• Qi Sun, Donna Spiegelman, Rob M van Dam, Michelle D Holmes, Vasanti S Malik, Walter C Willett, and Frank B Hu.
• Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, 665 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02115, USA. qisun@hsph.harvard.edu
• Arch Intern Med. 2010 Jun 14; 170 (11): 961-9.

BackgroundBecause of differences in processing and nutrients, brown rice and white rice may have different effects on risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus. We examined white and brown rice consumption in relation to type 2 diabetes risk prospectively in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study and the Nurses' Health Study I and II.MethodsWe prospectively ascertained and updated diet, lifestyle practices, and disease status among 39,765 men and 157,463 women in these cohorts.ResultsAfter multivariate adjustment for age and other lifestyle and dietary risk factors, higher intake of white rice (> or =5 servings per week vs <1 per month) was associated with a higher risk of type 2 diabetes: pooled relative risk (95% confidence interval [CI]), 1.17 (1.02-1.36). In contrast, high brown rice intake (> or =2 servings per week vs <1 per month) was associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes: pooled relative risk, 0.89 (95% CI, 0.81-0.97). We estimated that replacing 50 g/d (cooked,equivalent to one-third serving per day) intake of white rice with the same amount of brown rice was associated with a 16% (95% CI, 9%-21%) lower risk of type 2 diabetes,whereas the same replacement with whole grains as a group was associated with a 36% (30%-42%) lower diabetes risk [corrected].ConclusionsSubstitution of whole grains, including brown rice, for white rice may lower risk of type 2 diabetes. These data support the recommendation that most carbohydrate intake should come from whole grains rather than refined grains to help prevent type 2 diabetes.

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