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REFILE-ASIA RICE-THAI RATES
HIT 4-MONTH LOW, VIETNAM JUMPS AS HEAVY RAINS PERSIST
7/9/2020
(Corrects spelling error in the
first bullet)
* Thai rice loses out to Indian,
Vietnamese varieties
* Persistent rain in Mekong Delta
hampers harvest- trader
* India rates edge up as rupee
hovers near 3-month high
* Bangladesh likely to cut taxes on
rice imports- food minister
By Nakul Iyer
BENGALURU, July 9 (Reuters) - Rice
export prices in Thailand dropped to their lowest level in four months this
week, amid weakness in the domestic currency and sluggish demand, while
Vietnamese rates rose after incessant rains sparked concerns about harvest in
the country.
Thailand's benchmark 5% broken rice
<RI-THBKN5-P1> prices were quoted at $455-$485 on Thursday, their lowest
since early-March and below last week's $514-$520.
"Demand has been flat in (the)
recent weeks and this has driven prices down," a Bangkok-based rice trader
said.
Exports prices also fell, despite
the Thai baht weakening to a near one-month low against the U.S. dollar this
week, as the Thai variety was still expensive compared to competitors like
Vietnam and India following a severe drought earlier in the year.
Heavy rains-led supply woes pushed
rates for Vietnam's 5% broken rice <RI-VNBKN5-P1> to a three-week high of
around $425-$457 per tonne from $415-$450 a week earlier.
"Persistent rain in the Mekong
Delta continues to hamper the summer-autumn harvest, affecting rice
supplies," a trader based in Ho Chi Minh City said.
In India, rates for 5% broken
parboiled variety <RI-INBKN5-P1> were quoted at $377-$382 per tonne this
week, up from the last week's $373-$378 per tonne.
Buyers in Africa are increasing
purchases to ensure they have ample supplies amid rising cases of the novel
coronavirus in the continent, said an exporter based at Kakinada in the
southern state of Andhra Pradesh. Also helping prices, the Indian Rupee traded
close to a more than three-month high against the U.S. dollar.
Rice production in the top exporter
is likely to surge to a record high due to good monsoon rains, and as the
government raised the price at which it will buy the new-season crop.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh is likely to
cut taxes on rice imports in an effort to rein in soaring domestic prices, the
country's food minister Sadhan Chandra Majumdar said. (Reporting by Rajendra
Jadhav in Mumbai, Ruma Paul in Dhaka, Khanh Vu in Hanoi and Panu Wongcha-um in
Bangkok; additional reporting by Swati Verma; editing by Uttaresh.V)
Asia Rice-Thai rates hit 4-month
low, Vietnam jumps as heavy rains persist
Author of the article:
Reuters
Nakul Iyer
Publishing date:
Jul 10, 2020 • Last Updated 8 hours ago • 1 minute read
Article
content
BENGALURU — Rice export prices in Thailand dropped to their lowest
level in four months this week, amid weakness in the domestic currency and
sluggish demand, while Vietnamese rates rose after incessant rains sparked
concerns about harvest in the country.
Thailand’s benchmark 5% broken rice prices were quoted at
$455-$485 on Thursday, their lowest since early-March and below last week’s
$514-$520.
“Demand has been flat in (the) recent weeks and this has
driven prices down,” a Bangkok-based rice trader said.
Exports prices also fell, despite the Thai baht weakening to a
near one-month low against the U.S. dollar this week, as the Thai variety was
still expensive compared to competitors like Vietnam and India following a
severe drought earlier in the year.
Heavy rains-led supply woes pushed rates for Vietnam’s 5% broken
rice to a three-week high of around $425-$457 per tonne from $415-$450 a week
earlier.
Article
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Article
content continued
“Persistent rain in the Mekong Delta continues to hamper the
summer-autumn harvest, affecting rice supplies,” a trader based in Ho Chi Minh
City said.
