New study associates overdose of white rice in India with high prevalence of type 2 diabetes

Image courtesy: Anna Frodesiak / Wikimedia Commons

The fact that consumption of refined grains and refined flours is associated with the outbreak of many diseases is well known. Studies have shown that intake of refined carbohydrates can raise triglycerides and blood sugar levels, which are major risk factors for heart disease, obesity, and diabetes. This can pose a significant burden of illness in countries where refined carbohydrates are part of a typical diet.

This is especially true for South Asian countries such as India, Japan, Thailand and China. The consumption rates are so high that the risk of these diseases on the prevalence scale is similar.

White rice, whether long grain or short grain, is basically a kind of white rice or polished rice. The refining process removes bran and embryos from the whole grain, leaving only the carbohydrate-rich endosperm of the grain. This process removes essential vitamins, minerals and dietary fiber from white rice. There is a sufficient amount of other unpolished rice, such as brown rice.

White Rice and Diabetes: Old Links Updated

Many studies over the last decade or two have investigated the association between diabetes and consumption of white rice, but few have succeeded in establishing diabetes worldwide. Research British Medical Journal In 2012, increased white rice consumption was shown to significantly increase the risk of type 2 diabetes in Japanese and Chinese.

2017 survey BMC public health Asian countries such as Iran have shown that they do not observe such a relationship between diabetes and white rice consumption, but perhaps countries with high rice consumption will show a higher incidence of diabetes.

Another study of British Journal of Nutrition In 2019, it clearly stated that India was the second most common person with type 2 diabetes, and epidemiological evidence indicates that white rice intake is the cause. The study also suggests that replacing white rice with brown rice in the Indian diet can significantly reduce the burden of this disease. However, these studies were all regional, with a small number of participants and no overall comparative perspective.

White rice and diabetes onset in 21 countries

New research just published Diabetes care Previous studies overcome all these problems and confirm that higher consumption of white rice is linked to the incidence of diabetes. The study collected data on 1,32,373 people aged 35 to 70 from 21 countries over a nine and a half year period. Their cooked white rice consumption was categorized in grams, based on the equivalent of 150 grams measured in one cup.

The results of the study showed that by the end of the observation period, 6,129 people without baseline diabetes developed the disease and had high white rice intakes of 450 grams per day. South Asia was at highest risk, followed by Southeast Asia, the Middle East, South America, North America/Europe and Africa. Among South Asian countries, it was only in China that white rice consumption did not show a significant association with the incidence of diabetes.

This large study clearly demonstrates that increased consumption of white rice is not only linked to the incidence of diabetes, but is also the highest risk in South Asian countries such as India. The Indian author behind the study is said to have revealed too much white rice consumption in the southern, eastern and northeastern regions of India. A diet to reduce this consumption, or to replace it with brown rice, flour and other complex carbohydrates, may reduce the risk of diabetes faced by Indians.

See the following articles for more information. Diet for diabetes..

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