Brown rice
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Brown rice is unmilled or partly milled rice, a kind of whole grain. It is chewier than white rice, has a mild nutty flavor, and becomes rancid faster. Any rice, including sticky rice, long-grain rice, or short-grain rice, may eaten as brown rice.
In much of Asia, brown rice (Template:Zh-cp; Japanese: 玄米; genmai) is associated with poverty and wartime shortages, and in the past was rarely eaten except by the sick, the elderly and as a cure for constipation. Interestingly enough, this traditionally looked-down-upon kind of rice is now more expensive than normal white rice, partly due to its low consumption, difficulty of storage and transport, and high nutritional values.
Role in traditional Chinese medicine
In the Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine, the oldest-known book of traditional Chinese medicine and the foundation of the macrobiotic diet, a ten-day period during which the patient eats only rice is described as the first remedy for disease. In `medieval days' the sages treated illness first by diet, usually prescribing a regime of rice gruel (short grain brown rice) for ten days. If this treatment was not successful, then the roots and leaves of medicinal plants were used to harmonize the energies. Acupuncture and moxibustion were employed only as a last resort. If the emotions and the will of the patient are stable, says the Classic, then cereals alone can effect a cure. Grains have a special importance and power as human food. Water and grains are the root of life and 'death comes only when they are exhausted.' In particular, rice is mentioned as a vital and harmonious food."