Glycaemic index (GI) of an Indian branded thermally treated basmati rice variety: a multi centric study

Glycaemic Index (GI) is the classification of carbohydrates based on their ability to raise blood glucose levels and evidence shows that its usage has beneficial health implications. Rice forms a part of the Indian staple diet and one of the major energy contributors. Hence, it is important to establish the Glycaemic Index (GI) value of rice. However, due to availability of different varieties of rice it is important first to identify a lower GI variety and to make it available to the Indian population. Subjecting rice to thermal processing is also known to reduce the GI of rice.

An Indian thermally treated basmati rice variety was hypothesised to be low in GI. This multi centric study was conducted to test this hypothesis in healthy volunteers.

In this study, out of 83 participants, data points of 70 healthy volunteers were taken into consideration for arriving at the final GI value. The study procedure was similar to the recommendations by FAO/WHO. A multi centric trial was conducted to nullify any regional or genetic variability.

It was observed that reference glucose curve had the maximum average peak of 166.37 mg/dL while the basmati sample had a lower peak (136.22 mg/dL). The mean blood glucose incremental area under the curve for reference food was 5969.64 mins.mg/dL (SEM 95.94) and for rice it was 3267.81 mins. mg/dL (SEM 76.21).

In this studyThe GI of Indian branded basmati rice was found to < 55 thus, placing it in lower GI category. The Indian basmati rice because of its lower GI can prove to be a healthier rice alternative.