Brown Rice, White Rice and Diabetes

We always hear, "eat whole grains." Yet many of us forget to apply that to rice. 

We remove the bran from brown rice and that is white rice.  Along with the bran go a lot of nutrients; various antioxidants, a form of vitamin E, gamma-oryzanol, beta-sitosterol, 2 fibers and ferulic acid.  Many studies have shown all of these may contribute to either lowering fats, lowering cholesterol and balancing blood sugar.


In 2010 a Harvard study of 200,000 people showed that those eating 5 or more servings of white rice per week increased the chance of diabetes by 17%.  Yet CNN.com shows people eating 2 or more servings per week of brown rice lowered their chances of diabetes by 11%.  That is a 28% difference between white and brown rice!

Without the bran the white rice is converted into blood sugar much quicker than the brown rice which increases our demand for insulin.  Higher insulin demand without the nutrients we need to deal with it make it harder & harder for our bodies to handle spikes in blood sugar.  This leads to diabetes. 

Combine these studies with other research and we see that removing white rice and substituting whole grains (brown rice, whole wheat, quinoa, barley, spelt, Irish oats) instead can decrease the incidence of diabetes by over 30%. 

So next time you order Chinese food ask for brown rice.  If they can't do it, call someone who can.  Your health depends on it.