Can a diabetic eat rice? Yes!

Rice holds a significant place in the daily diet for more than half of the world’s population, particularly in Asia. It continues to be the staple food among Indians, notably South Indians.

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Rice holds a significant place in the daily diet for more than half of the world’s population, particularly in Asia. It continues to be the staple food among Indians, notably South Indians. 

Today, modern milling technology has replaced traditional hand-pounded rice with polished white rice almost in every Indian household. Cooking quality, the appearance of the grains (colour, texture), taste and convenience are important factors that are considered while purchasing rice. 

Just that, one has to adopt the correct cooking method. To minimise the loss of water-soluble vitamins, do not wash rice repeatedly before cooking and also use just enough water, so that the grains absorb the water fully and there is no excess leftover after cooking. The preferred ways to make rice are pressure/steam cooking.

Common types of rice consumed in India 
Brown rice: Is the clear choice for the health-conscious. Brown rice is a perfect example of ‘wholegrain’. Paddy husk is removed and the grain is not polished. Wholegrains contain additional beneficial nutrients, including more fiber, micro-nutrients (vitamins and minerals), and phyto-nutrients. The chief advantage of brown rice is that it contains two-three times the fiber of white rice, providing slower and more sustained blood sugar levels. It takes longer to cook, but the nutty flavour and harder texture makes it enjoyable. It is more susceptible to infestation during storage, hence, always buy in small quantities. 

• Milled/polished rice: Rice that has been milled in order to remove husk, bran and germ, leaves it starch-rich and strips it of many nutrients. Rice is polished to improve it’s acceptability, but during polishing, the B vitamins are lost.
• Parboiled rice: This has better nutritive value than white, milled polished rice. Parboiling involves soaking paddy in water for a short time followed by heating once or twice in steam and drying before milling. This has several advantages — the starch is gelatinised and nutrients are conserved as they are transported from bran to endosperm. It is often yellowish in colour. Eating large amounts of white polished rice, that has a high glycemic index (GI) contributes to a higher glycemic load (GL). It has been found to be positively associated with type 2 diabetes risk. 
• Glycemic index (GI): This shows the effect different foods have on blood sugar levels. It is the ranking of foods from zero-100 based on their immediate effect on blood glucose levels. The foods are compared with a reference food such as glucose and are tested in equivalent carbohydrate amounts.
• Glycemic load (GL): This is the glycemic response to an ingested food, which depends not only on the GI, but also on the total amount of carbohydrates consumed in a meal.

Dietary advice for diabetics 

• Reduce the quantity of rice in each meal as per the recommended dietary allowance
• Choose the right quality. The order of preference would be first parboiled brown rice, followed by brown, Basmati, semi-polished and lastly white-polished rice
• To prevent chronic diseases, half of your grain intake must be from wholegrains. Substitute brown/semi-polished rice for white rice for one meal a day
• Consider factors that lower GI. Eat rice with low GI foods (such as vegetables, pulses/ legumes, viscous fiber foods and dairy products). 
• This will reduce the overall meal’s GI. For example, khichidi, sambar rice, idli with thick dal, vegetable pulao, vegetable upma, curd rice, bissi bella bhat, dosa, pesarattu, adai, vegetable paratha etc.
   

(K Sunitha Premalatha, chief dietitian, Yashoda Hospital)