Written by | Song grammar
Obesity, both a feature and a disease, obesity is one of the ten major chronic diseases determined by the World Health Organization, obese people are more susceptible to metabolic diseases, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, chronic kidney diseases, etc., and even a variety of important risk factors for cancer.
In China, more than 300 million people are overweight and obese. Although China is not the country with the highest proportion of obese people, due to its large population base, China has become the country with the largest obese population in the world in recent years.
As we all know, unreasonable diet structure is an important factor affecting obesity, rice and pasta are the two most common staple foods in the mainland, and rice noodle preference is affected by many factors, there are obvious regional differences, such as some northwesterners like to eat noodles, and Jiangnan area is dominated by rice.
So, eating rice and eating noodles, which is more likely to be fat?
Recently, researchers from Xi'an Jiaotong University published a research paper entitled "Staple Food Preference and Obesity Phenotypes: The Regional Ethnic Cohort Study in Northwest China" in the internationally renowned journal "Nutrition" in the field of nutrition.
The study analyzed more than 100,000 Chinese showing that rice is thin, fat people, and rice, eating pasta as a staple food is more likely to be fat. Men who ate predominantly pasta had a 25.7% and 11.4% increased risk of obesity and abdominal obesity, respectively, and women had a 10.2% increased risk of abdominal obesity compared to those who ate predominantly rice.
In the study, the researchers analyzed 105,840 residents aged 35-74 in five northwestern provinces of Shaanxi, Gansu, Qinghai, Ningxia and Xinjiang, and analyzed the relationship between rice and flour staple food preferences and obesity by collecting data on participants' staple food preferences, height, weight, waist circumference, body fat rate, etc.
For staple food preferences, rice is eaten every day or 4-6 times a week, but pasta is eaten less than 4-6 times a week, defined as a rice staple food lover. On the contrary, eating pasta 4-6 times a day or week, and rice less than 4-6 times a week, is a pasta lover.
Overall, 7.84% of men and 8.28% of women ate rice as the staple food, 48.71% of men and 49.91% of women had high body fat, while 41.20% of men and 63.74% of women had central obesity.
The study found that higher pasta intake was associated with a higher risk of obesity and abdominal obesity in men, as well as abdominal obesity in women.
Specifically, compared with men who ate less pasta, people who ate pasta every day had a 57.5% and 24.1% increased risk of obesity and abdominal obesity, respectively. For women, the risk of abdominal obesity increased by 12.9%.
Higher intake of pasta and obesity risk
Compared with those who ate mainly pasta, men who ate mainly rice had a 25.7% and 11.4% lower risk of obesity and abdominal obesity, respectively, and women had a 10.2% lower risk of abdominal obesity.
Mainly rice, the risk of obesity is reduced
Not only that, but in the group with a normal BMI, the correlation of this result was stronger. People who eat pasta every day have a 2.2-fold increased risk of obesity and women have a 1.26-fold increased risk of abdominal obesity compared to men who eat less pasta.
Compared with those who ate mainly pasta, the risk of obesity and abdominal obesity was reduced by 42.9% and 22.2% in men and 14.9% and 23.1%, respectively, in women.
By replacing pasta with rice, the risk of obesity is reduced
Importantly, the study also showed that replacing pasta intake with the same rice was associated with a 19.4% lower risk of obesity in men and an 8.2% lower risk of abdominal obesity in women. In the group with normal BMI, replacing pasta with rice was associated with a 36.5% reduction in the risk of obesity in men and 15.7% and 20.5% in women and abdominal obesity.
In summary, studies have shown that higher pasta intake is associated with a higher risk of obesity and abdominal obesity in men, as well as abdominal obesity in women, even if BMI is normal. Replacing pasta with rice was significantly associated with a reduction in obesity in men and abdominal obesity in women.
Paper Link: