Yes, Virginia, there’s arsenic in your rice
Whenever you read the conspiracy theories about fluoridated water, it’s a good idea to remember that much of the world’s water is naturally fluoridated. Indeed, the correlation between natural fluoridation and lower incidence of dental caries is what lead to artificial water fluoridation.
There are plenty of other things to fret about if that’s how you want to spend the years that remain to you. One is dietary arsenic.
“All over the world, people eat rice, and lots of it. From congee and risotto to arroz con frijoles and biryani, it’s an essential ingredient in dishes integral to a variety of cuisines. But while this universal crop plays a foundational role in many diets, eating too much rice comes with a downside: It’s a significant source of the heavy metal arsenic.
“CR first tested rice for arsenic in 2012, and released follow-up testing in 2014. We recently conducted new tests to see if levels of inorganic arsenic, the more dangerous form of the metal, declined. Yet while manufacturers and regulators have long known about that issue, our results show the problem persists.”
The tl;dr: 42% of rice products tested had inorganic arsenic levels high enough that an adult eating just one serving a day over time would significantly increase their risk for skin and bladder cancer. Brown rice has higher arsenic levels than white rice.
To reduce arsenic exposure, add rice to boiling water, cook for 5 minutes, then drain the rice and cook it in fresh water. Alternatively, cooking rice like pasta and discarding the excess water can remove 40-60% of the arsenic in rice.
reducing arsenic in rice
There are plenty of other things to fret about if that’s how you want to spend the years that remain to you. One is dietary arsenic.
“All over the world, people eat rice, and lots of it. From congee and risotto to arroz con frijoles and biryani, it’s an essential ingredient in dishes integral to a variety of cuisines. But while this universal crop plays a foundational role in many diets, eating too much rice comes with a downside: It’s a significant source of the heavy metal arsenic.
“CR first tested rice for arsenic in 2012, and released follow-up testing in 2014. We recently conducted new tests to see if levels of inorganic arsenic, the more dangerous form of the metal, declined. Yet while manufacturers and regulators have long known about that issue, our results show the problem persists.”
The tl;dr: 42% of rice products tested had inorganic arsenic levels high enough that an adult eating just one serving a day over time would significantly increase their risk for skin and bladder cancer. Brown rice has higher arsenic levels than white rice.
To reduce arsenic exposure, add rice to boiling water, cook for 5 minutes, then drain the rice and cook it in fresh water. Alternatively, cooking rice like pasta and discarding the excess water can remove 40-60% of the arsenic in rice.
reducing arsenic in rice
There are plenty of other things to fret about if that’s how you want to spend the years that remain to you. One is mercury in the water (😏)
“Yet while manufacturers and regulators have long known about that issue, our results show the problem persists.” And consumers. I’ve had an aversion to rice since the hippie daze (or it might have G’ma’s Adventist tradition) when I was first learning how to cook healthy and was taught to boil rice open for at least ten minutes to evaporate traces of arsenic
As a practical matter, I think the return on energy invested in producing, consuming and exhausting rice, like potatoes, is negligible. It’s a filler food
On-the-other-hand: it’s a filler food …