If you knew there was arsenic in your food, would you eat it? More importantly, would you serve it to your children?
Recently, Consumer Reports Magazine released their analysis of arsenic levels in rice products, and the results were concerning. Popular rice products including white rice, brown rice, organic rice baby cereal, and rice breakfast cereals, were all found to contain arsenic, a potent carcinogen that can also be harmful to a child’s developing brain.
In virtually every product tested, we found measurable amounts of total arsenic in its two forms. We found significant levels of inorganic arsenic, which is a carcinogen, in almost every product category, along with organic arsenic, which is less toxic but still of concern.
The study not only found a significant amount of arsenic in many rice products on the market, but also that arsenic levels in the blood directly increase with greater rice consumption.(1) Several products tested had more arsenic in each serving than the 5 parts per billion (ppb) limit for adults set by the EPA as safe. (2)
What’s worse, many of these arsenic-containing rice products are marketed to children and infants as “health foods”, and children are far more susceptible to the dangerous impacts of arsenic exposure. (3, 4, 5) Research suggests that high levels of arsenic exposure during childhood are associated with neurobehavioral problems as well as cancer and lung disease later in life. (6) This means parents must be especially careful to avoid serving their children food with significant levels of arsenic.
While many of my readers follow a strict Paleo diet and couldn’t care less about arsenic in rice, there are many more who are more liberal in their diet and consume white rice as a “safe” starch. In fact, rice is often recommended by well-educated bloggers such as Paul Jaminet as a component of a perfectly healthy and enjoyable diet. I personally eat white rice on occasion and feel it is a safe starch for those who tolerate it. But now that there is a new issue with rice consumption, one that has nothing to do with carbohydrates, does that mean we should avoid it entirely?
White rice can be a “safe” starch
Many of the white rice products tested had fairly low levels of arsenic, and in the context of a few servings a week for an adult, it’s probably not an issue. As for very young children and infants, I don’t recommend serving them rice products in general, so they shouldn’t be exposed to arsenic from rice anyway. Pregnant women may want to be cautious about their rice intake, and minimize their exposure to arsenic to protect their developing fetus; finding another safe starch to replace rice during pregnancy would be wise.
So if you choose to purchase white rice, buy a brand made in California like Lundberg; their California White Basmati Rice has only 1.3 to 1.6 ppb arsenic per serving (1/4 cup uncooked), well below the safe limit. In addition, rinsing the rice before cooking and boiling it in a high water-to-rice ratio can help reduce the arsenic content significantly. (7) So if you want to keep white rice as a part of your diet, I recommend looking for a safe brand like Lundberg and rinsing the rice thoroughly before cooking in a large quantity of water; this should be adequate to make rice a safe food to eat in moderation.
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Brown rice: Not a health food!
Brown rice, on the other hand, has significantly more arsenic than white rice and should be avoided or consumed rarely. Some of the brown rice brands tested contained at least 50% more than the safe limit per serving, and a few even had nearly double the safe limit. (PDF with complete details of test results) Note that some of the worst offenders for arsenic are made from brown rice: processed rice products like brown rice syrup, brown rice pasta, rice cakes and brown rice crisps. These processed products are commonly consumed by those following a “healthy” whole grain rich or gluten-free diet, but they clearly pose a significant risk of arsenic overexposure, especially if a person eats more than one serving per day. Obviously, brown rice is not a food that should be a dietary staple, or even eaten on a regular basis.
#Arsenic: another reason to prefer white rice over brown?
Aside from having a higher arsenic content, there are other reasons to avoid brown rice: it’s harder to digest and nutrient absorption is likely inferior to white rice because of phytates in the rice bran. (8) Despite a higher nutrient content of brown rice compared to white rice, the anti-nutrients present in brown rice reduce the bioavailability of any vitamins and minerals present. (9) Plus, brown rice also reduces dietary protein and fat digestibility compared to white rice. (10)
No food is completely safe or without some level of contamination risk: vegetables make up 24 percent of our arsenic exposure and tap water can legally contain 10 ppb arsenic per liter (some systems even exceed the legal limit.) (11) So while rice may contribute an unsafe level of arsenic, it’s certainly not the only source in our diet, and we need to be cautious about demonizing an entire class of food based on a soundbite from a news story. While I don’t think rice is a necessary component of a healthy diet, I do think it can be incorporated safely as a source of starch: just be sure to pay attention to the brand you’re buying, as well as your method of preparation.
