A rice cake is any food product that has been cooked and shaped from any of the available rice varieties (usually glutinous rice). Rice cakes may be eaten on their own or combined with toppings, syrups, or even refined sugar. Rice cakes are often condensed and integrated into a compact form that is easy to carry and consume.
Rice cakes in the west are often dried, disc-type cakes meant to be eaten on their own. Rice cakes are naturally low fat because rice is primarily carbohydrates, with a touch of dietary fiber.
Commercial rice cakes such as those produced by Quaker are not known for having an impressive nutrient profile. In short, you are buying food that is mostly air.
It might be a good idea for weight control to have these snacks around so you can eat something that won’t jack up your calorie intake for the day. Weight loss is selective, and for the most part, you need to make sure that you are consuming only the correct number of calories so you don’t end up overcompensating.
A basic serving of commercial rice cake contains 35 calories of energy, 7.3 grams of carbs, and 0.7 grams of protein. It has a small amount of fat (0.3 gram) and 17% of the RDA for manganese. All these nutrients naturally occur in rice, so it’s not surprising that there’s still some good in these snacks despite mainly being air. Since they are compact snacks and they have plenty of texture, they remain on our list of viable snacks for weight loss.
Are Rice Cakes Gluten and Dairy Free?
All traditionally-prepared rice cakes should be both dairy-free and gluten-free. Commercial rice cakes depend on what other ingredients the manufacturer has added to the final product.
Rice doesn’t have any gluten (unlike other grains), but often, manufacturers use binders and fillers to maintain the structural stability of the rice cake.
To be specific, always check the ingredients list to ensure you will not be accidentally eating gluten. Depending on the level of your allergy or sensitivity, any small quantity of gluten that might elude your knowledge may cause no effect or a huge impact.
If you have a severe allergy, cutting out gluten entirely is a good idea, even if the immune response is sometimes inconsistent. You wouldn’t want to test your gluten allergy as it can weaken your immune system eventually.
Are Quaker Rice Cakes Gluten-Free?
Quaker Rice Cakes are indeed free of gluten. A closer look at the ingredients used for Quaker Rice Cakes reveals that the manufacturer uses a combination of rice flour and cornflour. Both these grains are gluten-free, so you’re safe if you have a gluten allergy. You always need to check the components of your food, so you’re safe from any amount of gluten. Gluten comes primarily from any wheat, so unless a product usually made from grain is marked as certified gluten-free, it would be safer to assume that it has some gluten in it.
