higher intake of white rice (5 servings per week vs <1 per month) was associated with a higher risk of type 2 diabetes: pooled relative risk (95% confidence interval [CI]), 1.17 (1.02-1.36). In contrast, high brown rice intake (2 servings per week vs <1 per month) was associated with a lower risk of type 2 diabetes

All this shows is that people who are health conscious are less likely to get diabetes. People who choose brown rice over white rice are also making other sensible healthy decisions daily like not using sugar/not eating HFCS, not drinking soda or soft drinks, they probably also consume whole fruit rather than drink fruit juices. Choosing brown rice is a MARKER for Healthy living rather than a magic preventative measure to avoid diabetes. Sure it maybe less harmful than white rice but it's more likely to be an indicator of someone who is trying to live more healthily.

i should also point out this is the NURSES HEALTH STUDY and the one thing we know about that is that food frequency questionnaires are a rubbish way of collecting accurate information. There are probably more junk science results coming from that study than most.

I'm not sure if you read the article, but you are comparing replacing white rice to brown rice only. There's three numbers here. Consuming only white, consuming only brown, then replacing white for brown. You only looked at the two out of three numbers, so I'll post it here

Eat brown rice = 10% reduction
Eat white Rice = 20% higher risk (Worse)
Replacing White for Brown = 16% reduction

"Now a new study from researchers at Harvard reports that Americans who eat two or more servings of brown rice a week reduce their risk of developing Type 2 diabetes by about 10 percent compared to people who eat it less than once a month. And those who eat white rice on a regular basis � five or more times a week � are almost 20 percent more likely to develop Type 2 diabetes than those who eat it less than once a month.
Just replacing a third of a serving of white rice with brown each day could reduce one�s risk of Type 2 diabetes by 16 percent, a statistical analysis showed. A serving is half a cup of cooked rice."

In China the poor people consume brown rice, because it's cheaper there and white rice is consumed by people in the city who have more money. What do you know less diabetes and other health issues. Is brown rice the reason? I don't know, but I find it crazy how people put labels on things. I've heard of this board before carbs are bad, fruits are bad and now grains are bad. Yes some are, but others are actually healthy.