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What about the Rice Krispies (both cocoa and regular) and the arsenic issue?
We used rice cakes for my Aspies due to they didn’t like rice for the BRAT diet after flus when they were all emptied and used yogurt with it in the stomach as an early easy to digest food; albeit that was yoplait. I know about the sugar issues, but now I’m concerned we released more of the poison on emptied intestines/stomachs. They had a lot of flu as one of their illnesses one developing year in particular. Oh NO!!!!! I never served rice most the time over the years though, but now I wonder about arsenic in other products.
Hi Chris, I am currently 26 weeks pregnant with my second child, and have been consuming a moderate amount of white rice in conjunction with a healthy diet. I heard about the arsenic in rice on the Dr Oz show and have since been rinsing my rice in warm water prior to cooking to remove arsenic residue. Would you suggest that I avoid rice altogether for the remainder of my pregnancy? I am not too concerned because my overall diet is relatively healthy. I consume lots of vegetables, fruits, raw milk, organic eggs, and healthy fats like coconut oil etc. I think I would be more concerned if I was eating too much in the form of takeaway foods, sugar or trans fats. I was surprised to learn that brown rice is a less healthy option, when compared to white rice, due to phytates, and now arsenic! I used to think brown was the healthier option… Luckily I have been eating mostly the white stuff! Thank you for you information.
Thanks Chris for another great article. I eat perhaps two servings a month of Tinkyada Brown Rice Penne. I queried Tinkyada and below is their reply. I will rethink even two servings per month as if I am correct, their figure of 0.20-0.23 ppm equals 200 – 230 ppb, which is well over the 5 ppb considered safe/day for adults by the EPA
“We are aware of the report indicated in your e-mail. Over the years, there have been similar reports and we are confident that the authorities have been reviewing them too. Rice has been a major staple for many people, and we believe that these consumers should seek further and complete information as to the extent that rice consumption may affect their health.
All the rice we use comes from Arkansas, U.S.A. From our sample analyses, the arsenic level of our brown rice pastas appears to be in the range of 0.20 – 0.23 ppm (parts per million). Our understanding is that all rice contains arsenic and that many food contain arsenic too. Even though it does not appear that there is an adequate scientific basis for recommending drastic changes in the consumption of rice and rice products, it may be advisable to focus on a varied diet before a clear and thorough result from investigations has come out. Like what the report says, we should limit our exposure, and we would note that the report contains their recommended limits on rice and rice-product consumption for both children and adults.
We shall keep a close watch of the situation. At this moment, we feel that we should be on the alert and not alarmed, and that a moderate approach toward food consumption will be good guidance.”
The proper metric for food is milligrams per kilogram or micrograms per gram. You want whatever rice you consume to have less than 5 mcg of inorganic arsenic per 60 gram serving (which is roughly equal to 1/4 cup).
Okay, so how do I figure the inorganic arsenic content of a 1/2 cup (cooked, approx. 1 oz dry) serving of penne from the 0.20 – 0.23 ppm or 200 – 230 ppb figures? Math makes my head hurt….
Thanks so much for writing about this topic. The Consumer Reports study finally generated enough people to talk about the problem with arsenic in rice. It is the last study in a long line of studies dating back at least to 2007. Just in Feb 2012, the Dartmouth study brought it to light. I started a petition over on change.org when I wrote about the Dartmouth study in February for my blog, Green Talk. I was so upset over the fact that 1) everyone in the industry including the FDA and EU knows about this problem. Don’t you think five years is enough time to do something about it? and 2) it is solvable agriculturally: don’t flood the fields. Experts say that the yields are better and lower arsenic levels. Lotus Food is living proof. Alternatively, develop a less sensitive rice grain. A Purdue professor is working on this right now. Here is the link to the petition. I am worried about all the people who don’t know about the problem or who dismiss the problem. They don’t know the long term effects. Should we wait until that shoe drops? http://chn.ge/xJGMe5. Please sign and share.
Here’s a very informative and OBJECTIVE article on HOW the arsenic got into our rice AND how we can reduce our exposure with a simple cooking technique.
http://grist.org/food/theres-arsenic-in-your-rice-and-heres-how-it-got-there/
We don’t eat much rice, but I do make a huge batch of fermented buckwheat & rice-flour pancakes weekly. The kids eat them for breakfast (along with bacon) almost every day. Luckily it’s white rice flour — I used to use more buckwheat, but rice flour is a lot cheaper and I find about a 40:60 mixture of buckwheat to rice flour tastes best.
