Scientists have discovered a new and natural way in order to make rice less caloric.
Researchers from the College of Chemical Sciences in Sri Lanka tested out 38 different kinds of rice from the country to come up with a recipe with fewer calories that will be absorbed by our bodies.
The new study presented at the American Chemical Society’s national meeting revealed that adding coconut oil and then cooling it for 12 hours in the fridge can decrease calories by as much as 60%.
One of the authors of the study, Suhdair James said: “This method might reduce the calories in rice by about 50-60 percent.”
So what’s the exact cooking method that will do the trick to cut rice calories into half?
Drop a teaspoon of coconut oil into boiling water, then add half a cup of non-fortified white rice. Cook it for 40 minutes. Immediately after cooking, put it inside the fridge for 12 hours. Of course, you simply need to reheat it and it’s good to go.
The principle behind this amazing food hack lies on the type of starch rice contains. Rice is composed of both resistant and digestible starch. The resistant starchm which can’t be digested by our bodies, does not convert into sugar and is not absorbed in our blood streams. Thus, if a food has more resistant starch, fewer calories from that starch will be absorbed by our bodies.
In the study, the researchers thought of adding fat such as coconut oil to change the composition of rice for the better.
“The oil interacts with the starch in rice and changes its architecture.Chilling the rice then helps foster the conversion of starches. The result is a healthier serving, even when you heat it back up,” said James.
Additionally, this method of preparation offers other health benefits.
According to Dr. Pushparajah Thavarajah, the professor supervising the research, resistant starch feeds the good bacteria inside the human gut.
