cooking keeps more. A brief rinse of raw rice is fine, but scrubbing it hard also washes off nutrients. White rice is mostly fast-digesting carbohydrate, so for people managing blood sugar the size of the rice portion and the amount of dal and vegetables beside it matter most. Cooked rice left at room temperature for hours can grow bacteria, so cool leftovers quickly and refrigerate them.

Food composition is general information, not a diet plan. Anyone managing a medical condition should plan their diet with a doctor or a registered dietitian.

• Poha (rice flakes)

  Nutrition per 100 g, from IFCT 2017.

• Puffed rice (murmura)

  Nutrition per 100 g, from IFCT 2017.

• Rice bran oil

  Nutrition per 100 g, from IFCT 2017.

• Black gram (urad)

  Nutrition per 100 g, from IFCT 2017.

• Wheat flour (atta and maida)

  Nutrition per 100 g, from IFCT 2017.

• Samai (little millet)

  Nutrition per 100 g, from IFCT 2017.

All Indian foods · Nutrient tables · Food comparisons