Dennis Gaviola

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brown rice

David Dizon

ABS-CBN News

Is it bad to eat rice when you already have diabetes?Not so, according to Lora May Tin-Hay, president of the Philippine College of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, who said diabetes is not just about what we eat but is a true lifestyle disease influenced by multiple factors.Speaking to ABS-CBN News, Dr. Tin-Hay said diabetics need a balanced diet, which includes carbohydrates such as rice, bread, potatoes and oats.“Ang carbohydrates pwede talagang kainin.It&#x27;s just that, hindi pwede sobrang dami. So, ibig sabihin, hindi naman ako magmamarathon, hindi naman ako tatakbo ng 5 kilometers. Hindi naman pu-pwede na ang kain ko ay isang pinggan. Generally, half cup, one cup of rice at most every meal,” she said.(You can eat carbohydrates just not a lot. That means, if you&#x27;re not running a marathon, if you&#x27;re not running 5 kilometers, that doesn&#x27;t mean you can eat a plateful of rice.)She said that in some homes, a meal includes rice, a viand and bread with pansit as merienda, which is another carb.“Carbohydrates siya. So, hindi rin po pwede ‘yung uso-uso na tinapay palaman pansit. Kasi carbo on carbo…Masarap, pero again, kailangan conscious tayo sa choices natin,” she said.(Those are carbohydrates. So you can&#x27;t be eating bread with noodles like a sandwich. That&#x27;s carbs on carbs. It&#x27;s delicious but again, we have to be conscious about our choices.)Some rice varieties are healthier such as brown rice because it has more fiber, which is good for intestinal health, she noted.“Brown rice compared to white rice, the calories are the same. So, for example, 1 cup of white rice is 200 calories. More or less the same, the same sa brown. The difference is ‘yung brown, maraming (there&#x27;s a lot of) fiber. So, of course, gusto natin ‘yung maraming (we want a lot of) fiber, better for intestinal health,” she said.She said adlai also has high fiber content with slightly less carbohydrate content compared to white rice.“If you take [adlai], less yung magiging spike sa blood sugar. ‘Yung fiber, ‘yung glycemic index na tinatawag, how high or how fast your blood sugar goes up, mas less siya because you have to digest it compared sa ibang white rice na mas mabilis ma-digest,” she said. (If you eat adlai, the spike in blood sugar will be less. The fiber, the glycemic index or how high or how fast your blood sugar goes up is less because you have to digest it compared to white rice, which is easier to digest.) Rice consumption is a particularly important topic for Filipinos: a 2023 National Nutrition Survey reveals rice - a high glycemic-index food - makes up 50 percent of a typical Filipino&#x27;s meal. One cup of white rice, the most abundant variety in the market, typically contains about 206 calories. If consumed 3 times a day over a prolonged period, that rice could increase chances of obesity. Add to that a sedentary lifestyle, and the chances of diabetes and hypertension are higher. According to 2024 data from the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), approximately 7.5% or an estimated 4.7 million Filipinos aged 20-79 years old are living with Type 2 diabetes. It said an estimated 53.5% of adults in the country remain undiagnosed, highlighting the need for early screening on T2D.A 2023 National Nutrition Survey also revealed 2 out of every 10 Filipino adults aged 20 to 59 years are prediabetic, with impaired fasting blood glucose (FBG) seen to be significantly higher among men compared to women.The survey, conducted by the Department of Science and Technology’s Food and Nutrition Research Institute, also showed prediabetes was higher among urban dwellers (8.8 percent) compared to rural dwellers (6.4 percent).

Is it bad to eat rice when you already have diabetes? Not so, according to Lora May Tin-Hay, president of the Philippine College of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, who said diabetes is not just about what we eat but is a true lifestyle disease influenced by multiple factors.

Is it bad to eat rice when you already have diabetes? Not so, according to Lora May Tin-Hay, president of the Philippine College of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, who said diabetes is not just about what we eat but is a true lifestyle disease influenced by multiple factors.

Adlai, brown rice: Which rice variety is good for diabetics?

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Adlai, brown rice: Which rice variety is good for diabetics?

David Dizon,

ABS-CBN News

Published August 01, 2025 01:25 AM PHT

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Updated October 30, 2025 08:20 PM PHT

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diabetes

adlai

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Lora May Tin-Hay

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