SPH publication contradicts SPH publication: White rice is not worse than soft drinks

Step aside Civil War. Here is Interpublication War.

Men’s Health Singapore, a Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) magazine that still exists on printed paper whose readers are men who lift metal plates into the air and putting them down again, has come out to not-very-subtly rebut the recent alarmist news propagated by The Straits Times that a bowl of white rice is worse than a can of sugary soft drink.

The furore, in a nutshell, is that The Straits Times — which is another SPH publication — carried the Ministry of Health’s recent war on diabetes campaign too far in a bid to alter public perception by laying the seeds of doubt and fear for the humble grain to make Singaporeans eat less of it.

This current strategy to cut rice consumption among Singaporeans can be traced to the Health Promotion Board (HPB) chief executive Zee Yoong Kang.

In his interview with The Straits Times, Zee said that Asians are more predisposed to diabetes than Caucasians, with starchy white rice one of the main culprits.

Zee was not urging Singaporeans to boycott rice, but hoped more could turn to healthier options like brown rice and whole grain options.

Men’s Health rebuttal

The magazine’s rebuttal is perhaps a natural turn of events as Men’s Health, traditionally known to propagate advice on how to make your muscles bulge and lasting longer in bed, can afford to be more critical in their evaluation of health and virility tips and news, since it is a publication supposedly at the forefront of all things health and physical.

The Men’s Health rebuttal piece, written by the magazine’s editor, Kelvin Tan, agreed with some arguments for eating less rice, while revealing his personal discomfort at running the original sanctioned ST hit piece on white rice in the health magazine, reason being, it didn’t make sense:

Initially, the argument Mr Zee presented made sense, with stats showing that each plate of white rice eaten in a day raises the rate of diabetes by 11 per cent in the overall population, and one that Men’s Health was comfortable running with.

But then, in the past couple of days, it became apparent that some of the pitch HPB is making to you to cut your white rice consumption just doesn’t make sense. Here’s why.

The questionable evidence HPB used?

A meta-analysis of four major studies, involving more than 350,000 people followed for four to 20 years, by the Harvard School of Public Health, showed Asians had four servings a day of cooked rice, while Americans and Australians ate just five a week.

Since obesity and sugary drinks are major causes of diabetes in the West and if Americans and Australians are facing a diabetes epidemic, what more Asians who eat more white rice?

As a rebuttal and a request not to take leave of one’s senses, Men’s Health then went on to quote a dietician, who said the Thais ate more rice than Singaporeans but diabetes prevalance was just 8 percent:

We spoke on this to Aptima Nutrition’s and Sports Consultants’ dietician Jaclyn Reutens, who said: “It’s a silly comparison. Why compare numbers against countries that have diabetes and obesity issues? In fact, HPB should look at comparing against countries like Thailand, who according to the International Diabetes Federation, have only 8% prevalence of diabetes in adults aged 20-79 years old. Those countries are even more rice-consuming than us- and if they’re not having huge problems with diabetes, maybe rice isn’t the real issue?”

Fight, fight, fight, fight.

 

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- Belmont Lay