Rice with pulses or cooking oils can be used to elicit lower glycemic response

Rice is generally considered a high glycemic index (GI) food. With diabetes rates increasing alarmingly in Asia, there is an urgent need to find methods of reducing the glycemic impact of rice. Rice genotypes varied widely with respect to GI (57.9 for PB177 to 75.9for O. ridleyi), resistant starch (RS) (0.4% for O. ridleyi to 2.7% for SS7) and amylose content (AC) (4% for black rice to 26.5% for SS7). A significant negative correlation (r = −0.778) was observed between GI and RS. Addition of pigeon pea to rice lowered its GI and increased RS compared to other pulses, while ghee (clarified butter) showed more GI lowering and RS increasing effect compared with vegetable oils, when added during cooking. These findings emphasize the need to identify and develop rice with high RS and low GI. The GI of rice food can be further reduced by combining with suitable pulses and oil/fat.