I'm pretty sure white is the single worst choice for a background color... Mostly because white is not a color, white is literally all colors at once. White is what happens when all light is reflected off a substance. The color White is information overload for your eyes. Black on the other hand is all light absorbed by the object. So technically the single easiest thing to look at, as it requires no effort. True Black is the 404 error of the clor wheel. Of course slight variation make the True shades of those two non colors into actual colors.
You also have to remember that people see colors differently... and that is before color blindness kicks in. I know of one house that is all pastels like a hideous Easter Egg gone wrong... I know of one guy who upon seeing it reflexively recoiled and describe the color scheme as 'a crime against the neighborhood'. Apparently the old lady who owns it thinks it beautiful.
You also have to remember that people see colors differently... and that is before color blindness kicks in. I know of one house that is all pastels like a hideous Easter Egg gone wrong... I know of one guy who upon seeing it reflexively recoiled and describe the color scheme as 'a crime against the neighborhood'. Apparently the old lady who owns it thinks it beautiful.