Determination of the Glycemic Index of 25 Italian Rice Varieties

The service commissioned by the National Rice Authority required the evaluation of the Glycemic Index of 25 varieties of rice. As a reference, both for the comparison and for the calculation of the Glycemic Index, glucose was used, which clearly has characteristics of greater uniformity than white bread and was preferred because it is better suited to be used as a standard of measurement. In accordance with the ISO 26642 standard, a panel of selected volunteers (consisting of 10 subjects), healthy, not suffering from diabetes or other pathologies of glucose metabolism, were included in the study. As per protocol, the changes in glycaemia of all the subjects involved were evaluated after the intake of glucose (50g), as a standard food, and of rice (50g of available carbohydrates), taking into account the carbohydrate content of each variety. to determine the amount of rice to be fed. The test of each food was carried out for a maximum time of 120 minutes, by carrying out repeated measurements of the glycaemia of all subjects at a distance of 0, 15, 30, 45, 60, 90 and 120 minutes from the administration of the sample in order to obtain a glycemic curve for each sample considered.

From the analysis of the area underlying the glycemic curve of each variety, it was possible to determine the Glycemic Index.