New Low Glycemic U.S. Rice, Its Nutritional Profile, Cooking, and Grain Quality

Abstract

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is generally categorized as a high glycemic index (GI) food source. The cornerstone to manage and prevent diabetes heavily relies on dietary and nutrition management. Low glycemic rice can be used in the diets to minimize the spikes in blood sugar and insulin levels crucial in diabetes management and prevention. Low glycemic rice with a GI of 41±9 has been successfully developed for commercial applications in the United States (U.S.) rice industry. It is a non-GMO long grain rice with cereal chemistry, cooking, and grain characteristics of typical U.S. long grain rice. The low glycemic rice has an amylose (%), calorie (per 100 g white rice), and carbohydrates content (%) of 21.8 ± 1.1, 360 ± 3.2, 79 ± 2.1, respectively, and mills well with a % milling yield of 63 ± 2.1. Its nutritional profile is like that of typical long-grain rice with a total fat (%) of 0.8 ± 0.3, and a total dietary fiber (%) of 0.44 ± 0.12, having a higher protein content (10.5%) than rice in general (6-7%). It has a cooking and physical grain appearance of typical U.S. long grain rice. The overall grain quality specifications of the low glycemic rice are very similar to the grain quality standards recognized by the U.S. long-grain rice consumers and this will help in marketing and may assist rapid adoption of low glycemic rice into the diets of rice consumers who need it.