Does White Rice Cause Diabetes?

White Rice vs. Brown Rice

According to a recent study, white rice may increase your risk for Type 2 diabetes.

Bullshit!

The study looked at nearly 200,000 Americans and found a heightened risk of diabetes in those who ate white rice as opposed to brown rice.

However, rice constitutes only about 2% of the American diet, as opposed to nearly 30% for some Asian cultures. Yet, there is a smaller rate of diabetes in Asian cultures than in America…

Do you see the problem here? And Scientific Amercian, a publication I usually love, actually put their headline as “White Rice increases risk of Type 2 Diabetes”.

That really pisses me off! Totally mis-representing the findings of a study to increase readership shows extremely poor scientific integrity.

I think the more likely scenario here is that those who eat brown rice as opposed to white probably also do more to improve their health. They probably eat other whole grains, eat less fat, and exercise more. And oh wait, the researchers even state that eating brown rice was associated with “a more health-conscious lifestyle”.  To quote the 1990’s, “Umm…duh!”

We all know one of those jerks who is always telling us to “eat this, not that” because its healthier.

“You shouldn’t eat so much sodium.”

“You should really try soy milk.”

“I love running.”

“You should eat more whole wheat and whole grains.”

Guh. I hate those jerks. Mostly because they are right.

Anyway, CNN also covered this study, but the headline they gave it was: “Brown rice instead of white may lower diabetes risk.” This is such a better headline, and y’know what? I bet they got just as many hits on that story as Scientific American did on theirs.

Now, lets be clear. I sure as hell think that brown rice is better for you than white, but I also think that WHITE RICE IS GOOD FOR YOU! White rice is low in fat, sodium, and it goes well with vegetables; it just needs to be eaten in moderation, which, lets face it, we all have trouble with sometimes.

So eat rice (preferably brown, but whatever), eat less fat, exercise more, and you will be more healthy and lower your risk of diabetes.

Oh, and read the research, not the headlines.