Eat rice to supplement anthocyanins~ If you choose the wrong black rice or purple rice, be careful about your blood sugar getting out of control!

Anthocyanin diet is becoming popular, but are we only able to consume anthocyanins from fruits such as blueberries, grapes and mulberries? Of course not! Nutritionists say that purple rice and black rice are also rich in anthocyanins, which have anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and cancer prevention effects, but the two are similar in appearance. If you eat purple rice as black rice for a long time, your blood sugar may get out of control and cause obesity. Be careful!

Why is anthocyanin so popular?

Zhou Ning, a nutritionist at Daqian General Hospital, said that anthocyanin is a phytochemical with antioxidant effects that can help remove toxic chemicals and free radicals from the body; it has strong anti-inflammatory ability and can inhibit the synthesis of prostaglandins, thereby slowing down the inflammatory response; it can reduce the proliferation of cancer cells, inhibit the formation of tumors, prevent the spread of cancer cells and induce apoptosis of tumor cells; it can promote blood circulation, enhance the elasticity of collagen fibers in the blood vessel walls, make blood vessels strong, and thus prevent cardiovascular disease. In addition, animal experiments have also shown that anthocyanins can inhibit the rise of blood sugar and increase the secretion of insulin by the pancreas.

To supplement anthocyanins, there are tips for choosing rice!

How to supplement anthocyanins? Most people would think of purple fruits and vegetables, such as blueberries, mulberries, grapes, purple cabbage or purple onions, but forget that "rice" can also be a good source of anthocyanins. The secret lies in "purple rice" and "black rice"! However, many people think that black rice and purple rice are the same type of rice. In fact, this is not the case. If you value your health, don’t eat the wrong ones!

Black rice and purple rice look similar, making it difficult for ordinary people to distinguish them.

Black rice vs purple rice

Nutritionist Zhou Ning explained that black rice and purple rice are both "brown rice". In addition to being rich in anthocyanins, they also contain dietary fiber, B vitamins and various trace elements, which have many benefits to human health. Moreover, unlike the rice that most people eat every day (which is "stalk rice", also known as "Penglai rice"), purple rice is a glutinous rice and black rice is a long-grained rice. They each have their own unique features in terms of structure, taste, cooking techniques and health benefits.

Purple rice contains a lot of amylopectin and is a high GI food. Be careful not to eat too much as it can cause your blood sugar to rise rapidly.

It should be noted that modern people pay attention to health preservation and like to mix white rice with purple rice to cook them together. But in fact, purple rice has a higher content of amylopectin and is a high-GI food. Eating too much can easily lead to a rapid rise in blood sugar. Moreover, purple rice is very sticky, and eating too much is difficult to digest and may even cause gastrointestinal discomfort. If you want to supplement anthocyanins from rice, it would be better to mix low-GI black rice with white rice, which is more in line with your health goals.

However, black rice and purple rice look similar, making it difficult for ordinary people to distinguish them. Nutritionist Zhou Ning recommends that you read the "product name label" on the product packaging carefully. "Black glutinous brown rice" is purple rice, and "black indica brown rice" is black rice.

【Health Tips】:

Although anthocyanins are currently very popular nutrients, due to their small molecular weight, they are easily absorbed by the human body. They help to remove free radicals in the body, prevent the accumulation of lipid peroxides in the body, and thus prevent various diseases. However, nutritionist Zhou Ning reminds us that the human body has an upper limit to its absorption of anthocyanins. When the body's absorption of anthocyanins reaches saturation, the remaining anthocyanins will be excreted from the body with the feces. Therefore, eating more is useless and a moderate amount is enough. In addition, if anthocyanins are supplemented through black rice or purple rice, people with poor kidney function should carefully control the amount to avoid excessive phosphorus affecting kidney health.