Dr. Robert K. Yu, of the Medical College of Georgia, said that germinated brown rice's ability to help diabetics lower their blood sugar has been shown, but how it works remained unknown.

The study, published online in the Journal of Lipid Research, showed the growth factor acylated steryl glucosides, or ASG, helps normalize blood sugar and enzymes that are out-of-whack in diabetes and significantly reduces the nerve and vascular damage that often result from diabetes.

"You have to let it grow, germinate a little bit," Yu said in a statement. "Some of the active ingredients generated as a result of the germination process are beneficial to you."

Unlike white rice, brown rice still has some of the germ or growth structure that, after about 24 hours in water, resumes activity, Yu said.

"When blood sugar levels increase, the metabolic balance changes," first author Dr. Seigo Usuki said in a statement. "Part of the way we know this growth factor works is by increasing levels of good enzymes that are decreased in diabetes."