By Freddie Lazaro Senator Cynthia Villar has clarified that she does not have any plan to make a law to ban the serving of unlimited rice (unli rice) in restaurants and other food establishments but she is just reminding every Filipino that eating excess rice is one of the main causes of high blood sugar leading to diabetes. Villar, the chairperson of the Senate committee on agriculture and food, made her statement to the local media during her short visit to Vigan Convention Center as a guest of honor and speaker of the summit for the National Convergence Initiative for Sustainable Rural Development. “I am not planning to make a law banning ‘unli rice,’ not at all. I just voiced out my concern that eating too much rice is one of the main causes of high blood sugar that leads to diabetes. But, of course, I cannot prevent people from eating an unlimited amount of rice. It is their choice. It was just a genuine expression of concern on my part,” said Villar. She cited that in other countries, they promote a balanced diet consisting of a small portion of rice and a generous amount of vegetables. “In schools in Japan, the students even discuss the nutritional value of their meals for the day before they eat. They also harvest the vegetables they eat from the garden in their school. Of course, we want our children and children’s children to grow up healthy,” Villar added.. Villar has earlier urged the government departments such as the Department of Agriculture (DA), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), and the Department of Health (DoH) to align their programs in order to promote better nutrition and health among the young Filipinos. “I have recommended to the government departments and they are doing it in some areas already to incorporate vegetable gardening in schools in the feeding program, for instance. They can also source the ingredients locally, particularly the perishable produce, to help the small farmers and cooperatives,” said Villar. According to Villar, it would really be difficult to stop Filipinos from eating rice as the Philippines is a nation of rice eaters. But, to decrease health risks, cutting down on rice is still a good idea. Based on a study, eating one plate of white rice every day increases the risk of developing diabetes by 11 percent. Health experts also recommend adding 20 percent of brown rice to the daily white rice consumption; it could reduce the risk of diabetes by around 16 percent. Rice could cause an increase in the level of sugar in the blood, which makes pancreas produce more insulin and could cause frequent spikes in blood sugar level leading to diabetes. When not managed, diabetes may cause organ malfunction leading to death.