In India, rates for 5% broken parboiled variety were quoted at
$377-$382 per tonne this week, up from the last week’s $373-$378 per tonne.
Buyers in Africa are increasing purchases to ensure they have
ample supplies amid rising cases of the novel coronavirus in the continent,
said an exporter based at Kakinada in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh.
Also helping prices, the Indian Rupee traded close to a more than three-month
high against the U.S. dollar.
Rice production in the top exporter is likely to surge to a record
high due to good monsoon rains, and as the government raised the price at which
it will buy the new-season crop.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh is likely to cut taxes on rice imports in an
effort to rein in soaring domestic prices, the country’s food minister Sadhan
Chandra Majumdar said. (Reporting by Rajendra Jadhav in Mumbai, Ruma Paul in
Dhaka, Khanh Vu in Hanoi and Panu Wongcha-um in Bangkok; additional reporting
by Swati Verma; editing by Uttaresh.V)
File
photo: Workers unload tons of rice to be distributed to Quezon City barangays
affected by the COVID-19 lockdown. (NONOY LACZA)
VARIOUS rice and agriculture industry groups have urged the
Department of Agriculture (DA) to be “more transparent” on the real score of
the country’s current rice supply situation as data provided by the department
indicated apparent discrepancies.
Federation of Free Farmers National Manager Raul Q. Montemayor
said the DA’s recent pronouncement that the country’s current rice inventory of
2.7 million metric tons (MMT), equivalent to 82 days of consumption, is somehow
misleading.
Montemayor explained that the 2.7 MMT stock level is sufficient
only to last for about 76 days at a 35,369.57 MT daily nationwide consumption
rate—this, based on a per-capita consumption of 118.81 kilograms and a
population of 108.66 million, which the DA uses in its projections.
Furthermore, Montemayor said their estimates show that supply
stocks at the start of July 1 may be at 2.4 MMT, which is a tight volume to
consider since it is only good for 68 days of consumption.
Montemayor explained how they arrived at the 2.4 MMT volume: with
an 8.2 MMT estimated palay production in the first semester, combined with the
2.675 MMT beginning inventory and 1.5 MMT rice imports to date, less the
estimated total utilization of 7.13 MMT.
Montemayor questioned the DA for seemingly changing, from time
to time, the per-capita consumption they use in their supply projections
and current supply stock estimate.
“We urge the DA to be more transparent in how they arrive at
their inventory estimates. For example, they should divulge their estimates of
local palay production and the per-capita rice consumption figure that they
use,” he told the BusinessMirror.
“They should also explain why their stock estimates keep on
changing every time they make an announcement,” he added.
Asked by the BusinessMirror, the DA said the bulk of the 2.7 MMT
current rice supply is held by households and commercial warehouses, without
divulging exact figures of each segment.
The BusinessMirror also sought comments from the National Food
Authority (NFA) on their current buffer stock level but they did not respond as
of press time.
Rice Watch and Action Network Executive Director Hazel
Tanchuling said the government needs to divulge the real volume of rice being
held by the NFA in light of Pagasa’s forecast that at about 10 to 17 tropical
cyclones will enter the country this year.
NFA stocks are now solely used for buffer stocking during
calamities following the implementation of the rice trade liberalization law
last year.
“It is very hard to rely on the goodness of the hearts of
traders to offer cheap rice in a disaster situation. It should be NFA. And
because we do not know their stock level and with the foiled importation by the
Philippine International Trading Corp., it is possible that the government has
less than the mandated 30-day stock level,” Tanchuling told the BusinessMirror.
Discrepancies
BASED on the data obtained by the BusinessMirror, the DA
projects total rice supply demand this year at 14.536 MMT, about 12.91 MMT of
which are for food consumption.
The DA arrived with the 12.91 MMT rice demand for food
consumption using a 108.66 million population multiplied by a 118.81 kilogram
per capita consumption based on Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) data.
