STUDY ON EFFECT OF PRESSURE COOKING AND STIR-OIL FRIED FOLLOWED BY PRESSURE COOKING METHOD ON GLYCEMIC INDEX OF SONA MANSULI RICE

Abstract

Rice, a staple food of Nepal, is generally considered as a high Glycemic Index (GI) food. With diabetes rates increasing alarmingly in Nepal, there is an urgent need to find methods of reducing the glycemic impact of rice. This study was aimed to evaluate the effect of cooking methods on the GI of Sona Mansuli rice. The test rice was cooked by two methods, pressure cooking and stir-oil fried followed by pressure cooking. The blood glucose response was studied for reference food (glucose) and two test foods (pressure cooked and stir-oil fried followed by pressure cooked rice) in 10 healthy volunteers. The mean incremental area under the curve values obtained after the ingestion of the reference food (25 g), pressure cooked rice (108.58 g) and stir-oil fried followed by pressure cooking rice (124.22 g) each containing 25 g available carbohydrate were 2475.18±430.18 mg.min/dL, 1597.93±257.08 mg.min/dL and 1333.16±204.71 mg.min/dL respectively. The mean glycemic index of pressure-cooked rice was 64.72±2.49, whereas the mean GI of stir-oil fried followed by pressure cooked rice was 54.07±2.57. Similarly, the glycemic load of pressure-cooked rice and stir-oil fried followed by pressure cooked rice were 16.18±0.62 and 13.51±0.64, respectively. The percentage reduction in GI of pressure-cooked rice and stir-oil followed by pressure cooking of rice as compared to glucose were 35.27±2.49% and 45.92±2.44%, respectively. Similarly, the percentage reduction in GI of the stir-oil fried followed by pressure cooking rice as compared to that of pressure-cooked rice was 16.45±2.32. Based on the present study, it could be concluded that the addition of fat/oils in rice during cooking helps to lower the glycemic index of rice. To sum up, using fat/oils in moderate amount while cooking rice/food could be a strategy to control the blood glucose level.