Eating glutinous brown rice for one day improves glycemic control in Japanese patients with type 2 diabetes assessed by continuous glucose monitoring.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: We investigated whether intake of non-glutinous brown rice (BR) or glutinous brown rice (GBR) for 1 day had an influence on the daily glucose profile measured by continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) when compared with intake of non-glutinous white rice (WR).

METHODS AND STUDY DESIGN: A total of 37 inpatients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) were recruited for a 3-day randomized triple cross-over trial in which they ate WR, BR, or GBR for 1 day each. One of the three types of rice was eaten at breakfast, lunch, and dinner on the first day, before switching to the other types on the second and third days. Each meal had the same energy content and the same side dishes. The main outcome measures were the blood glucose profile determined by continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) and the profile of serum C-peptide (CPR) for 3 hours after breakfast. A self-administered questionnaire was used to assess the palatability of each type of rice.

RESULTS: According to the CGM data, the mean 24-hour glucose concentration was lowest with GBR (p<0.01). Serum Cpeptide showed no significant differences among the three diets. Regarding palatability, BR was assigned significantly lower scores than WR and GBR (p<0.05), while there was no difference between WR and GBR.

CONCLUSIONS: GBR intake suppressed the whole-day glucose profile of patients with T2DM, mainly by reducing postprandial glucose excursion, and GBR was preferred over BR with respect to palatability. GBR may be worth adding to the diet of patients with T2DM.