Lately I’ve been adding a more “real” starches into the pancakes — various combinations of mashed banana, leftover sweet potato, or pumpkin. (These really enhance the flavour!) So I’ll take this arsenic warning not as a reason to completely avoid the white rice, but just to favour the buckwheat and real foods more.
Pancakes recipe here: http://paleohacks.com/questions/130685/has-anyone-made-fermented-buckwheat-pancakes/134020#134020
I’m glad you pointed out that many (most?) other foods also contain arsenic. If it’s in the soil, plants will grow, some will uptake it more than others, and we or our food animals eat those, and it comes to us. If people can smoke into their 70s and 80s (my friend’s dad smoked until 83, then shot himself to avoid a slow painful smokers death), I can eat my bloody rice, especially the brown stuff, and not worry about it.
I hope they soon examine the heavy metals in cows and pigs, not just fish, soon.
I hope you’re not going to shoot yourself when you have neurological disease such as Parkinson’s from toxic accumulation all your life…. your hands won’t be steady enough from the crippling and debilitating disease.
There is a difference to “man made / inorganic” arsenic and “naturally occurring / organic” arsenic – one the body DOES need in minute trace quantities, the other simply doesn’t do anything but accumulate and interfere with the human body’s normal functions and eventually kills them slowly, painfully. This for some reason most people ignore. Naturally vs man made is the answer when people say “oh well, it’s in everything anyway” – nature did not mean for you to eat inorganic minerals your body cannot use. This is the key. Man made minerals are toxic,,,, natural minerals are in the right quantities naturally without human $$ intervention, so you won’t overdose or be poisoned by the trace quantities of ORGANIC arsenic in naturally grown food.
Accept govts poisoning your foods at your own peril. Your death means nothing to the “big corporate wheel” who rely on ignorance, brainwashing and laziness of the little people to continue to poison themselves and pay money to do it, even if it kills them and they know it….. tsk tsk. You have choices, please don’t give them up.
And yes, you’re on teh right track, let’s make those in power examine all the other ways they force us to ingest unnatural chemicals… let’s also not forget the mad cow disease epidemic due to “cannibal cows” to try and save money…… this world has gone mad and corrupt for the sake of money.
Hi all – I was wondering about organic rice milk? Don’t eat rice – but my treat is a latte with rice milk – is that full of arsenic? Thanks
Wondering about black rice from China. Does anybody have information on the arsenic content?
The package of Earthly Choice 100% whole grain black rice I bought has instructions on its package:
Rinse rice under cold water before cooking.
When I did so, the effluent was bluish-black drainage, which looked identical to the drainage from black beans. All beans must be drained before cooking in order to remove harmful lectin compounds. So what is the point in choosing black beans/rice for their antioxidant content, if pre-rinsing them leaches those (dark colored) antioxidants away along with the arsenic and leptins?
From Wikipedia article ‘Lectin’:
Foods with high concentrations of lectins, such as beans, cereal grains, seeds, nuts, and potatoes, may be harmful if consumed in excess in uncooked or improperly cooked form. Adverse effects may include nutritional deficiencies, and immune (allergic) reactions. Possibly, most effects of lectins are due to gastrointestinal distress through interaction of the lectins with the gut epithelial cells. A recent in vitro study has suggested that the mechanism of lectin damage may occur by interfering with the repair of already-damaged epithelial cells.
At this point I am far more worried about the massive amounts of cesium in half of the shipments of rice coming from Japan and China than I am arsenic.
Revamp all global export laws with uniform legal standards and definitions for organic products. Millions of people have been fueling the healthcare industry for decades because of toxic foods.
Billions in tax money spent for convenience foods and the resulting medical fees could be going into creating jobs and rebuilding our cities.
I recently bought jasmine cargo rice. It is delicious. My entire family liked it. I was annoyed by the amount of rinsing I had to do. I guess this article explains it. The product is from Thailand Rose brand.
My wife is breastfeeding.
Is there any chance of the arcenic entering her breastmilk when she eats white rice?
Should she avoid eating white rice entirely?
If she sticks with CA varieties of white that have been tested and limits consumption so that she’s significantly below the recommended targets, I don’t think it’s a problem.
Chris, do you know of a good way to detox or “chelate” arsenic from the body? Because it builds up, right? So we should all be taking measures to somehow get rid of it, right? Do you have any suggestions, like zeolite or clay or other foods that might help the body expel accumulated arsenic?
