Replacing White Rice With Beans Lowers Diabetes Risk

Wed, 07 Sep 2011

A new study has revealed that eating beans instead of white rice – two of the most common foods worldwide, may reduce the risk of developing diabetes.

The clinical research, carried out by the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, looked at the dietary habits of 1900 people in Costa Rica who participated in a study of risk factors for heart disease between 1994 and 2004. None of the participants had diabetes at the start of the study.

The researchers found that increased white rice consumption was linked to a greater risk of keywordmetabolic syndrome (a group of risk factors that, when occurring together, increase the risk for cardiovascular disease and diabetes ). In contrast, substituting beans for white rice resulted in significant reductions in several risk factors.

More white rice, on a daily basis, caused significant increases in blood pressure, triglycerides and blood glucose. It also caused a drop in good cholesterol (HDL) levels. Substituting beans for rice, however, had the opposite effect. Blood pressure improved, triglycerides decreased and the HDL was higher.

The researchers concluded that, on a daily basis, substituting a single serving of beans for white rice was associated with a 35 percent reduced risk of diabetes .

White rice is primarily starch and, in the human body, is readily converted to sugar. Therefore, a diet that is rich in starch will quickly become a diet that is rich in sugar, increasing the risk of metabolic syndrome .

Beans, however, are rich in protein, fibre, antioxidants and vitamins, and have a lower glycemic index, which according to the research team means "they induce much lower insulin responses".

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