Rumor: Tangyuan / Yuanxiao are all made with glutinous rice, and glutinous rice is not easily digested, so you should not eat too much Tangyuan / Yuanxiao.Fact: In fact gluten free rice is easy to digest, but it is not recommended to eat too much.
Glutinous rice is used to make glutinous rice balls. Many people think glutinous rice is sticky and difficult to digest. This is a complete misunderstanding about glutinous rice.
The starch structure of white rice noodles is amylose, but glutinous rice is more than 99% amylopectin, which has more branches in structure and is easier to gelatinize. Because starch has many branches, it is easy to hydrolyze and digest.
Therefore the glycemic index in glutinous rice is also faster compared to the rice and white noodles that we normally eat. The GI of rice is 82, while the GI of glutinous rice is 87. People find glutenous rice difficult to digest, perhaps because foods that use glutenous rice such as sticky rice balls, yuanxiao and eight treasure rice are often added. Too much sugar and fat at the same time. That, in turn, gives people a "greasy" feeling.
In short, warm sticky rice balls / yuanxiavo are easy to digest and eat slowly. However, if you wait until the glutinous rice balls / yuanxiao have cooled before eating, they will not only become hard in shape, but will also be difficult to chew, but will also increase acid reflux and heartburn.