Red rice glycaemic index, benefits and red rice vs brown rice

Red rice has a glycaemic index (GI) of about 59, which puts it in the medium GI range, a little lower than most white rice and in the same zone as brown rice. As a wholegrain it keeps its fibre-rich bran. In Vively members wearing a glucose sensor, meals with red rice gave a typical rise of 1.4 mmol/L.

Colour is a clue, but it does not set the GI on its own. The variety of rice, how much amylose its starch holds and how it is cooked matter more. Use the explorer to see where red rice sits against the rice you usually buy.

What is the glycaemic index of red rice?

The red rice listed in the University of Sydney's GI shopping guide, a Sri Lankan red rice cooked in a rice cooker, scored 59, which is medium GI. Only a handful of red rice varieties have been tested in people, so treat 59 as a guide rather than a fixed number for every bag on the shelf.

GI tells you how quickly the carbohydrate in a food raises blood glucose, compared with pure glucose. What drives it in rice is amylose, the tightly packed form of starch. In Professor Jennie Brand-Miller's comparison of 10 rice products, a low-amylose Australian variety scored 93 and a high-amylose rice scored 64, while quick-cooking brown rice scored 80. Variety and processing moved the number more than colour did.

That is why a low GI white rice such as SunRice Doongara (53 to 54) can sit below red rice, and why some brown rice tests come in as high as 86.

Red rice glycaemic load

Glycaemic load (GL) adds portion size. A 50 g serve of uncooked red rice, which cooks up to roughly 100 g or about two thirds of a cup, carries about 34 g of carbohydrate. At a GI of 59 that is a GL of about 20, which is high for one serve. Portion size matters as much as which rice you pick.

What Vively members' glucose sensors show

Lab GI tests use a fixed 50 g of carbohydrate eaten on its own. Real meals are messier, so we looked at what happened when Vively members logged red rice in the app while wearing a continuous glucose monitor (CGM).

The pattern fits the GI data. Red rice sat at the gentler end, alongside brown and basmati, and jasmine sat at the top. The differences are small, though. A typical rise of 1.4 against 1.7 mmol/L will not decide anyone's health. What you eat with the rice, how much you serve and how you slept the night before can shift your own response by more than that.

You can see the full member data for white rice, brown rice, basmati and jasmine rice on our glucose response pages.

Red rice benefits: what it gives you

The main benefit of red rice is that it is a wholegrain. The bran stays on, so you get more fibre, more minerals and the plant pigments that give it the colour.

• Fibre: one Australian red rice label lists 4.0 g of fibre per 100 g uncooked. FSANZ data puts white rice at 0.8 g and brown at 3.5 g.
• Pigments: the red comes from anthocyanins and related compounds in the bran. They act as antioxidants in lab studies. Claims that red rice has "ten times the antioxidants" of brown rice come from lab measures of the grain, not from studies of health in people.
• Minerals: wholegrain rice keeps the minerals that sit in the bran. FSANZ lists 119 mg of magnesium per 100 g of uncooked brown rice, against 20 mg for white rice. Red rice labels rarely list minerals, but the bran is the same idea.

The NHMRC sets an adequate intake of 25 g a day for women and 30 g for men, and swapping white rice for a wholegrain is one of the easier ways to close the gap.

“A diet rich in fibre from vegetables, fruits, whole grains, berries, nuts and legumes helps regulate blood sugar levels.”
Dr Michelle Woolhouse, Vively Medical Director

Red rice nutrition

Calories and carbohydrate are almost the same across all three. Red rice is no lighter than white rice. The difference is in the fibre and what comes with it.

Red rice vs brown rice

Red rice and brown rice are close: both are wholegrains, both are medium GI on most tests, and they carry similar energy and carbohydrate. Red rice has a little more fibre and protein on the label we checked, plus the pigments in its bran. Brown rice is cheaper and easier to find.

For blood glucose, the bigger choice is between a wholegrain or high-amylose rice and a soft, sticky one. If you are deciding between red and brown, pick the one you will enjoy and cook often. If you are deciding between red and jasmine, red is the better swap. Our guide to the best low GI rice in Australia covers the other options, and white rice vs brown rice goes deeper on that comparison.

Where to buy red rice in Australia

Supermarkets stock a few options. SunRice sells a red rice microwave pouch (250 g) through Woolworths and Coles, and a Naturally Superbrown blend of brown and red rice (750 g). Health food shops and online grocers carry organic red rice in 500 g bags, such as Chef's Choice. Expect to pay more per kilo than for white or brown rice.

