White Rice Consumption Increases Type 2 Diabetes Risk

Physicians in India should be aware of an increased risk of type 2 diabetes in individuals who consume large amounts of white rice. They should be prepared to counsel patients on healthy dietary alternatives.

"Recent studies from our group have shown that substituting white rice with brown rice or multigrain rice helps to reduce the glucose levels when we perform continuous glucose monitoring. Insulin levels also decreased."
V. Mohan, MD, FRCP, PhD, DSc, FNASc, FASc, FNA, Chennai, India, president and chief of diabetes research, Madras Diabetes Research Foundation, Chennai, India, and chairman and chief diabetologist of Dr. Mohan’s Diabetes Specialties Centre

Key Point: Indian physicians should counsel patients on the role that white rice consumption can play in the development of type 2 diabetes. A meta-analysis found that white rice is associated with a significantly increased risk of type 2 diabetes, especially in Japanese and Chinese populations. This finding is in keeping with earlier studies in urban Indian populations.

A recent meta-analysis appearing in the BMJ summarized 7 cohort analyses in Asian and Western populations. The Asian populations included in these studies were Japanese and Chinese. Among a total of more than 350,000 participants, over 13,000 incident cases of type 2 diabetes were identified. The investigators found a significant...

White Rice Consumption Increases Type 2 Diabetes Risk

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