# Rice - not always nice



## tummyrumbles

Rice is often a problem food for IBS and there could be several reasons for this. IBS sufferers might think that they tolerate rice because it doesn't cause gas. For many of us though, rice causes a lot of gas once its resistant starch arrives in the colon to be fermented by bacteria. Because this is quite a few hours later and after other foods have been eaten, it's hard to identify rice as the culprit.

Rice contains 2 starches - amylopectin and amylose. Amylopectin is more easily digested than amylose, which escapes digestion and is broken down by starch degrading enzymes in the colon. There is a wide variation of amylose levels in rice: long grain rice contains 19 - 23 percent amylose, medium & short grain 12 - 19, glutinous rice, 1 percent).

http://ww.usarice.com/doclib/124/3373.pdf

Sticky rice (glutinous rice) might be more easily digested but it is high GI, as are many low fermentation foods.

Rice is a well-known antidiarhheal with antisecretory and antimotility properties. Studies have suggested a possibility that rice can reduce prostaglandin-induced diarrhea and smooth muscle excitability. The downside of antidiarrheals is the potential for constipation.

Antinutritional factors inhibit digestion and the antinutrients in rice include phytates, trypsin inhibitors and lectins. Phytates bind to minerals, lectins bind with carbohydrate receptor sites in the intestinal wall and interfere with absorption of nutrients while tyrpsin inhibitors inhibit tyrpsin enzymes.

Cross-allergenicity may exist between wheat, rice, corn and millet.

http://www.fao.org/docrep/t0567e/t0567e0g.htm

Rice contains arsenic, and brown rice contains more arsenic than white. (In Australia, arsenic levels in rice are regulated by the Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ), which permits a maximum of 1 milligram per kilogram.)

http://www.fda.gov/food/foodborneillnesscontaminants/metals/ucm319870.htm

Rice is also prone to Bacillus Cereus poisoning (Fried Rice Syndrome)

http://www.foodstandards.gov.au/publications/Documents/Bacillus%20cereus.pdf


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## annie7

thanks, Tummyrumbles. i followed your advice and stopped eating rice crispies quite a while ago....


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