White rice can be part of a healthy diet, but it's not the out there. That's why a hack meant to reduce the calories and carbs in white rice is getting widely shared on . All you have to do is cook rice, cool it in the fridge or freezer, and reheat it.
But does this rice hack really work or is it all hype? The experts TODAY.com spoke with say it actually does. There's a few scientific elements at play behind this rice hack — namely that rice is made up mostly of starch, and cooking the rice changes the starch at the molecular level, as does cooling it down once it's cooked.
The cooling process makes the starch in the rice harder to digest, so the body takes in fewer calories and carbs when eating the rice that's been cooked and then cooled. But don't worry, you don't have to eat the rice cold to reap these benefits (though cooling it and heating it again does change its texture). Read on to learn what experts say about how this rice hack works, the health benefits, risks and more.
Numerous accounts on TikTok and Instagram have posted about this rice hack, which is surprisingly easy to try: The idea is that the cooling process increases the amount of a gut-healthy carbohydrate called resistant starch, which the body cannot digest. As a result, eating this rice with more resistant starch means consuming fewer calories and carbs, and less of a blood sugar spike. Some influencers even claim the hack can slash calorie absorption from white rice in half, though the research doesn.