Brown rice associated less risk than white for DM2

January 01, 0001

Brown rice associated less risk than white for DM2

These US authors examined white and brown rice consumption in relation to type 2 diabetes risk prospectively in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study and the Nurses' Health Study I and II. They prospectively ascertained and updated diet, lifestyle practices, and disease status among 39,765 men and 157,463 women in these cohorts.

They found: "After multivariate adjustment for age and other lifestyle and dietary risk factors, higher intake of white rice (5 servings per week vs les than 1 per month) was associated with a higher risk of type 2 diabetes: pooled relative risk 1.17. In contrast, high brown rice intake (2 servings per week vs less than 1 per month) was associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes: pooled relative risk 0.89. We estimated that replacing 50 g/d (uncooked, equivalent to one-third serving per day) intake of white rice with the same amount of brown rice was associated with a 16% lower risk of type 2 diabetes, whereas the same replacement with whole grains as a group was associated with a 36% (30%-42%) lower diabetes risk."

The authors conclude: "Substitution of whole grains, including brown rice, for white rice may lower risk of type 2 diabetes. These data support the recommendation that most carbohydrate intake should come from whole grains rather than refined grains to help prevent type 2 diabetes."

For people who consume a lot of rice the substitution of brown rice for white could make a considerable difference in diabetes risk.

For the full abstract, click here.

Arch Intern Med 170(11):961-969, 14 June 2010 © 2010 to the American Medical Association
White Rice, Brown Rice, and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes in US Men and Women. Qi Sun, Donna Spiegelman, Rob M. van Dam, et al. Correspondence to Dr. Sun: [email protected]

Category: T. Endocrine/Metabolic/Nutritional. Keywords: diet, rice, whole grains, diabetes type 2, risk, prospective cohort study, journal watch.
Synopsis edited by Dr Linda French, Toledo, Ohio. Posted on Global Family Doctor 29 June 2010

Pearls are an independent product of the Cochrane primary care group and are meant for educational use and not to guide clinical care.

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