Shreya Mandal, Kangkan Pandit, Debarati Mondal, Veda Krishnan & Archana Singh

White rice obsessed people often have an emotional attachment with numerous avatars of bhat, or rice. It is more than a basic that serves as a suitable canvas for the traditional regional side dishes. It’s distinctive taste, flavour, texture and white colour also feeds the spirit.

When white rice is consumed as a staple food, it makes up the majority of the diet's glycemic load. Glycemic load is a practical measure that counts gram of carbohydrate in a served food contributing to glucose level in the bloodstream. Excess consumption becomes harmful to health because white rice has a higher Glycemic Index (GI), that is a ratio between how quickly a carbohydrate can increase blood glucose level immediately after meal as compared to that of a reference (generally glucose).

Over times, these adverse factors led to an increased incidence of metabolic disorder such as type II diabetes, unusual weight gain, high blood pressure, etc. When our body does not use insulin properly, it leads to abnormal blood sugar levels. This chronic medical condition is called type II diabetes. During the devastating pandemic, we saw adults with these health conditions as comorbidities were more prone and ~53.7% succumbed to the COVID-19 virus (The Lancet, 2021). 

This experience had an immense impact on my decision to pursue a PhD project on the aforementioned nutritional aspect. I was looking for a nutritious dish for those who cannot completely give up…read more on NOPR