The digestion of cooked white rice follows a parallel kinetic pattern in which rapidly digestible starch and slowly digestible starch are hydrolyzed simultaneously at distinct rates, with the proportion and rate of each fraction determined by the molecular structure of amylose and amylopectin.

When cooked rice is eaten, two types of starch break down at the same time but at different speeds. One type breaks down quickly because its molecules have short branches that enzymes can easily grab and cut. The other type breaks down slowly because its molecules are long and tightly packed, making it hard for enzymes to reach and break them apart. The ratio of these two starch types in the rice depends on how long and how branched the molecules are.