Food as Medicine: The New Concept of “Medical Rice”

Shaw Watanabe*, Azusa Hirakawa, Chiharu Nishijima, Ken'ichi Ohtsubo, Kozo Nakamura, Shigeru Beppu, Patcharee Tungtrakul, Sun Jian Quin, E-Siong Tee, Takuo Tsuno and Hajime Ohigashi

Food as Medicine: The New Concept of “Medical Rice”.

Rice is the main staple food for approximately 70 percent of the world’s population, principally
living in ten areas of the Asia-Pacific region.1 In many countries, rice contributes to health by supplying dietary energy, proteins and fat. It accounts for more than 50% of the diet in Bangladesh, Myanmar, Lao PDR, VietNam and Indonesia. In this regards, the nutritional aspects of rice should be re-evaluated, especially the integrated composition of functional ingredients.

Using sample meals, we investigated whether or not macrobiotic meals could fulfill nutritional requirement. In the radar charts displayed in Figure 1, central circle represent the dose of Dietary Reference Intake (DRI) 2010 recommended by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Japan. The outer green lines represent the relative intake doses from genmai-shoku (Figure 1). Sample meals of genmai-shoku provided enough energy, fat and protein, and several times more minerals and vitamins than required

In addition to the functional effects of ingredients in brown rice, the frequency of mastication influences the brain function. In Japan, fast foods with soft texture have recently become popular for younger generation. The mastication frequency has been decreasing in proportion. The brown rice increases the chewing number of times than a meat or fish dishes. National Health and Nutrition Survey, Labour and Welfare (2010) showed it was only 800 times per American meal compared to the 30,000 times by genmai meal. Longer eating time acts to prevent fast eating, which would be lead to obesity, and relaxes stress.

Adv Food Technol Nutr Sci Open J
. 2016; 2(2): 38-50. doi: 10.17140/AFTNSOJ-2-129

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