bubble_chart Source

Rice Bean (Vigna umbellata (Thunb.) Ohwi et H. Ohashi), also known as red bean or red rice bean, is a leguminous plant. Its appearance is similar to that of red beans but slightly more elongated, leading to confusion. Rice beans come in other colors as well, primarily red and yellow, with the red variety being referred to as Rice Bean. Rice Bean is mainly used in Chinese medicinals and is often mixed with red beans, although Rice Bean has superior medicinal efficacy. It can be cultivated or found in the wild. It is distributed in Guangdong, Guangxi, Jiangxi, and the suburbs of Shanghai. The medicinal quality of Rice Bean is considered superior, but due to limited supply, it is gradually being replaced by red beans.

bubble_chart Morphological Characteristics

Rice Bean The dried seeds are slightly cylindrical and somewhat flattened, 5-7 mm in length, about 3 mm in diameter. The seed coat is reddish-brown or purplish-brown, smooth, and slightly glossy. The hilum is linear, white, about two-thirds the length of the seed, with a central depression forming a longitudinal groove, offset to one end, and an indistinct ridge on the back. The texture is hard and not easily broken. Upon removing the seed coat, two lobes of creamy white endosperm are visible. The odor is faint, with a beany taste when chewed. The best quality seeds are those that are dry, plump, and have a dark reddish color.

bubble_chart Properties and Meridians

Sweet and sour, neutral.

1. "Health Preservation Essential Collection": bitter, warm.
2. Bielu: sweet and sour, neutral, nontoxic.
3. "Qian Jin·Food Treatment": sweet and salty, neutral, nontoxic.
4. "Food habits materia medica": slightly cold.
5. Tangye Bencao: warm, acrid, sweet and sour, nontoxic.

Act on heart and small intestine meridians.

1. Leigong Paozhi Yaoxing Jie: act on heart meridian.
2. Bencao Xinbian: act on spleen meridian.
3. Depei Bencao: act on hand shaoyin and taiyang meridians.
4. Bencao Zaixin: Act on heart and lung meridians.

bubble_chart Efficacy

Promoting diuresis and eliminating dampness, harmonizing blood and expelling pus, reducing swelling and removing toxins.

bubble_chart Indications

Treats edema, beriberi, jaundice, diarrhea, bloody stool, and abscesses.

bubble_chart Documentation

1. Benjing: "Promotes urination, drains abscesses, and expels pus and blood."
2. Bielu: "Treats cold and heat, internal heat, consumptive thirst, stops diarrhea, promotes urination, relieves vomiting and sudden dysentery, and reduces abdominal distension."
3. Yaoxing Lun: "Dissipates heat toxin, abscesses, and swelling, disperses stagnant blood, relieves restlessness and fullness. Treats edema, skin and muscle distension; crush and apply to abscesses; treats acute jaundice and sores in children, use the juice for washing; improves appetite; mix powder with egg white to apply to heat toxin abscesses; promotes qi circulation, strengthens the spleen and stomach."
4. Shiliao Bencao: "Cook with carp and eat to treat beriberi and severe ascites; disperses qi, relieves joint heat, opens the heart orifice, reduces frequent urination; both green and red varieties are edible. For post-diarrhea qi fullness and inability to eat, boil and administer as a draught."
5. Shu Bencao: "For alcohol-induced heat, drink the juice."
6. 《食性 materia medica》: "Strengthens tendons and bones, treats water qi, and resolves wheat heat toxin."
7. Rihuazi Bencao: "Red bean powder treats restlessness, resolves heat toxin, expels pus, and tonifies blood vessels."
8. Gangmu: "Prevents pestilence, treats difficult delivery, expels placenta, and promotes lactation."
9. Bencao Zaixin: "Clears heat and harmonizes blood, promotes urination and menstruation, soothes the intestines, and regulates qi."

bubble_chart Usage and Dosage

For internal use: decoct in water, 0.3-1 liang; or take as powder. For external use: grind fresh and apply topically.

bubble_chart Cautions and Contraindications

1. Tao Hong-jing: "Nature follows body fluids, prolonged consumption makes one dry and withered."
2. "Materia Medica on Food Properties": "Prolonged consumption makes one thin."
3. "Dietary Guide of Sui Xi Ju": "Those bitten by snakes should avoid it for a hundred days."

bubble_chart Modern Pharmacology

Per 100 grams, it contains 20.7 grams of protein, 0.5 grams of fat, 58 grams of carbohydrates, 4.9 grams of crude fiber, 3.3 grams of ash, 67 milligrams of calcium, 305 milligrams of phosphorus, 5.2 milligrams of iron, 0.31 milligrams of thiamine, 0.11 milligrams of riboflavin, and 2.7 milligrams of niacin.

bubble_chart Modern Application

1. To treat mumps, take 50-70 Rice Beans, grind them into fine powder, mix with warm water, egg white, or honey to form a thin paste. Spread the paste on a cloth and apply it to the affected area. Generally, the swelling will subside after one application. Seven cases were treated, all with effective results.
2. To treat cirrhosis ascites, take 1 jin of Rice Beans and one live carp (weighing over 1 jin), place them together in a pot, add 2000-3000 ml of water, and simmer until the Rice Beans are thoroughly cooked. Consume the Rice Beans, fish, and soup in several servings. Take one dose daily or every other day. Continue the treatment until recovery. Two cases were treated, and after consumption, there was an increase in urine output, a reduction in abdominal girth, improved mental state, and no adverse reactions.