Is red rice good for blood sugar?

Red rice is a reasonable choice for steadier blood glucose, because it is wholegrain and medium GI. It is still a starchy carbohydrate, and the amount on your plate matters most.

A few things help, and some help less than you might think:

• Serve size: the Australian Dietary Guidelines count half a cup of cooked rice (75 to 120 g) as one serve of grain food. Fill the rest of the plate with vegetables and protein.
• Eat the vegetables first: starting with salad or cooked vegetables may slow how fast the starch reaches your blood.
• Add vinegar or legumes: a Japanese study (Sugiyama 2003) found vinegar, dairy or bean products eaten with white rice lowered its GI by 20 to 40%.
• Cook, cool, reheat: in 15 healthy adults, white rice cooked, chilled for 24 hours and reheated gave about an 18% lower glucose response than fresh rice (Sonia 2015). Chill rice quickly and keep it in the fridge for food safety.
• Protein alone does less: in a Singapore study (Quek 2016), adding chicken, fish or egg white to rice did not lower the glucose response, and only tofu did. In our member data, 157 members' white rice meals rose by a typical 1.7 mmol/L alone and 1.6 with only protein, fat or vegetables alongside.

“Remember, we're in no way demonising carbohydrates, they are an essential macronutrient!”
Dr Michelle Woolhouse, Vively Medical Director

Cooking red rice

Rinse it, then simmer about 1 cup of rice in 2 to 2.5 cups of water for 30 to 45 minutes, until tender but still a little chewy. Soaking it for 30 minutes first shortens the cooking time. Rest it, covered, for 10 minutes before serving. Firm, separate grains are better for glucose than rice cooked down to mush.

How Vively can help

GI tables tell you how a food behaves on average. A CGM shows you how it behaves in you. With the Vively CGM program you wear a sensor and log meals in the Vively app, which shows your readings against a 4 to 6 mmol/L range, so you can compare red rice, brown rice and your usual white rice on your own plate. Dietitian support is available through the membership if you want help turning the patterns into a plan. If your readings worry you, the Baseline blood test checks 70+ markers, including fasting glucose, HbA1c and fasting insulin, read against optimal ranges.

Frequently asked questions

Is red rice healthy?

Yes. Red rice is a wholegrain, so it keeps its bran, with more fibre than white rice (about 2 g per 50 g uncooked serve against 0.4 g) and more minerals. It has about the same energy and carbohydrate as white rice, so a healthy portion is about half a cup cooked, with vegetables and protein.

What is the GI of red rice?

About 59. The red rice tested for the University of Sydney GI shopping guide scored 59, which is medium GI (56 to 69). Few varieties have been tested, and cooking changes the result: soft, overcooked rice digests faster than firm grains, so your bag may differ a little.

Is red rice better than brown rice?

Not by much. Both are wholegrains with similar energy, carbohydrate and medium GI. Red rice has slightly more fibre and protein on the label we checked, plus red pigments in the bran. Brown rice is cheaper and easier to find. Choose the one you will eat regularly.

Is red rice good for diabetes?

Red rice can fit a diabetes eating plan as a wholegrain, medium GI carbohydrate, but it still raises blood glucose. Keep to about half a cup cooked, pair it with vegetables and protein, and check your response if you test. Your GP, diabetes educator or dietitian can set the portion that suits your treatment.

Is red rice the same as red yeast rice?

No. Red rice is a wholegrain you cook and eat. Red yeast rice is white rice fermented with a mould and sold as a supplement for cholesterol, and it can act like a statin medicine. Talk to your GP or pharmacist before taking red yeast rice.

Sources

1. Foster-Powell K. Your GI shopping guide: rice. GI News, University of Sydney, December 2020.
2. Brand-Miller J. Food for thought: rice and amylose. GI News, University of Sydney, January 2021.
3. Food Standards Australia New Zealand. Australian Food Composition Database, Release 3.
4. NHMRC. Nutrient Reference Values: dietary fibre.
5. Sugiyama M et al. Glycemic index of single and mixed meal foods among common Japanese foods with white rice as a reference food. Eur J Clin Nutr 2003;57:743-752.
6. Sonia S, Witjaksono F, Ridwan R. Effect of cooling of cooked white rice on resistant starch content and glycemic response. Asia Pac J Clin Nutr 2015;24(4):620-625.
7. Quek R, Bi X, Henry CJ. Impact of protein-rich meals on glycaemic response of rice. Br J Nutr 2016;115(7):1194-1201.
8. Nutrition Australia. Australian Dietary Guidelines: standard serves.