Bapatla PHTC scientists invent GI-reducing smart rice cooker

Bapatla: The scientists at the Post Harvest Technology Centre (PHTC) in Bapatla have designed a rice cooker that reduces the Glycemic Index (GI) while cooking, thus helping diabetic, obese, and health-conscious people without the need to drastically alter their dietary habits.

Rice, a staple in India, contains about 75 to 80 per cent starch and has a high Glycemic Index, ranging from 70 to 87, prompting doctors to recommend wheat (which has a GI ranging from 50 to 62) instead for diabetics. For diabetics, who either don’t produce enough insulin or have insulin resistance, these spikes can be dangerous, potentially leading to hyperglycemia and long-term complications.

However, rice is typically consumed with accompaniments like curries and ghee, which alters its GI, though the recommended 1:1 rice-to-curry ratio is rarely followed. Rice starch consists of amylose and amylopectin, with amylose affecting cooking quality. The starch is categorised as Rapidly Digestible Starch (RDS), which is about 55 to 65 percent in rice and digested within 20 to 30 minutes, and Slowly Digestible Starch (SDS), which is about 20 to 25 percent in rice and digested within 30 to 120 minutes. The Resistant Starch (RS), which is undigested in the small intestine, acts as dietary fiber. High GI foods like white rice cause rapid blood sugar spikes, requiring more insulin to process.

The scientists at the PHTC Bapatla have been researching the project, Conversion of RDS to SDS in Rice to lower GI in Rice, over the past seven years. Their research employed Heat Moisture Treatment (HMT) and annealing under various rice-to-water ratios and identified an optimised, narrow range of parameters for achieving the desired nutritional and structural modifications. Based on their findings, they fabricated a smart rice cooker, DiabLite.

The All India Coordinated Research Project (AICRP) on Post-Harvest Engineering and Technology (PHET) under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) and the Acharya NG Ranga Agricultural University received the patent number 405194 from Government of India, along with Dr Donepudi Sandeep Raja, Dr Vangapandu Vasudeva Rao, and Dr Bitra Venkata Sambasiva Prasad, the scientists who invented the DiabLite.

Sandeep Raja explained that Amylose content significantly influences cooking quality and retrogradation behaviour. He said that they used state-of-the-art components and technologies, including the Internet of Things, in designing the first of its kind smart rice cooker, DiabLite. He said that cooking in the DiabLite involves heating and cooling technologies to remove excess starch, transform about 45 per cent of RDS to SDS, increase RS by 121 percent, and thus decrease the GI by 22 per cent.

He said that the rice cooked in the DiabLite Smart Rice Cooker digests slowly, thus reducing the daily intake of the food. The increased RS helps in detoxification, regulation of blood sugar and blood pressure, supports digestive, colon, and heart health, supports gut microbiome and weight management, he added.

The scientists at the PHTC Bapatla are in further research to reduce the size of the cooker, so that it may be manufactured on a large scale to be used in the kitchens in every household. They are hopeful that their research serves the purpose and helps in reducing diabetes and obesity in the country, very soon.