The BusinessMirror learned that the 118.81 per kilogram per
capita figure used by the DA is based on the PSA’s supply and utilization
account (SUA) figures, a data set that some pundits have questioned to be
unreliable in estimating food demand.
The SUA uses the so-called disappearance method which treats
rice consumption as merely residual after computing rice stocks and removing
exports and waste, among others.
Nonetheless, using DA’s own figures, a BusinessMirror analysis
indicated that indeed, the 2.7 MMT current stock is only equivalent to 76 days and
not 82 days.
The 2.7 MMT would be equivalent to 82 days of consumption if the
daily consumption rate is lowered to 32,926.83 MT, which would mean a lower per
capita consumption of 110.6 kilograms, BusinessMirror analysis showed.
Based on official food consumption survey (FCS) data of the PSA,
the country’s rice per capita consumption as of 2015-2016 is nearly 110
kilograms.
In 2018, the BusinessMirror published a long-form article
explaining how the government uses two sets of data that can result in data
discrepancies that make rice demand and supply difficult to evaluate.
A mere 1-kilogram reduction in the estimated per capita rice
consumption of Filipinos is already equivalent to 108.66 million kilograms or
108,660 metric tons.
Government officials admitted to the BusinessMirror that they
indeed face discrepancies in using the FCS data and the SUA figures in
evaluating the country’s rice supply and harmonizing the two data sets is close
to, if not totally, impossible. (Read the BusinessMirror’s award-winning
BroaderLook special report: https://businessmirror.com.ph/2018/08/30/snapshot-of-rice-consumption-data-remains-grainy-as-pinoys-grapple-with-supply-prices/)
Philippine Chamber of Agriculture and Food Inc. (Pcafi)
President Danilo V. Fausto said the government should establish a sound data
system so it does not resort to “guesstimates” that may put the country’s
supply in jeopardy.
If the government supports a public-private fight against
smuggling, we can score a significant victory. But in the two instances that
the Alyansa Agrikultura engaged in this fight, the tide toward victory was
reversed because of government’s inaction.
Here is a case of rice smuggling where the private sector
catalyzed by the Federation of Free Farmers (FFF) is doing its part. Lower
levels of government have helped, but senior government officials have done the
opposite.
FFF national manager Raul Montemayor’s June 23 letter to
the Department of Finance (DOF) has calculated losses at P2.8 billion due to
rice smuggling alone. We itemize this in the table above right.
Much more disappointing is the government’s response to
this P2.8-billion loss. This issue was brought up in a Senate agriculture
committee hearing on Aug. 28, almost a year ago. Montemayor said: “A top BOC
(Bureau of Customs) official promised to look into our findings, but we have
not heard of any investigation into the matter.”
Montemayor continues, “Our evaluation of rice imports in
2020 indicates that most of the anomalies that we reported in 2019 have
continued unabated. Very little has been done to rectify deficiencies, check
undervaluation and misdeclaration, and retrieve the uncollected tariffs from
importers.”
Alyansa Agrikultura, an agri-fisheries coalition of 32
federations and organizations, helped reduce the smuggling rate by 25 percent
in 2006. A public-private Cabinet oversight committee was formed against
smuggling led by a Cabinet secretary, with four undersecretaries from the
Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), DOF and
Department of Justice (DOJ). They were supported by an industry (Federation of
Philippine Industries) and agriculture (Alyansa Agrikultura) representative.
Monthly meetings were held with the BOC. But after a congressman and a son of a
Cabinet secretary were identified as possible smugglers, the Cabinet committee
was hastily dissolved. With no more transparency and accountability, the
smuggling rate inevitably increased yearly.
Many years later, when the smuggling rate increased
beyond 30 percent, a lower level public-private committee against smuggling was
formed. Alyansa Agrikultura cochaired this with the DOF. The monthly meetings
with the BOC were participated in by the DOF, DTI, DA, DOJ and the private
sector.
