Do rice cakes carry the benefits of “whole grain”?

The ingredients list on my rice cakes says “Whole grain brown rice”. Does this mean the food carries all the benefits that whole grain brown rice does? Or does the processing make it like any other refined grain (eg, high glycemic, low in protein)? My hunch is it’s the latter, but then why do they get to claim that it’s derived from whole grain brown rice? By that logic, ALL processed carbs could be said to have “whole grain [X]” as their ingredient. Can anyone provide clarification here? Thanks so much!

Answer

If it says “whole grain” it means the whole grain went into the food. If they removed the bran and the germ, then it’s not whole grain anymore and they couldn’t say on the ingredient list that it’s a whole grain.

Rice cakes are made by puffing the rice. You can do that to brown rice or white rice. I’m not sure if this puffing is as healthy as boiling the rice, BUT it’s certainly healthier to eat a whole grain rice cake than white bread or white rice cake. A whole grain rice cake is not equivalent to a refined grain.