bubble_chart Selected Prescriptions

1. To treat edema with inability to sit or lie down, swelling of the head, face, and body: Burn mulberry twigs to ash, soak in water to extract the juice, cook Rice Bean and eat on an empty stomach until full. Eat whenever hungry, but do not eat rice. ("Meishi Collection of Proven Formulas")
2. To treat sudden severe ascites: Take a large handful of lalang grass rhizome and three liters of small beans, boil until dry, remove the rhizome and eat the beans. Water will be expelled with urine. (Buque Zhouhou Fang)
3. To treat edema starting from the feet, which can be fatal if it reaches the abdomen: Cook one liter of Rice Bean until very soft, extract four to five liters of juice, and soak the knees and below in warm juice. If the edema has already reached the abdomen, only eat small beans and avoid other foods. (Duxingfang)
4. To treat beriberi: Take five he of Rice Bean, one head of garlic, one fen of Fresh Ginger Rhizome (crushed), and one piece of Pokeberry Root (sliced). Boil together with water until the beans are soft and the soup is ready. Adjust the temperature, remove the garlic, etc., chew the beans finely, and eat on an empty stomach. Drink the juice gradually until finished. (Bencao Tujing)
5. To treat beriberi with severe breathlessness, difficulty in urination and defecation, general swelling, and swelling of both feet turning into water: Take half a liter of Rice Bean, two liang of mulberry root bark (roasted and sliced), and a handful of Perilla Leaf stems and leaves (sliced and roasted). Except for the small beans, grind the other ingredients into powder. For each dose, first cook one he of beans with five cups of water until soft, remove the beans, and take two and a half cups of juice. Add four qianbi of the powdered medicine and one fen of Fresh Ginger Rhizome (crushed), boil until one and a half cups remain, and take warm on an empty stomach. Then choose to eat the beans as desired, twice a day. (Shengji Zonglu Rice Bean Soup)
6. To treat cold-damage disease with stagnant heat inside, leading to jaundice: Take two liang of Ephedra (remove nodes), two liang of Forsythia, one liter of Rice Bean, forty Bitter Apricot Seeds (peeled and pointed), twelve Chinese Dates (split), one liter of raw catalpa bark (sliced), two liang of Fresh Ginger Rhizome (sliced), and two liang of Liquorice Root (roasted). Boil the eight ingredients with one dou of water, first boiling the Ephedra twice, skimming off the foam, then adding the other herbs, boiling until three liters remain. Strain and divide into three warm doses, to be taken within half a day. ("Cold-Damage Disease Treatise" Ephedra, Forsythia and Rice Bean Decoction)
7. To treat acute jaundice with a golden body: Take one liang of Rice Bean, one fen of Clove, one fen of millet, half a fen of muskmelon base, one qian of frankincense, five inches of blue cloth (burned to ash), and one qian of musk (finely ground). Grind the ingredients into a fine powder and mix well. Take one qian at any time with clear porridge; if a small amount is blown into the nose, yellow water will be expelled. (Shenghui Fang Rice Bean Powder)
8. To treat hemorrhoids with frequent bloody stools: Take one liter of small beans and five liters of vinegar, cook the beans until soft, dry them, then soak in clear wine until the wine is absorbed. Grind into powder. Take one square-cun spoon with wine, three times a day. (Zhouhou Fang)
9. To treat heat toxin causing bloody stools, or triggered by eating hot foods: Grind Rice Bean into powder, mix with water, and take one square-cun spoon. ("Meishi Collection of Proven Formulas") To treat early-stage sores: Apply small bean powder with vinegar, which also reduces swelling. (Xiaopin Fang)
10. To treat large and small intestinal abscesses caused by damp-heat qi stagnation: Take Rice Bean, Coix Seed, Stephania Tetrandra, and Liquorice Root, and decoct into a soup for consumption. ("Surgical Shortcuts" Red Bean and Coix Seed Soup)
11. To treat children's erysipelas, with red patches like cinnabar in the flesh, large as a hand, or covering the whole body, with pain, itching, or swelling: Take two liters of Rice Bean. Grind into powder, mix with egg white into a thin paste, and apply. Change when dry. This formula can be used for all types of erysipelas. (Qianjin Fang)
12. To treat hot swelling of the cheeks: Mix Rice Bean powder with honey and apply, or add hibiscus leaf powder. (Gangmu)
13. To treat children's tongue carcinoma: Mix Rice Bean powder with vinegar and apply to the tongue. (Qianjin Fang)
14. To treat sudden bleeding from the tongue, like a hairpin hole: Take one liter of small beans, crush, mix with three liters of water, stir, and drink the juice. (Zhouhou Fang)
15. To promote lactation: Boil Rice Bean and drink the juice. ("Obstetric Book Formulas")
16. To treat women's breast inflammation: Grind Rice Bean with wine, take warm, and apply the residue. (Furen Liangfang Supplement)
17. To treat wind-induced urticaria: Take equal parts of Rice Bean and fineleaf nepeta spike, grind into powder, mix with egg white, and apply. (Gangmu)
18. To treat poisoning from eating six types of livestock meat: Burn one liter of small beans, grind into powder, and take three square-cun spoons. (Qianjin Fang)