The smuggling rates subsequently decreased as follow:
2014, 36 percent; 2015, 31 percent; and 2016, 19 percent. The drop to 19
percent may have been a result of Alyansa Agrikultura’s recommendation that the
meetings be held in the conference room of the BOC commissioner. Unfortunately,
a new commissioner refused to meet this committee. Alyansa Agrikultura then
took the initiative of having a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the BOC
signed so that the information flow could continue. Three days after BOC
Deputy Commissioner Arturo Lachica signed the MOA, he was killed. An Alyansa
Agrikultura representative was threatened three times. But since the government
terminated the MOA, the death threats were not carried out. With no more
transparency and accountability, the smuggling continues.
It is therefore high time we establish once again the
public-private committee against smuggling. Led by a Cabinet secretary like in
2006, it should have monthly meetings with the BOC until the smuggling is put
under control. Participating will be the same formula for success: DOF, DA,
DTI, DOJ and one private sector representative each from agriculture and
industry.
We may then not only get the missing P2.8 billion from
rice smuggling reported here, but the more than P50 billion in lost annual
government revenue from other products. Especially during this pandemic, we
should save the revenue and jobs lost because of rampant smuggling made
possible because of no transparency, no accountability and a sad lack of
government resolve.
The author is Agriwatch chair, former secretary of
Presidential Programs and Projects and former undersecretary of Agriculture and
Trade and Industry. Contact him via agriwatch_phil@yahoo.com
Scientists discover ‘smart maize’ able to defend
against stemborers
stemborers
Photo Metadata
Scientists
have discovered that certain ‘smart maize’ varieties have the ability to defend
themselves against stemborers by summoning natural enemies of the pest.
The
researchers have also determined the genetic markers in such plants that are
associated with this “call for help”, presenting strong possibilities for
developing maize varieties that are resistant to the pests.
These
findings of a study by the International Centre of Insect Physiology and
Ecology, Keele University, UK, and International Crops Research Institute for
the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT),have been published recently in Scientific
Reports (paper link: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-68075-2).
Stemborers
are devastating pests of cereal crops like maize, rice, sorghum, sugarcane and
pearl millet, in Africa.
The
pests are most damaging in their larval stage, when they are concealed inside
the stem making their control extremely difficult, with yields losses between
10 – 100%. They severely damage plant stems, particularly by destroying the
central leaves. At a later stage of growth, stemborers make extensive tunnels
inside the plant stems disrupting the flow of nutrients to the grain.
The
tunnelling also weakens the stem leading to breakage and collapse. Moreover,
the stemborers drill into maize cobs, ruin grains and increase vulnerability to
aflatoxins.
Genetically
superior
The
research by icipe and partners analysed the genetic makeup of
146 different types of maize plants, comprising farmer-selected varieties,
known as landraces, as well as plants from formal breeding programmes – inbred
lines and commercial hybrids.
“We
observed that when stemborers lay eggs on some maize cultivars, a defence
reaction is triggered in the plants, which then release odours that attract
wasps that are capable of parasitizing stemborers, or in other words natural
enemies of the pests,” explains Dr Amanuel Tamiru, Scientist, icipe.
He
adds: “An interesting finding is that the plants recruit both egg and larval
parasitic wasps.As such, the natural enemies parasitize and kill the stemborer
eggs before they hatch into larvae,as well as any larvae that may emerge, thus
pre-empting damage on the crop.”
The
scientists found the defence trait to be more common in land races than in
improved inbred lines and hybrids.
“The
fact that we were able to pinpoint the regions in the maize genomes associated
with this safeguarding response is important.It means that our findings could
be used by maize breeders to promote stemborer resistance in maize cultivars
preferred by farmers because of other desirable traits,” notes Prof. Toby
Bruce,Keele University.
”Moreover,the
knowledge is a valuable resource for future research on the interactions
between plants, pests and beneficial insects.”
This
breakthrough is in line with icipe’s vision of advancing
integrated pest management to improve cereal productivity in Africa, by
combining the most effective and sustainable options.
