Cooling cooked white rice, resistant starch and blood sugar
What it found
Cooling cooked white rice raised its resistant starch, and rice cooled for 24 hours at 4°C then reheated lowered the blood sugar response in 15 healthy adults compared with freshly cooked rice.
What they found
Studies in people
Blood sugar response
In the 15 healthy adults, the rice cooled for 24 hours at 4°C then reheated produced a lower blood sugar response than freshly cooked rice, about 125 compared with about 152 mmol.min/L.
Other findings
Resistant starch levels
Resistant starch was 0.64 g/100 g in freshly cooked rice, 1.30 g/100 g in rice cooled 10 hours at room temperature, and 1.65 g/100 g in rice cooled 24 hours at 4°C then reheated.
What the authors conclude
“In conclusion, cooling of cooked white rice increased resistant starch content.”
Also in their conclusions
- They conclude that cooling cooked white rice increases resistant starch content.
- They conclude that cooked white rice cooled for 24 hours at 4°C then reheated lowered glycemic response compared with freshly cooked white rice.
How it was done
Cooling cooked starch is known to cause starch retrogradation, which increases resistant starch content. The authors wanted to find out what cooling cooked white rice does to resistant starch and to the blood sugar response in healthy people.
They measured resistant starch in freshly cooked white rice, rice cooled for 10 hours at room temperature, and rice cooled for 24 hours at 4°C then reheated. The rice cooled for 24 hours then reheated had the most resistant starch, so they gave it and freshly cooked rice to 15 healthy adults in a randomised, single-blind crossover study.
What it can’t tell you
- We summarised it from the abstract only.
- The clinical part was small, with only 15 healthy adults, so the size of the effect in other people is uncertain.
- The study measured one meal in healthy adults and cannot show what happens over longer periods or in people with health conditions.
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 26 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error