Rice consumed as white cooked polished grain has been considered a high glycemic index (GI) food, particularly compared with other starchy foods. However, the levels of rice GI based food can vary among different rice types and food processing technologies. Rice GI variation can be affected by several factors such as rice variety, the genetic background of rice as well as due to crop edaphoclimatic conditions. The main difference in rice starch composition that influence GI is the amylose content. Besides chemical composition of rice, the gelatinization characteristics and food processing can also contribute to starch retrogradation, thus increasing the level of resistant starch with a great influence on GI.

To understand the glycemic response of rice types differing in amylose and viscosity profiles, a group of four rice samples were analysed and compared with standard and resistant HI-MAIZE corn starches. An in vitro enzymatic starch hydrolysis procedure was applied to estimate GI.

The results indicate substantial differences in the starch hydrolysis of the two corn starches. Starch hydrolysis tended to be more rapid and efficient for ‘Waxy’ and ‘Ceres’ (intermediate-amylose rice) rice types than for ‘Maçarico’ (high-amylose rice). In addition, the data show that Maçarico variety has the lowest estimated GI and the highest retrogradation rate compared with ‘Waxy’, ‘Ceres’ and ‘Basmati’ type.