White Rice and Diabetes Risk
March 19th, 2012 tmccoy
Academics working at the Harvard School of Public health have decided after looking at four separate studies that “higher white rice intake is associated with a significantly elevated risk of type 2 diabetes.” The study also found that the more white rice eaten, the higher the subject’s risk for type 2 diabetes.
The authors found that the risk of type 2 diabetes is increased by about 10% with every additional serving of white rice. These findings apply to both Asian and Western cultures. In Asian cultures people may eat as many as four servings of rice a day. In Western cultures subjects said they ate about five servings of white rice a week. Therefore, people in Asian countries are at a higher risk for type 2 diabetes than their Western counterparts because of their high white rice consumption.
White rice is the most widely eaten variety of rice around the world. However, the authors recommend that instead of eating refined carbohydrates such as white rice, everyone should substitute whole grains in their diet. The authors believe this switch will help slow down the global diabetes epidemic.