I know last year aquasana came out with a specific water filter to deal with arsenic in the water supply, so that might be something to look into.
Also, do you know anything about rice imported from Asia? In the bay area (as you know) there are a lot of rices from japan and China. I’ve been to China and they have terraced mountainsides in the country dedicated to rice production. Though China is very polluted, from what I’ve seen the rice may be least affected. Do you know anything about pesticides used there that may be present in their rice?
What about organic rice? Does it have similar arsenic issues?
Organic rice has the same issues. If you follow the link to the Consumer Reports article, you can see a chart with test results for several organic and non-organic varieties. I haven’t looked very far into water filtration of arsenic; thanks for the tip on the Aquasana filter.
The studies I’ve read, and the Consumer Reports article, suggest that Asian and Indian varieties are lower in arsenic than rice grown in the U.S. south. That said, I’d probably stick with varieties that have been independently tested, like Lotus or Lundberg, to be sure.
One of the reasons why Lotus rice is lower in arsenic is they don’t flood the fields which lessens the opportunity for rice to suck up arsenic. In the US, we flood the fields.
Leah, yes, Zeolite, clay, charcoal, herbs, and avoidance. But at least you’re thinking the right way. I think its important to counteract any poisons we aren’t even aware we’re ingesting or breathing in or absorbing on a day to day basis, so I would add these to my daily routine if I concerned with detoxification. I personally do use these and do not rely on it to “magically evaporate” or whatever others who choose to dismiss it may think. It does accumulate and there are many ways to try and rid the body of it (and other poisons) but it’s always best to just stop exposing yourself to it. Do not rely on ‘safe levels’ theories spouted by govt’s who are trying to stop panic. If it accumulates, it will kill you. End of story. Avoid it altogether. Don’t even put your body in the position to have to deal with such an insidious toxin. Like you wouldn’t leave your house unlocked when you go to work everyday and try to stop the damage after you’ve been robbed, day after day, doing the same thing every day… you’d learn once (or be proactive and avoid from the first) and lock your house, instead of focusing on damage control. Once you get these diseases, like neurological diseases, they do not “go away”, they’re there to stay and make your life painful and helllish until you die. You can’t reverse it. It’s too late by the time you find out you’ve got it. Prevention is the best defence, as well as daily detoxification strategies. But like smoking, why do it at all? There are so many foods you can use instead of whatever it is that is poisoned. This also makes a stand to those in power, that covering the earth in man made chemicals is unacceptable to you and you won’t sustain the industry that continues to prop itself up with poison. That you’ll give it a wide berth and do something else rather than give them your money for rotten food and poison yourself to death. Now that’s empowering.
I eat 2 cups of Lunberg organic long grain white rice almost every day. It’s not on the list, so I don’t know the levels. Their California Basmati is over $1 more, but I might still have to go with it. Archer Farms Org. Basmati seems almost equally low. Though with more of the inorganic form, as well as extra lead and cadmium(thanks, Target 🙂 ). Haven’t done white sweet potatoes in a while – will give them a go as well to see if they cause trouble.
what about rice from the far east?
do you have any data on that?
cause the rice where i come from (israel) is usually from thailand, china and india.
i guess it’s not heaven there either…. but am not sure about arsenic specifically
As Paracelsus famously once said, “the dose makes the poison”. There are many carciogens in all types of food and even in our own bodily fluids (eg. breast milk). We can’t avoid everything just because it containts micro-quantities of something carcinogenic! The amount is crucial.
Are the amounts in rice above the toxic level for humans as determined by peer-reviewed evidence-based biochemical research?
I really think that the best way to avoid such problems as much as one can is just to eat a wide variety of fresh foods (avoiding the obvious things which have other issues of endocrine disruption, bone reabsoption, inflammatory triggers etc…), and not too much of any one thing. Our knowledge is so fragmentary. Even if we knew all there is that has been established about which foods contain carcinogens and avoided them all, we would no doubt still be consuming carcinogens in other foods which had yet to be identified at problematic.
I will continue to eat the odd bit of rice here and there and continue to avoid making it a habitual food.
Here is an article that I came across that has some interesting information on the subject of stabilized rice bran in particular that I would be interested to know what you think Chris after reading this.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/35306361/Stabilized-Rice-Bran-and-the-Arsenic-Myth
Great article. I’ll continue eating it in sushi only.
