Scientists at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippines have developed a new variety of rice that could help reduce the growing worldwide burden of diabetes.
An estimated 537 million adults on the planet are living with the disease. And that number is expected to grow to 783 million in the next 20 years.
Statistics Canada reports that as of 2020-21, there were 3.7 million Canadians living with diabetes – almost 10 per cent of the population.
Diabetes is a chronic condition that develops when a person’s body doesn’t produce or effectively use insulin, which it needs to turn sugar into energy. If a person’s blood sugar is excessively high, symptoms such as thirst, blurred vision, and headaches can arise. The worst-case scenario driven by consistently high blood sugar can involve blindness or amputation of the toes or feet.
There are essentially two types of diabetes. Type 1 is an auto-immune condition that is not preventable. Those sufferers must take insulin daily.
However, Type 2 diabetes can be combatted to some extent by changes in lifestyle and eating, sometimes preventing the need for diabetes medication. People with Type 2 diabetes or pre-diabetes can benefit from a diet of food low on the glycemic index (GI).
GI measures how fast a food item raises blood sugar levels and contributes to diabetes. According to Diabetes Canada, GI is a scale from 1-100 that ranks a carbohydrate-containing food or drink by how much it raises blood sugar levels after it is consumed. Foods with a high GI (70 or more) increase blood sugar higher and faster than foods with a low GI (55 or less).
Most available rice varieties have GI levels between 70 and 72. White rice is notable for having a high glycemic count.
The good news is that the IRRI has developed a rice variety that has a GI as low as 25. Also high in protein, the new rice variety looks like white rice but has smaller grains.
The IRRI researchers have been working with the University of California, the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology in Germany, and Bulgaria’s Centre of Plant Systems Biology, reports the Guardian.
Using the IRRI’s extensive rice gene bank, the world’s largest, researchers screened 380 seed samples over 10 years to identify genes with a lower glycemic index and higher protein content. Then they combined them, creating a diabetes-friendly, healthier rice option.
Dr. Nese Sreenivasulu, the principal scientist at the IRRI’s grain quality and nutrition centre, told the Guardian: “We thought that if we could come up with a diet with low glycemic index properties (and) that could be considered healthier, not only to those subjects who are diabetic and pre-diabetic … then it could be a very good intervention to counter growing incidences (of diabetes).”
The rice has yet to be grown outside IRRI’s laboratories, but the IRRI plan is to start growing the new varieties in India and the Philippines as part of the IRRI’s aim to combat hunger in countries where rice is the staple food, reports Philippines-based website wionnews.com.
The IRRI project is currently undergoing multi-location trials in over 10 Philippines provinces. It is hoping the new rice variety will be ready for market within two years.
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