White Rice Linked to Higher Diabetes
Risk
A US-based study on Monday linked eating white rice to
higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes, and backed
long-held claims that brown rice is healthier than the white
variety.
People who ate at least five servings of white rice a week
had a 17 per cent greater risk of developing diabetes than
those who consumed less than one serving a month, Harvard
School of Public Health scientists found.
Examining data from over 197,000 adults for up to 22
years, the study also found that consuming two or more
servings of brown rice each week was associated with an 11 per
cent lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes than those who
ate less than one serving a month.
Patients with diabetes have high blood sugar levels, which are
linked to the body's inability to produce enough insulin in
order to properly break down sugars and starches into glucose
for energy.
"We believe replacing white rice and other refined grains with
whole grains, including brown rice, would help lower the risk
of type 2 diabetes," said lead author, Qi Sun, of Harvard
School of Public Health and Brigham and Women's Hospital in
Boston.
While still lower than in Asian countries, US rice consumption
is increasing rapidly. More than 70 per cent of the rice
consumed in the United States is white, the researchers
noted.
According to the researchers, replacing just a third of a
typical daily serving of white rice with the same amount of brown
rice each day would lower the risk of type 2 diabetes by 16
per cent.
They also found that replacing white rice with other whole
grains, such as barley and whole wheat, could reduce risk of
the disease by 36 per cent.
"From a public health point of view, whole grains, rather than
refined carbohydrates, such as white rice, should be
recommended as the primary source of carbohydrates for the US
population," said senior author, Frank Hu. "These findings
could have even greater implications for Asian and other
populations in which rice is a staple food," he said.
Rice loses most of its bran and germ ‒ its most important
sources of fibre and nutrients ‒ when it is refined to produce the
white variety.
Brown rice, which retains the bran and germ, has more fibre,
minerals, vitamins and phytochemicals than white rice. It
also usually does not cause blood sugar levels to spike as
much as the white variety.