POLISHED RICE
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] S1R,—The letter on this subject in your publication of Feb- ruary 21st has been brought to my notice, and it is with extreme regret that I note your valued publication is being used both by your correspondent and by your editorial
department in the dissemination of information which may
cause doubt in the minds of many innocent householders as to the food value of the article in question. Some of the Statements referred to are certainly so incorrect as to lead to the belief that they can proceed solely from want of information on this important subject. From statistics provided by one of the most eminent analytical tilt mists of this city, I give below the composition of polished rice, commonly known as cleaned rice, and st the ; ame time I append similar particulars in regard to the polish or the skin of the rice or " rice meal," as it is usually called, which is removed from the raw rice by machinery in the production of the polished or cleaned grain.
ingest-
Fin Sand. in _Chu- Carbo- WoudyMincral and Fond Witer. Oil. minoidg. hydrates. }lbre. Matters. Siliva. 1"nitA.
Polished rim .. 11.80 2'40 8.01 75.8S 0-76 115 —• 102 Rice polish or meal 9'95 10'43 13'94 46'95 8-03 S70 4'05 110 The proportion of rice polish or meal detached from the raw grain is approximately one-twelfth in weight, and from the figures above provided, looking at them in this propor- tion, it will at once be observable how small is the amount of food -removed as compared with the large proportion of woody fibre, mineral matters, sand and silica, which latter would remain on the rice to its detriment as a food, and
to the harm of the consumer, if the suggestions of your correspondent and the Editor were followed.
The annual production of rice, exclusive of that grown in China (of which enormous quantity there is no definite knowledge), may be put down roundly at 50,000,000 tons, almost the whole of which is used in the polished or cleaned form to which your correspondent and your editorial depart- ment object ; and it may be assumed from the almost entire use of polished rice throughout the world by both white and coloured races, that it has been found in that form to be the most suitable for human food. The rice arain consists of three parts—the shude or shell ; the skin of' the rice, which when removed is called polish or meal ; and the grain itself. Now the shell is of little value, except for commercial purposes outside the range of foods. The skin of the rice already referred to as polish or meal, after removal from the grain, is used for feeding pigs or cattle. The cleaned or polished rice is, of course, used as human- feed.
Now what is good for cattle and pigs is not necessarily good for the human frame, and though food faddists froth time tti time raise the question of the use of raw rice, the medical profession and the world at large appear to have decided that polished or cleaned rice in the form under Which it is now sold is on the whole the best material for Children and grown-ups. The terrible disease of beri-beri to which you refer is belieVed by many not to proceed from rice as a grain, • but frolic the almost exclusive use of that tirtiele, Or. .aliy other article. as a sole Means of subsiStence: And- while iiee inEuroPeith 'eiseintrieii: is ilk& 'More. largely -- in the form of puddings where additional rich foods, such as milk and eggs, arc added, it is in Eastern countries where -rice, especially in some places, tends to form almost -the only food on which human beings there thrive. On the contrary, beri-beri is believed by many to be the result of dirty conditions of living, and from the excreta of cock- roaches and other insects of a similar nature which are so plentiful in hot countries, and which are allowed tinder such conditions to infect the food. And while on this subject of beri-beri I may mention that an instance occurred some years ago in this district where a firm of shipowners provided the raw rice which had not been deprived of these vitamins, as your correspondent puts it, for the use of coloured seamen On board one of their sailing vessels, which seamen during the voyage unfortunately contracted beri-beri, notwithstanding the use of the food which you and your correspondent advocate. On the vessel's return to this city, at the suggestion of a medical officer, the same kind of rice, but in the polished form, was provided for her next voyage, also for the use of the coloured seamen, and during that voyage no sickness appeared of that nature. It is evident from this case that the dire disease you refer to must and does proceed from sonic cause ether than the polishing or cleaning of rice.
In conclusion. I may say that as far as I am .aware the only life which is removed from the grain in the process of cleaning or polishing is the amount of germ and infinitely Small insects, which unibrtmuttely are found adhering to the rice in its raw state, that is, after the removal of the shell, but before the removal of the skin or polish. It is only on account of your valued paper being so looked up to and being considered an authority, that I have decided to write to you, lest the dissemination of information which I believe to be untrue and harmful might lead to the disuse of an article of food which is one of the necessities of life, all the world over, and particularly for the sick and for infants in European countries.--I am, Sir, &c.,
Etha annde, Ornivkirk. 1-Lenoen 11. ROBERTS.
[We regret that our correspondent misunderstands what we said. There is much. thedieal evidence—the result of patient research—to the effect that beri-beri appears among Eastern natives where polished rice is used and not among those who cat rice not so treated. In mentioning that fact—which our correspondent, however; disbelieves— we said that fortunately in this country (where we eat a variety of things and arc not, like those Eastern, almost dependent upon one form of food) we get the necessary vitamins in any case. That is a very different thing front a suggesting that polished rice is an injurious food in thiS country. On the contrary we think it is agreeable and useful, though we believe it would be much more useful if it were • not polished.—En. Spectator.] -
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