"After your body converts carbohydrates into glucose, any leftover fuel gets converted into a polysaccharide carbohydrate called glycogen," added Dr James.
"Your liver and muscles store glycogen for energy and quickly turn it back into glucose as needed. The issue is that the excess glucose that doesn't get converted to glycogen ends up turning into fat, which can lead to excessive weight or obesity."
The team experimented with 38 kinds of rice from Sri Lanka, developing a new way of cooking rice that increased the RS content.
In this method, they added a teaspoon of coconut oil to boiling water. Then, they added a half a cup of rice. They simmered this for 40 minutes, but one could boil it for 20-25 minutes instead, the researchers note.
Then, they refrigerated it for 12 hours. This procedure increased the indigestible starch by 10 times for traditional, non-fortified rice.
It works because the coconut oil enters the starch granules during cooking, essentially changing their architecture so that they are no longer affected by digestive enzymes. SO fewer calories are absorbed into the body.
"The cooling is essential because amylose, the soluble part of the starch, leaves the granules during gelatinization," added Dr James.
"Cooling for 12 hours will lead to formation of hydrogen bonds between the amylose molecules outside the rice grains which also turns it into a resistant starch."
He says that the next step will be to complete studies with human subjects to learn which varieties of rice might be best suited to the calorie-reduction process.
The team also will check out whether other oils besides coconut have the same effect.
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