How Rice Became White

via ScienceDaily.

Almost 98% of white rice is derived from a mutation in a single gene found in the Japonica subspecies of rice around 10,000 years ago. The remaining 2% of white rice comes from an almost identical mutation found in the Aus varieties of rice found in Bangladesh. Both mutations creat a shortened version of a protein sequence that is repsonsible for giving rice its color. The short version is missing this color sequence, making these varieties of rice white rather than red. The white varities helped ealry farmers in several ways.

"The researchers speculate that ancient farmers actively bred and spread white rice varieties first throughout the Himalayan region and then the rest of the world because the varieties cooked faster (requiring less fuel), their hulls were easier to remove compared with red rice, and disease and insects were easier to see amid the white grains. The farmers also may have favored one mutation over the other because it may have produced favorable grains more consistently, the researchers say."

What about brown rice?