Dr. Shaw Watanabe from Tokyo, Japan, has invented a new brown rice called “Medical Rice”. It is wax-free and protein reduced and it is very good for patients with chronic kidney disease and people who are on other specialized diets. Each grain of brown rice contains a wax layer which is removed and nutrients are kept intact. Then the protein is removed and it becomes a low protein brown rice which is very beneficial for kidney patients and this is why it’s called “medical rice.”

In many countries where rice is the main source of protein, energy and fat, rice contains 3 layers – the inner layer which has starch, the aleurone layer and the bran layer. The bran layer contains many vitamins and minerals. Removing this layer makes the rice more tasty. Most people use polished rice in which the bran layer was removed and this has no health benefits at all. The bran layer is the one with proteins, helpful nutrients and vitamins and it is covered with a thick hard wax layer.

Even though brown rice has a lot of health benefits, the wax layer after boiling it makes it hard to chew. Dr. Watanabe came up with a new processing machine that removes the outer surface wax layer of the rice which makes it more tasty and still contains all the nutrients, proteins and vitamins.

Kidney patients are usually on low protein diets but they use polished rice in which there are carbohydrates and no nutrients and this has no health benefits at all. Dr. Watanabe uses an enzyme method to extract protein from wax free brown rice which has resulted in 80% decrease of protein from the wax-free brown rice and its taste is equal to polished rice.

Dr. Watanabe’s medical rice promises to be a nourishing, healthy dietary choice for people with chronic illnesses.

This is certainly big in food technology and more people now like polished rice because of its taste. Dr. Watanabe’s invention of this new “medical rice” has both qualities of polished rice and brown rice making it the perfect rice. As of now, Dr. Watanabe’s medical rice is only available in Japan, but be sure to check our blog regularly and we’ll keep you posted on any stateside release information!

And, for more information about what the right diet and nutrition can do for you, be sure to visit my page for some helpful tips.