In
fact, the “smart maize” could be incorporated into the phenomenally successful
push-pulltechnology developed by icipe, Rothamsted Research, UK,
and partners from East Africa.
The
push-pull technology involves intercropping cereal crops with insect repellent
legumes in the Desmodiumgenus and planting an attractive forage
plant such as Napier or Brachiariagrasses as a border around this
intercrop. The intercrop emits a blend of compounds that repel (‘push’) away
stemborers, while the border plants emit semiochemicals that are attractive
(‘pull’) to the pests.
In
addition, Push-Pull also controls maize ear rots and mycotoxins, while
improving soil health and providing high quality fodder, since the companion
crops are superior forages.
Therefore,
the technology facilitates crop-livestock integration thus expanding farmers’
income streams.
Drought forces
Australia to import rice or risk empty shelves
Bloomberg | Updated on July
08, 2020 Published on July 08,
2020
SHARE
This season, like almost 90 per cent of Australian rice
growers, Rob Massina decided to skip planting the grain on his land near the
tiny town of Jerilderie, about four hours north of Melbourne.
For the president of the Australian Ricegrowers Association, low
water allocations and years of severe drought meant conditions were too dry to
sow the crop on his property at the southern end of the Murray-Darling Basin.
A lot of the towns in this part of the world have been built on
rice, said Massina. It’s a way of life for the southern Riverina and it has
currently got its challenges, he said, referring to the name of the local
region.
Australian rice planting and output have slumped more than 90
per cent since the 2017-18 season. Its national 2019-20 crop is expected to be
57,000 tonnes, the second-smallest output on record and the lowest since the
2007-08, according to a June report from government forecaster Abares.
Supply gap
Though Australia has always been reliant on imports for certain
varieties that can’t be grown locally, like Basmati,
its supermarkets may be entirely without local supplies by the end of 2020,
according to Rob Gordon, chief executive of SunRice, which buys about 98 per
cent of domestic output and supplies local and export markets. The company has
a global appetite for about 1.4 million tonnes a year, meaning Australian
production is meeting only a sliver of that demand.
We’re already supplementing from Thailand and Cambodia, Gordon
said, for fragrant and long grain rice. As we start running out of domestic
supply of our other varieties, we will start opening up supply chains from
elsewhere around the world. We are bringing in rice from Uruguay at the moment,
he said by phone.
Rice represents only a tiny fragment of Australia’s agriculture
industry, and the country is a small player in global trade. However, shrinking
supplies of locally grown rice were thrown into focus earlier this year when
Covid-19 panic buying saw shoppers strip grocery shelves of everything from
rice to flour and pasta.
The government has reassured residents that their food supply is
secure— the country of 25 million produces enough food for 75 million and
imports only 11 per cent of food and drink by value — but rice remains a gap in
domestic production.
That could create issues amid global food protectionism as
governments start trimming exports in order to shore up domestic supply, Gordon
said.
“I believe strongly in international trade but of course during
Covid, we saw in April the Vietnamese borders closed to rice exports and they
are about the third-largest exporter of rice in the world. We saw India not
shut its borders, but with a lockdown of its population they were unable to
export large volumes of rice, and they are the biggest exporter. And we saw
Cambodia and Myanmar follow Vietnam’s lead,” Gordon said. It just puts more
risk there.
Water Policies
Gordon and Massina cite government water allocation policies in
the Murray-Darling Basin as a key issue for the future security of production,
with rice often less profitable than other crops and therefore less likely to
be planted.
When water does become available, the first priority on his mixed-enterprise
farm has to be the livestock, said Massina. For other producers, almonds and
other horticultural products have taken priority over rice.
Government forecaster Abares said in June water allocations vary
from year to year based on seasonal conditions and farmers can choose how to
use them.
In May, Abares described Australian rice production as highly
variable and opportunistic, based on agricultural prices and water
availability, and said international trade is a good way to meet consumer preferences.
Current low production is not a cause for food security concern, as the world
has ample supplies and any protectionism is likely to be short-lived, it added.
