Rice is the staple food for more than half of the world’s population, contains a lot of starch and it is used to make delicious dishes savory as well as sweet.
Due to the increase worldwide obesity, a team of scientists from Sri Lanka have developed a simple way to cook rice that could reduce the calories absorbed by the body by up to 60%. The scientists presented their findings at the meeting of the American Chemical Society in Denver.
Rice contains two types of starch: digestible and resistant. The digestible starches can be quickly broken down by our bodies, turn into glucose and store as fat if we do not burn it (increase weight or obesity). The resistant starch cannot be digested, they just pass through the large intestine therefore not absorbed by our body. Resistant starch shares some of the benefits of soluble fibers.
The scientists developed a method of cooking rice which changes the digestible starch to resistant starch. To make the low caloric rice, add a teaspoon of coconut oil to boiling water. Stir in half a cup of rice and simmer until the rice is fully cooked. Place the rice in the refrigerator for 12 hours, and the resistant starch will increase by 10 times, meaning that there are less digestible starch.
The coconut oil enter the starch granule during cooking and changes the structure of the starch so they are no longer affected by the digestive enzyme from our body. Refrigerating the rice is important because it expels the digestible part of the starch, and once the digestible part is outside of the rice granule, these molecules form strong bonds turning them into resistant starch. Interestingly, the amount of resistant starch did not change when the rice was reheated later.
To find out more about this article, please read here.
Myth: Washing and rinsing rice reduces calories by removing the starch. Truth: Washing and rinsing rice does remove some of the starch, but it does not reduce the overall calorie content of the rice.
All of this is patently false, of course. Decades of legal scholarship and advocacy support the federal constitutional right to abortion that Dobbs eliminated. Some scholars who support legal abortion as a matter of policy have criticized the result the Court reached in Roe, but they are in the minority. Others have critiqued the reasoning of Roe v. Wade. Some, like Ruth Bader Ginsburg, prefer the equality rationale of Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992), where the Court noted the central importance of reproductive freedom to women’s ability to participate fully and equally in the social, political, and economic life of the nation. But the notion that all or most legal scholars wanted the Court to obliterate the right to choose abortion is ludicrous.
Perhaps the most pernicious of Trump’s lies is that returning abortion to the states is a victory for democracy. Depriving people of the right to make the most basic decisions about their bodies and lives is deeply undemocratic and a hallmark of authoritarian regimes worldwide. Extreme abortion bans and fetal personhood laws pass despite popular opposition because of unchecked partisan gerrymandering that gives Republicans supermajorities. Even the most conservative lawmakers live in fear of a primary challenge from the right if they support any exceptions, however minor and ineffective, to total abortion bans. Trump says abortion law after Dobbs is “all about the will of the people.” But in fact, Republicans are scrambling to take decisions about abortion out of the people’s hands by preventing referenda from reaching the ballot, protecting state courts that defy public opinion from accountability for their decisions, and disenfranchising voters.
The GOP has long used abortion to secure the support of voters to promote a much broader right-wing agenda. Trump, as promised, packed the federal judiciary with jurists who would destroy the government’s ability to regulate corporations, combat climate change and political corruption, enact sensible gun-safety laws, provide for affordable health care, expand opportunities for women and people of color, fight discrimination, protect the rights of workers and immigrants, ask the wealthy to pay their fair share in taxes, and so on. The problem is that a majority of Americans actually support each of the policies the Right is determined to undo. To remain in power, Republicans must undermine democratic institutions and practices. Partisan and racial gerrymandering, voter suppression, and the evisceration of campaign finance regulation and voting rights laws are longstanding strategies; more recently, election denialism, insurrection, political violence, and white supremacist resurgence—all fomented by Trump—place democracy and the rule of law in mortal danger. All of this is at stake in Trump’s ultimate lie: his claim to be a champion of democracy rather than the architect of its demise.
Even people with qualms about abortion in theory don’t favor these horrific results in fact. Recent polling from Gallup and Axios respectively reveals supermajority popular opposition to total and near-total bans on abortion, and majority support, even among Republicans, for keeping the government out of reproductive health care decisions altogether. Every ballot initiative since Dobbs has been resolved in favor of abortion rights and access. In fact, abortion motivates Americans to turn out and vote for candidates who support reproductive freedom.
Trump peddles these false and misleading claims because he understands that the truth about abortion endangers his candidacy and Republicans generally. Far from ending the controversy, returning abortion to the states already has led to outcomes wildly out of step with public opinion. Doctors and hospitals routinely deny patients basic medical care, including miscarriage treatment, because they are not close enough to death to have their rights outweigh those of an embryo or fetus. State laws with no or ineffective exceptions force children, survivors of rape and incest, and people with nonviable fetuses to carry pregnancies regardless of the consequences to their health and future fertility. Maternal health deserts multiply because doctors fear criminal and civil liability. Abortion bans exacerbate a maternal and infant mortality crisis that makes pregnancy a mortal danger to American women—especially Black women, who are almost three times more likely to die from pregnancy and childbirth than their white counterparts.
To find out more about this article, please read here.
Due to the increase worldwide obesity, a team of scientists from Sri Lanka have developed a simple way to cook rice that could reduce the calories absorbed by the body by up to 60%. The scientists presented their findings at the meeting of the American Chemical Society in Denver.
Rice is the staple food for more than half of the world’s population, contains a lot of starch and it is used to make delicious dishes savory as well as sweet.
Rice contains two types of starch: digestible and resistant. The digestible starches can be quickly broken down by our bodies, turn into glucose and store as fat if we do not burn it (increase weight or obesity). The resistant starch cannot be digested, they just pass through the large intestine therefore not absorbed by our body. Resistant starch shares some of the benefits of soluble fibers.
The scientists developed a method of cooking rice which changes the digestible starch to resistant starch. To make the low caloric rice, add a teaspoon of coconut oil to boiling water. Stir in half a cup of rice and simmer until the rice is fully cooked. Place the rice in the refrigerator for 12 hours, and the resistant starch will increase by 10 times, meaning that there are less digestible starch.
Testing Resistant Starch pt 4 – Rice Revisited – The Final Experiment on Blood Glucose
FAQ
Does drained rice have less calories?
Does removing starch from rice make it healthier?
How do you reduce the calories in rice?
Does removing starch from rice reduce glycemic index?
Does removing starch from rice reduce calorie content?
No, removing starch from rice does not significantly reduce its calorie content. Starch is a carbohydrate, and carbohydrates provide 4 calories per gram. Rice is about 70% starch, so removing all of the starch would only reduce the calorie content by about 30%. However, removing starch from rice can change its texture and make it less digestible.
Does consuming less rice make one healthier?
Consuming rice is safe when taken in moderation (one small cup daily) combined with other healthy food such as vegetables. Brown rice is healthier than white rice, as it contains much more fiber.
Does draining water from rice reduce calories?
Yes, draining water from rice can reduce calories. For example, 100 grams of cooked white rice contains about 130 calories, while 100 grams of cooked white rice that has been drained contains about 120 calories. This is because draining water from rice removes some of the excess starch.
Can removing starch from rice lower blood sugar levels?
Starch is a type of carbohydrate that can cause blood sugar levels to spike quickly. Removing starch from rice can help to lower the glycemic index of rice, which means that it will not cause blood sugar levels to rise as quickly. This can be beneficial for people with diabetes or prediabetes. Starch can be difficult to digest for some people.