Scientists in the Philippines have created a new variety of rice that could help reduce the growing burden of diabetes.
More than 537 million adults worldwide are living with the chronic disease – a number that is expected to grow to 783 million by 2045. Being overweight, genetics and a lack of exercise contribute to type 2 diabetes, which is the most common form. Type 2 occurs when the pancreas fails to produce enough of the insulin hormone, leaving too much glucose in the blood, and cells develop a resistance to insulin.
Dr Lindsey Smith Taillie, a nutritional epidemiologist and professor at the University of North Carolina, said: “Global diabetes prevalence is increasing and becoming an increasing cause for concern. It’s been high in high-income countries for several decades now, but increasingly we’re seeing rapid increases in low- and middle-income countries as well.”
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A common condition
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The human toll of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) is huge and rising. These illnesses end the lives of approximately 41 million of the 56 million people who die every year – and three quarters of them are in the developing world.
NCDs are simply that; unlike, say, a virus, you can’t catch them. Instead, they are caused by a combination of genetic, physiological, environmental and behavioural factors. The main types are cancers, chronic respiratory illnesses, diabetes and cardiovascular disease – heart attacks and stroke. Approximately 80% are preventable, and all are on the rise, spreading inexorably around the world as ageing populations and lifestyles pushed by economic growth and urbanisation make being unhealthy a global phenomenon.
NCDs, once seen as illnesses of the wealthy, now have a grip on the poor. Disease, disability and death are perfectly designed to create and widen inequality – and being poor makes it less likely you will be diagnosed accurately or treated.
Investment in tackling these common and chronic conditions that kill 71% of us is incredibly low, while the cost to families, economies and communities is staggeringly high.
In low-income countries NCDs – typically slow and debilitating illnesses – are seeing a fraction of the money needed being invested or donated. Attention remains focused on the threats from communicable diseases, yet cancer death rates have long sped past the death toll from malaria, TB and HIV/Aids combined.
‘A common condition’ is a Guardian series reporting on NCDs in the developing world: their prevalence, the solutions, the causes and consequences, telling the stories of people living with these illnesses.
Tracy McVeigh, editor
More than 60% of people with diabetes live in Asia. More than 90% of the world’s rice is produced and consumed in the Asia-Pacific region. White rice has a high glycaemic index, which can cause spikes in the amount of sugar in the blood. Research shows a link between substantial consumption of rice and noncommunicable diseases such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease.
A breakthrough by researchers at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in the Philippine town of Los Baños – which has been working with the University of California, the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology in Germany, and Bulgaria’s Centre of Plant Systems Biology – could help tackle that.
Using the IRRI’s extensive rice gene bank, the world’s largest, researchers screened 380 seed samples over 10 years to identify genes and markers with a lower glycaemic index and higher protein content. They then combined them into “inbred lines”, creating what the IRRI has called a diabetes-friendly, healthier rice option.
Dr Nese Sreenivasulu, the principal scientist at the IRRI’s grain quality and nutrition centre, said: “We thought that if we could come up with a diet with low glycaemic index properties [and] that could be considered healthier, not only to those subjects who are diabetic and pre-diabetic … then it could be a very good intervention to counter growing incidences [of diabetes].
“This could have a big impact in Asia, as well as in Africa, among the rice-consuming countries,” he said.
The rice has yet to be grown outside IRRI’s laboratories, but Sreenivasulu said the plan was to start growing the new varieties in India and the Philippines as part of the IRRI’s remit to combat poverty and hunger in countries where rice is the staple food. In 2021, it helped develop golden rice, which has been modified to alleviate vitamin A deficiencies.
But Taillie warned that sugary drinks and ultra-processed foods were the real diabetes risks, rather than rice. “By and large, rice is not the leading cause for concern when we think about issues like type 2 diabetes,” she said.
“For people who are already living with diabetes and want to be able to incorporate rice into their diet, and they’re conscientious about cutting carbohydrates, perhaps that might be relevant, but it’s certainly not going to help us solve the global type 2 diabetes crisis,” Taillie said.
Instead, she believes countries should focus on imposing taxes on sugar-sweetened beverages and ultra-processed foods, and enforcing better warning labels on packaging.
“The call to action is that we need a comprehensive set of policies that ensures all people have access to healthy foods and that we’re reducing the relentless marketing and promotion and sales of sugar.”