Introducing domestic market interventions and failing to support
open trade would disadvantage consumers, and could prejudice Australia’s market
access negotiations for other agricultural products, Abares said.
With early rainfall, prospects are better for the next growing
season. Massina will later this year look at water availability and decide
whether to plant a rice crop. Overall, he said the future of the Australian
rice industry will depend on whether Australian consumers want Australian rice
on supermarket shelves.
We’re getting down to the bottom of the cupboard in terms of
Australian rice supplies, he said.
MP wants Geographical Indication tag for its high quality
basmati rice
Jul 06, 2020, 09:39PM ISTSource: ANI
Chief
Minister of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chouhan on July 06 requested for
Geographical Indication tag for high quality Basmati rice from Union Minister
of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare Narendra Singh Tomar. “We export high-quality
basmati rice to America and Canada. In today's meeting with Union Agriculture
Minister, I requested to provide our basmati rice, a Geographical Indication
tag, as we have been demanding it from a long time,” he said.
TOKYO, JAPAN -- Last week, Costco Japan began
marketing a precooked rice product using U.S. medium grain rice as a private
branded item. The new product is sold nationwide at all 26 Costco
Wholesale locations and is being highlighted in the company's consumer
magazine.
The product is produced in Japan from U.S.-grown
rice and sold in bulk in boxes - each carton contains 24 180-gram (one cup)
rice packages. The carton features information about Calrose rice,
letting consumers know the U.S. rice can be used to prepare various dishes such
as curry, risotto, and salad. The individual packages also have a QR code
printed on them with a link to the USA Rice Japan website recipe page.
"Due to the global pandemic, more people
are cooking and eating at home," said USA Rice Vice President
International Sarah Moran. "Rice has become a go-to food because of
its versatility and shelf stability, and products like this precooked rice make
meals convenient and affordable."
When the economy begins to reopen, USA Rice
plans a promotion of 5-kilogram packages of rice as well as the precooked
packages. Instore promotions of other brands of U.S. rice will be
promoted at other retail outlets.
USA Rice Daily
Krishi
Vigyan Kendra conducted one-day training on Sali paddy under APART
A one-day training on Sali paddy under Assam
Agri-Business and Rural Transformation Project (APART) was organized By :
Sentinel Digital Desk | 9 July 2020 9:51 AM 2 A Correspondent
TEZPUR: A one-day training on Sali paddy under Assam Agri-Business and Rural
Transformation Project (APART) was organized by Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Sonitpur in
collaboration with International Rice Research Institute (IRRI)at KVK campus.
The Head, KVK, Sonitpur, Dr. Pramod Chandra Deka, welcomed the farmers and
dignitaries on the occasion. Addressing the training programme, Dr. Deka
emphasized proper rice growing and management practices and also about safety
measures to be taken during the current pandemic situation. Vivek Kumar,
Specialist, IRRI, was present as a resource person who thoroughly discussed the
APART project, its aims and objectives. He elaborated about the modern rice
management practices right from nursery bed preparation to harvesting and
storage. He also spoke about improved flood and drought-tolerant rice
varieties, various modern machineries related to rice cultivation, proper
timings and doses of fertilizer applications, proper weed management practices
and harvesting techniques. A short interactive session was also held between
the IRRI Scientist, APART staff and Scientists of KVK, Sonitpur regarding
different aspects of agriculture. After this some of the farmers shared their
experience on farming. Around 30 farmers participated in the programme.
Adding
about a third of a cup of fruit or vegetables to your daily diet could cut your
risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 25%, while higher consumptions of whole
grains such as brown bread and oatmeal could cut the risk by 29%, according to
two new studies published Wednesday in the journal BMJ.
The studies add to the growing database of literature that shows a
healthier diet of whole grains, fruits and veggies — along with
regular physical activity, no smoking and maintaining a healthy weight — can
significantly impact your risk of developing the deadly disease.
