The researchers from Hyderabad-based Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB) have announced a new Improved Samba Masuri (ISM) rice variety with low Glycemic Index (GI).

• National Institute of Nutrition (NIN), a constituent of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), has done extensive human trials on the new variety and had come to the conclusion that ISM has low GI of 50.99 which is among the lowest value for several rice varieties tested and usually in the range of 53 to 69.
• GI value of a food is determined by feeding 10 or more healthy people a portion of the food containing 50 grams of digestible (available) carbohydrate and then measuring the effect on their blood glucose levels over the next two hours.
• Consumption of food with low GI results in slow release of glucose into the bloodstream reducing the ill-effects of diabetes.
• ISM also has desirable attributes like better yield and fine grain type enhancing market potential and profit for farmers, they told a press conference.
• The traditional Samba Masuri rice is commonly called Sona Masuri and Kurnool Masuri and has very low resistance to BB, a pest disease for which there is no chemical solution yet.

Source:TH