Low GI rice has a glycaemic index of 55 or less, and the easiest one to find in Australia is SunRice Low GI (Doongara), tested at GI 53 to 54. Parboiled rice and Japanese Koshihikari also test low. Basmati varies from 43 to 69, while jasmine and sticky rice test high.
Typical rise in blood sugar (mmol/L) when Vively members wearing a continuous glucose monitor ate each food on its own. Each food has at least 30 members behind it.
GI tables come from lab tests on small groups. Real responses vary a lot from person to person. See the curves on our glucose spikes page, or try a CGM to see your own.
The explorer below lists every rice we could find a published, human-tested GI for. Where studies disagree, we show the whole range, because the GI of rice genuinely swings with variety and cooking.
Of the rice tested in people, parboiled rice (39 to 55) and Koshihikari (48) score lowest, and SunRice Low GI (53 to 54) is the lowest GI rice you can reliably find and identify on an Australian shelf. Here is how the main options compare.
Doongara is a long grain rice grown in Australia that is high in amylose, a starch with straight chains that pack tightly and break down slowly. SunRice's tested product sits at GI 53 to 54 for the white and 54 for the brown.
SunRice says it is the only rice carrying the official Low GI symbol, and both versions are stocked at major supermarkets, including Woolworths. One caveat: a 2012 CSIRO and IRRI project, which estimated GI largely from lab digestion tests, classed Doongara as medium. We rely on the human-tested result for the packaged product.
Parboiled rice is soaked and steamed in its husk before milling, which re-forms the starch into a tighter structure that digests more slowly. In a study of nine people with type 2 diabetes (Larsen, 2000), ordinary rice scored 55, mildly parboiled rice 46 and pressure-parboiled rice 39. The harder the parboiling, the lower the GI, and packets rarely tell you which method was used. Look for "parboiled" or "converted" on the label: the raw grains are golden and they cook up firm and separate.
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Basmati is usually medium GI, with some tests landing in the low range. Published results run from 43 to 69, and the GI Foundation quotes a typical value of 58.
Basmati has more amylose than jasmine, so it usually digests more slowly. We found no published GI for brown basmati, so we haven't guessed one.
A 1999 Japanese study gave Koshihikari a GI of 48, but it tested only eight people with an older method. Short grain rice generally has less amylose than long grain, so don't assume every sushi-style rice behaves the same way.
Wholegrain rice keeps its bran, which adds fibre and nutrients, yet the GI still depends on the grain inside. Brown rice ranges from 50 to 86. High-amylose brown rice stays between 50 and 66, while quick-cooking brown rice tested at 80. A Sri Lankan red rice measured 59.
Black rice is often sold as very low GI, but the evidence is thin: one figure of 42 came from a porridge, and 62 comes from an unpublished Thai report. We would call it low to medium. For a closer look at the two most common choices, read our white rice vs brown rice comparison.
Most everyday white rice is medium to high GI: about 62 for long grain, 66 to 73 for boiled white rice in international tables, and 79 to 109 for jasmine. The exception is high-amylose white rice such as Doongara, which tests low.
The softer and stickier a rice cooks, the faster it tends to digest, because low-amylose starch swells and loosens easily in hot water. In a University of Sydney comparison of 10 rice products, a low-amylose Australian medium grain called Pelde scored 93, while a high-amylose rice scored 64. Sticky (glutinous) rice runs from 75 to 98, and arborio sits at 69.
Calrose, the medium grain many Australians grew up on, has no published GI that we could verify, so it is not in the explorer.
For people with diabetes or prediabetes, the best rice is a lower GI type, such as SunRice Low GI, parboiled or basmati, in a modest serve alongside vegetables and protein. The size of the serve matters as much as the type.
Glycaemic load (GL) captures both. It is the GI multiplied by the grams of carbohydrate in a serve, divided by 100. A cup of cooked long grain white rice (GI 62, 52 g carbohydrate) gives a GL of about 32, which is high (20 or more). Halve the serve and the GL drops to about 16, in the medium band. Choosing a lower GI rice brings it down again.