Diabetes was the seventh leading cause of death in 2016, according to the World Health
Organization, and is a “major cause of blindness, kidney
failure, heart attacks, stroke and lower limb amputation.”
Some 463 million adults between the ages of 20 and 79 years were
living with diabetes in 2019, according to the International
Diabetes Federation. That number is expected to rise to 700 million
by 2045.
Objective look at fruits and veggies
Most studies use questionnaires to quiz study participants about
what they ate and when, which leaves most nutritional studies subject to the
vagaries of human recall.
But a group of European researchers used an objective measurement
— a composite score of blood biomarkers of vitamin C and carotenoids (the
richly colored pigments of yellow, red and green on fruits and vegetables) — to
measure the amount of fruits and veggies eaten.
The study compared nearly 10,000 adults with new-onset type 2
diabetes to a group of nearly 14,000 adults who remained free of diabetes. All
were participating in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and
Nutrition (EPIC)-InterAct study that took place in eight European countries.
There was a 25% lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes for every
66 extra grams of fruit and vegetables eaten each day, the study found.
That’s not much — just over 1/3 cup of either fruits or veggies.
“The public health implication of this observation is that the
consumption of even a moderately increased amount of fruit and vegetables among
populations who typically consume low levels could help to prevent type 2
diabetes,” the study said.
“It should be noted that these findings and other available
evidence suggest that fruit and vegetable intake, rather than vitamin
supplements, is potentially beneficial for the prevention of type 2 diabetes.”
Whole grains good, except popcorn
The second
study used questionnaires to measure the whole grain intake of
more than 158,000 women and nearly 37,000 men taking part in the Nurses’ Health
Study, Nurses’ Health Study II, and Health Professionals Follow-Up Study. All
three studies have been following the health of Americans free from diabetes,
heart disease and cancer over long periods of time.
Foods and ingredients considered whole grains were: whole wheat
and whole wheat flour, whole oats and whole oat flour, whole cornmeal and whole
corn flour, whole rye and whole rye flour, whole barley, bulgur, buckwheat,
brown rice and brown rice flour, popcorn, amaranth and psyllium.
Results showed that eating two or more servings a week of oatmeal
was associated with a 21% lower risk of diabetes, a 15% lower risk for added
bran and a 12% lower risk for brown rice and wheat germ, when compared to
eating less than one serving a month.
There was a 19% lower risk of diabetes with eating one or more
servings a day of whole grain cold breakfast cereal and a 21% lower risk for
the same amount of dark bread, again compared to eating less than one serving a
month.
These statistics held true even after adjusting for body mass
index and other lifestyle and dietary risk factors for diabetes, the study
said.
On average, people who ate the most whole grains — around four to
six servings a week — had a 29% lower rate of type 2 diabetes than those who
ate none or less than one serving a month.
On a daily basis, reductions in risk plateaued at about two
servings a day for total whole grain intake, and a half a serving a day for
whole grain cold breakfast cereal and dark bread.
One grain, however, had a negative effect: popcorn. The study
found an increased rate of type 2 diabetes with eating one or more servings of
popcorn a day. The effect occurred only when a full serving of 1 cup or more
was eaten.
While popcorn, as a whole grain, has relatively high amounts of
fiber and fills us up, the researchers pointed out that Americans often eat
their popcorn with lots of salt and butter, and sometimes sugar or cheese,
which can lessen its healthy properties. In addition, most Americans don’t pop
from a whole grain but purchase “ultraprocessed” versions that are microwaved,
home popped, or ready to eat.
"Rice is a beautiful food. It is beautiful when it grows, precision rows of sparkling green stalks shooting up to reach the hot summer sun. It is beautiful when harvested, autumn gold sheaves piled on diked, patchwork paddies. It is beautiful when, once threshed, it enters granary bins like a flood of tiny seed-pearls. It is beautiful when cooked by a practiced hand, pure white and sweetly fragrant." - Shizuo Tsuji