Americans are paranoid about everything. Think of the literally billions of people on this planet that eat rice every day in amounts that are much greater than anything an American would consume and are fine. This includes their children. End of story as far as I’m concerned.
Tell me what billions of people eat more brown rice and processed brown rice products than Americans. The vast majority of rice consumption in the world is white/polished rice, and as I pointed out in the article, white rice is lower in inorganic arsenic than brown rice – especially if it comes from India or Asia (where most rice is being consumed). So I’m afraid this isn’t the end of the story at all.
I didn’t say anything about brown rice. You misread my comment. I was speaking about white rice which you mention above as having arsenic. I maintain my assertion that Americans are overly paranoid about what they eat. My wife, who is Chinese, laughed at the idea theist WHITE rice could be bad for you because of arsenic.
Furthermore, many Asians do in fact feed their young children rice or gruel made from rice.
Here’s the quote from above which I was referring to:
Recently, Consumer Reports Magazine released their analysis of arsenic levels in rice products, and the results were concerning. Popular rice products including white rice, brown rice, organic rice baby cereal, and rice breakfast cereals, were all found to contain arsenic, a potent carcinogen that can also be harmful to a child’s developing brain.
Edward Brown,
Perhaps you have not received the news that we currently have an epidemic of disease going on throughout our civilization. Children’s autism and other diseases are now at highest ever levels in the history of society.
The majority of civilization is asleep, like yourself, because you happily partake in the Roman bread and circuses, while our children are getting more and more disease.
If you choose to continue chowing down on the arsenic, go ahead, but at a minimum please do not do that to your children.
Before leaving any more messages broadly displaying your ignorance, I recommend you get a little more education on these subjects.
Thanks
lulz.
David,
I highly recommend you read this article by Dr. Kurt Harris, a colleague of Chris Kresser. I suggest you read it before you make any more comments here or elsewhere:
http://www.archevore.com/panu-weblog/2011/2/28/proof-that-orthorexia-exists.html
(In case you’re too stubborn to read it, I’ll summarize: people worry too much about food.)
Also, get a life. There’s no need to try and make this conversation and disagreement over food safety personal. It can be hard to accept that people have different views than ours, and also that other cultures do things better than we do.
Here’s my simple advice:
If you like rice, eat white rice in moderate amounts.
If you don’t like white rice, or can’t tolerate it for some reason, eat brown rice, unless you’re highly concerned about arsenic, in which case EAT SOMETHING ELSE.
Life isn’t fair.
Also, don’t give your child apples to eat, because, well, gee, the seeds have arsenic in them (and so does the juice). Of course I’m being sarcastic.
I highly recommend everyone read this article on webmd:
http://www.webmd.com/diet/features/arsenic-food-faq
Basically, arsenic is in lots of things, including your drinking water. My point isn’t to scare you into not drinking water, drinking juice etc. My point is, life is full of hazards, and for crying out loud, relax.
Does your chinese wife wear glasses?
High intake of rice consumption leads to macular degeneration.
David, While I probably do worry more than I should about the food I eat, I am very aware that no one else is going to do it for me. And I do indeed think its important to try to protect the innocent little children who rely on us to protect them. Still I think its important to realize that the high autism rate is much more likely to be from the excessive number of mercury-laced worse than useless vaccinations pushed onto our little ones than the food. Still when I see the children sick from cancer on the St. Jude’s Hospital ads on tv, it hurts me to know that at least some of it could have been prevented had their parents and they been given only clean, chemical free (non-GMO) food and water.
Your chinese wife laughed when you quoted an expert about the dangers of arsenic in rice.
My dad laughed when I told him beer was bad for him. He’s dead now. Liver cancer.
Keep laughing.
How do you know his liver cancer was caused by drinking beer? Was he an alcoholic that abused his liver or a moderate, occaisional beer drinker? No one would recommend abusing alcohol, including Ed Brown I’m sure. If he did abuse it then it may have contributed. But the idea that moderate beer caused it is suspect. There are cultures for which beer is a staple and they don’t have huge liver cancer problems. Ed is right. Americans but particularly Paleos are orthorexic and probably do far more damage long term by the stress, worry and deprivation they impose on themselves. I say this as someone who did Paleos for 10 plus years. It is a relief to be done with it. I’ve gained little if any weight and feel much better.
Do we need to be concerned about the rice used in baby formula?
I certainly would be.