A practical plate for most people looks like this:
If you have diabetes, Diabetes Australia's general targets are 4.0 to 7.0 mmol/L before meals and 5.0 to 10.0 mmol/L two hours after you start eating. Your GP or specialist sets your individual targets. The same swap thinking works for low GI pasta and low GI bread.
Not sure where you stand? An HbA1c test shows your average glucose over the past two to three months.
Chilling cooked rice before reheating it, adding vinegar, and eating it with beans, tofu or dairy have each lowered the glucose response to rice in studies, and they work with any rice in your pantry.
In a 2015 study of 15 healthy adults (Sonia and colleagues), white rice that was cooked, chilled at 4°C for 24 hours and reheated had more than twice the resistant starch of fresh rice. It also produced a glucose response about 18% lower. As cooked starch cools, part of it re-forms into a structure that enzymes struggle to break down.
Food safety comes first. Cooked rice can carry Bacillus cereus spores that survive cooking and multiply when rice sits warm. Spread leftover rice in a shallow container so it cools fast, get it into the fridge promptly, use it within a day and reheat it until it is steaming hot all the way through.
A Japanese study (Sugiyama, 2003) found that eating white rice with vinegar, dairy or bean products lowered its GI by 20 to 40%, whether those foods came before, with or after the rice. A 2017 meta-analysis of clinical trials also found vinegar with a meal reduced the rise in glucose and insulin. A rice salad with a vinegar dressing, or pickled vegetables on the side, are easy ways to try it.
Protein keeps you full, but its effect on rice is less predictable than many people expect. When researchers added about 25 to 30 g of protein to jasmine-type rice (Quek, 2016), only tofu lowered the glucose response significantly. Chicken, fish and egg white did not. Build the whole plate, with vegetables, a dressing and protein, rather than relying on one food.
We found no reliable human-tested GI for these, so we have not given them a number.
A GI value is an average from about 10 people eating a portion with 50 g of carbohydrate. In a 2015 Israeli study of 800 people (Zeevi and colleagues), responses to identical meals varied widely from person to person, though each person's response to a repeated meal was fairly consistent.
So the same bowl of basmati can barely shift one person's glucose and noticeably lift another's. For people without diabetes, Diabetes Australia says glucose generally sits between 4.0 and 7.8 mmol/L across the day, including after meals. Our guide to blood sugar after eating explains what a normal rise looks like, and you can read about using a CGM without diabetes if you are curious about your own pattern.
Our CGM program pairs a 14-day sensor with the Vively app. You can log your usual rice one week, try a swap the next and compare the two curves side by side. Our team then helps you decide what is worth changing, whether that is the rice, the serve or what sits next to it on the plate.
Wear a CGM sensor for 14 days and see how your meals, sleep, stress and movement shift your glucose, with clear guidance on what to change.
Not always. Basmati has tested anywhere from GI 43 to 69, so it sits between low and medium, and the GI Foundation quotes a typical value of 58. For a reliably low GI white rice in Australia, SunRice Low GI (Doongara) tests at 53 to 54.
Yes. SunRice Low GI White Rice, made from the Australian-grown Doongara variety, has tested at GI 53 to 54 and carries the Low GI symbol. Parboiled white rice can also test low, although results depend on how hard it was parboiled.
It depends on the variety. Long grain white rice averages about 62, boiled white rice in international tables sits at 66 to 73, and jasmine ranges from 79 to 109. Low-amylose medium grain rice has tested as high as 93. High-amylose white rice such as Doongara is the exception, at 53 to 54.
Sometimes. Brown rice has tested anywhere from 50 to 86, with an international average of about 68, which is medium. High-amylose brown rice and SunRice Low GI Brown (54) are low, while quick-cooking brown rice tested at 80. The bran adds fibre, but the variety inside the bran decides most of the GI.
Yes, most people with diabetes can include rice. Choose a lower GI type where you can, keep it to about a quarter of the plate and fill the rest with vegetables and protein. Your GP, dietitian or diabetes educator can tailor carbohydrate amounts to your medicines and personal targets.
It can lower the glucose response a little. In one study of 15 adults, white rice that was cooked, chilled for 24 hours and reheated gave a response about 18% lower than fresh rice, thanks to extra resistant starch. Cool cooked rice quickly, refrigerate it promptly and reheat it until steaming hot.
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