A dieter's dream: new way to cook rice slashes calories

Imagine eating that same bowl of warm, fluffy rice you had for lunch, but only absorbing half of its calories. It may sound like a dieter’s dream, but scientists are close to making it reality, simply by changing the way rice is cooked.

First, add a teaspoon of coconut oil to boiling water. Then, add half a cup of rice. Simmer for 40 minutes. Finally, refrigerate the cooked rice for 12 hours. Reheat and dig in.

This method, developed by scientists at the Institute of Chemistry’s College of Chemical Sciences in Sri Lanka, decreased the 240 calories in a cup of rice – they used a Sri Lankan variety known as Bg 305 – by 10 to 15 per cent.

If the best rice variety, such as Suduru Samba – a short-grain rice grown in Sri Lanka and parts of India – is used, the method could reduce calories by 50 to 60 per cent compared to a cup cooked in the normal way, lead scientist Sudhair A. James told the South China Morning Post.

James explained that starch can be digestible or indigestible. Rice is loaded with both types, though some varieties naturally contain more indigestible – or what the scientists call “rice resistant” – starch, which contributes extremely few calories compared to digestible starch.

“Because obesity is a growing health problem, especially in many developing countries, we wanted to find food-based solutions,” said James. “We discovered that increasing rice-resistant starch concentrations was a novel way to approach the problem.”