Could brown rice help ward off type 2 diabetes? Harvard scientists analyzed data collected in three large long-term epidemiological studies. They included almost 200,000 individuals, mostly women, in the Nurses' Health Studies 1 and 2 and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study. The researchers adjusted for many other factors including exercise habits, smoking, weight, age, and other dietary habits.
They found that people who ate white rice five times or more in a month had a higher likelihood of type 2 diabetes. Previous research from China has shown a similar pattern. The researchers estimate that replacing just 1/3 serving of white rice with brown rice could lower the chance of developing diabetes by about 16 percent. Replacing that white rice with other whole grains such as barley, which raises blood sugar more slowly, would reduce the diabetes risk even more, by about 36 percent. They recommend that most carbohydrate intake should come from whole grains rather than refined grains as a way to mitigate the epidemic of type 2 diabetes.
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