The report on May 6 ("Diabetes: The rice you eat is worse than sugary drinks") suggests that we can combat diabetes by switching from white rice to brown rice.

But where can we find brown rice when eating out?

In my experience, the two best places for brown rice are eateries with thunder tea rice (lei cha) and vegetarian restaurants and food stalls.

Not all vegetarian eateries offer brown rice, but those that do often also offer healthier vegetarian food, such as more vegetables and less deep fried food.

In addition to often providing brown rice, vegetarian eateries can help us lower our diabetes risk (or even help reverse diabetes) because meat reduction combats diabetes.

For instance, a 2010 research review in the peer reviewed journal Current Diabetes Reports found that people on vegetarian diets and especially those on vegan diets experienced "significant benefits for diabetes prevention and management".

George Jacobs (Dr)

President

Vegetarian Society (Singapore)