Rice & grains · Glycemic index
Does brown rice spike blood sugar?
Yes â brown rice has a medium GI of 68, and a 202 g serving (1 cup cooked) has a glycemic load of 33, which is high. Brown rice keeps its bran, so it brings more fiber than white rice, but its starch is still digested fairly quickly and its average GI lands in the medium band rather than the low one.
Key numbers
- Glycemic index
- 68
- Medium GI
- Glycemic load
- 33
- High GL
- Available carbs
- 48 g
- 3.2 g fiber
- Serving
- 1 cup cooked
- 202 g · boiled
GI vs GL for brown rice
The glycemic index (GI) compares how fast the carbohydrate in a food raises blood sugar against pure glucose (100), using a fixed amount of carbohydrate. The glycemic load (GL) adds the other half of the story â how much carbohydrate a normal serving actually contains: GI Ă available carbs Ă· 100. For brown rice: 68 Ă 48 g Ă· 100 â 33.
That figure is an average reported in the 2008 international GI tables (âBrown rice, boiled: 68 ± 4 (average of multiple studies)â). Brown rice results are unusually spread out: individual ISO-standard tests in the 2021 tables range from 51 to 87 depending on variety and cooking, and those tables report no overall mean, so the 2008 average is used here.
Eating a different amount? Work out the glycemic load of your portion.
How to eat brown rice with less of a spike
- Measure about half a cup cooked â the bran adds fiber, but the digestible carbohydrate per spoonful is close to white rice.
- Stir cooked lentils or beans through it to replace part of the rice; a cup of lentils has about half the available carbohydrate of a cup of brown rice.
- Use the Diabetes Plate as a guide: rice belongs in the quarter of the plate for carbohydrate foods, with half the plate given to non-starchy vegetables.
Lower-GI swaps
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Frequently asked questions
What is the glycemic index of brown rice?
Brown rice has a glycemic index of 68, which is medium. That figure is an average reported in the 2008 international GI tables (âBrown rice, boiled: 68 ± 4 (average of multiple studies)â). A 202 g serving (1 cup cooked) contains about 48 g of available carbohydrate, giving a glycemic load of 33 (high).
Is brown rice good for prediabetes?
Brown rice is a reasonable whole-grain choice, but it is not a free pass: gram for gram it carries almost as much digestible carbohydrate as white rice. Keep the portion modest and build the rest of the plate from vegetables, beans and protein.
Is brown rice better than white rice for blood sugar?
Somewhat. Its average GI of 68 is a little lower than boiled white rice at 73, and it has more fiber, but both deliver a similar amount of carbohydrate per cup. How much you eat and what you eat with it matter more than the color of the rice.
Sources
GI values come from the international GI tables; carbohydrate and fiber per serving are calculated from USDA FoodData Central.
- Atkinson FS, Foster-Powell K, Brand-Miller JC. International tables of glycemic index and glycemic load values: 2008. Diabetes Care. 2008;31(12):2281â2283, Table 1
- USDA FoodData Central, FDC ID 169704: Rice, brown, long-grain, cooked (Includes foods for USDA's Food Distribution Program)
- Atkinson FS, Brand-Miller JC, Foster-Powell K, Buyken AE, Goletzke J. International tables of glycemic index and glycemic load values 2021: a systematic review. Am J Clin Nutr. 2021;114(5):1625â1632, Supplemental Table 1
- American Diabetes Association, Diabetes Food Hub â Create-Your-Plate: Simplify Meal Planning with the Diabetes Plate
- USDA FoodData Central, FDC ID 172421: Lentils, mature seeds, cooked, boiled, without salt
- USDA FoodData Central, FDC ID 168878: Rice, white, long-grain, regular, enriched, cooked
Data last checked .