Cooling cooked white rice, resistant starch and blood sugar response
What it found
Cooling cooked white rice for 24 hours in the fridge raised its resistant starch and lowered blood sugar response in 15 healthy adults.
The effect was seen after the cooled rice was reheated.
What they found
Studies in people
Blood sugar response
In 15 healthy adults, eating the rice that was chilled for 24 hours and reheated led to a lower blood sugar response than eating freshly cooked rice. The average response was 125 mmol.min/L for the chilled rice compared with 152 mmol.min/L for the fresh rice.
Other findings
Resistant starch levels
Freshly cooked rice had 0.64 g of resistant starch per 100 g. Rice cooled at room temperature for 10 hours had 1.30 g per 100 g. Rice cooled at 4°C for 24 hours then reheated had 1.65 g per 100 g.
What the authors conclude
- They conclude that cooling cooked white rice increases its resistant starch content.
- The authors found that chilling cooked white rice at 4°C for 24 hours and then reheating it lowers the blood sugar response compared with eating it freshly cooked.
How it was done
When cooked starch cools down, some of it changes form and becomes resistant starch. The authors wanted to see if cooling cooked white rice changed its resistant starch amount and how that affected blood sugar in people.
They measured resistant starch in freshly cooked white rice, rice cooled at room temperature for 10 hours, and rice cooled in a fridge at 4°C for 24 hours then reheated. They then fed the freshly cooked rice and the chilled-then-reheated rice to 15 healthy adults in a randomised crossover trial to measure blood sugar responses.
What it can’t tell you
- We summarised it from the abstract only.
- This trial involved only 15 healthy adults, so the results might not apply to larger or different groups of people.
- The study tested white rice specifically, so these findings may not match other starchy foods.
Who paid
- Authors work at
- Universitas Indonesia, Indonesia. Email:; Universitas Indonesia, Indonesia
The paper
- Title
- Effect of cooling of cooked white rice on resistant starch content and glycemic response
- Type
- Randomised controlled trial
- Evidence
- Studies in people
- Summarised from
- Abstract only
- Cite
- Sonia S, Witjaksono F, Ridwan R (2015). Effect of cooling of cooked white rice on resistant starch content and glycemic response. Asia Pacific journal of clinical nutrition. doi:10.6133/apjcn.2015.24.4.13PubMed 26693746DOI
Summary written 1 Oct 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error