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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Don’t stop eating rice – stop drinking water!
If EPA says it’s safe to consume 5 ppb per day You could only drink 0,5 L water in 24 hours!!!
How is it possible we focus on rice when the drinking water is so polluted that it is only safe to drink 0,5 liter per day?
Here in Denmark the Ministry of Health says that 1 rice cake contains the same amount of inorganic arsenic as 0,5 liter water… what’s the biggest problem – the rice or the water? I would say the water, because I drink 3 liters per day and that could be roughly 30 ppb arsenic a day!
O no, I am currently on a recommended liver cleanse of only brown rice (jasmine organic as could not locate basmati here in thailand) and mung beans with a little cilantro.
To detox and cleanse: so am I actually creating toxins? So confusing, all the contrasting ‘health’ advice
thank you
I would like to know if Japanese rice such as Nishiki Brown Rice or Jasmin Rice have high arsenic levels. I have been eating it with dinner almost every night. I was hoping that they don’t use as much insecticide over there.
I found a study by Consumer Reports where they measured arsenic, lead and cadmium in various types and brands of rice. Here’s the link:
http://www.consumerreports.org/content/dam/cro/magazine-articles/2012/November/Consumer%20Reports%20Arsenic%20in%20Food%20November%202012_1.pdf
Ed
I’ve been eating black rice because it has a much higher antioxidant level plau I like the taste and texture. Does anyone know where this would fall on arsenic levels and or glycemic index?
Chris, Is there anything people can take that will bind to arsenic in our bodies and carry it out through excretion?
Ed,
Try mushrooms and onion or garlic.
Magnesium baths or epsom salts also help.
Problem is: *everything* is a carcinogen. Sunlight, water, the air you breath, you name it. We are all exposed to innumerable carcinogens everyday.
But at what levels are these really toxic?
Have there been worthwhile studies that provide strong evidece for what constitues toxic levels of arsenic?
Thank you for your reply, it does provide some comfort. Still, I worry about potential long term effects. It makes you feel a bit helpless, when you’ve been unknowingly feeding your child potentially harmful foods, but like you said kids are very resilient. The only symptom I can think of is that she did complain of muscle weakness for a time, her physician did a complete blood count with electrolyte panel, and all looked normal (she thought anemia possibly, etc). The weakness has since subsided, and we are no longer eating rice (very little and not too often), I wonder if there was a connection there. Thank you again for your reply, and for the helpful suggestions, it is very much appreciated! 🙂
I have been looking into this rice business for a while now, I hope some one might be able to offer some sound advice. I discovered I had a wheat allergy shortly after the birth of my first child almost 10 years ago. I ended up eating alot of organic brown rice products (rice pasta, rice bread, rice cereal, sometimes milk, rice cakes, etc), and naturally my child ended up eating alot of the same things. I am truly scared to learn that I have been feeding something potentially dangerous to my child and myself for years. I am so scared that I have done harm to my child (during her most sensitive developmental years), and I don’t know what to do about it. I’ve cut out all of our rice products, but we will occasionally eat white rice I’ve called my child’s physician, who was unfamiliar with the rice/arsenic connection, and she told me not to worry, that arsenic tends not to accumulate in the body, and to just cut back on the rice consumption. But should I be doing more? We’ve been eating lots of brown rice for years, what should we do to take care of ourselves and minimize the risk of harm? Are there any treatments or detox therapies that are safe? Is it necessary or recommended? I don’t really know who to turn to for help with this. What I find horrific is that this arsenic/rice connection has been known about for years, and all these products for kids with rice ad rice syrup are marketed, I just don’t understand it, it makes me so angry. I’ve tried very hard to feed my child healthy and organic foods, and it was so frustrating to learn that our main staple food (organic and from a health food/natural market store), is laced with a carcinogen. Any advice? I would really appreciate any help, thank you.
Hi Isa,
I am not a professional health care giver but I have spent 100’s if not 1000’s of hours reading Chris and other paleo authors like Paul Jaminet of PHD fame. I personally have a son who is almost two and I want to relieve you of your parent guilt/worry, I know when it comes to your kid you want nothing but the best and don’t want to hamper any development. I would not be to worried about the arsenic content of brown rice from past exposure and here is my thinking why
1.) kids are extrememly resilient, I was fed hot dogs once a week pretty much the first 18 years of my life, not to mention every kind of processed food you can imagine and I am of normal intelligence and above average whit 😉 plus I have no physical conditions or anything. Obviously every person is different but if your kid is not showing any signs of problems things are probably ok to this point.
2) if you feed your child a pretty healthy diet already than their detox systems should be in pretty good shape and most likely haven’t had huge amounts of trouble in dealing with the arsenic. By discontinuing the high arsenic foods for a while and then recontinuing them with moderation in the future you should be alright. Be sure you are getting rice from either the west coast or india, these are of the lowest levels tested.
3.) if your kid is only getting toxins for a couple place they are wayyyy ahead of most kids, I know with my son we try and be 80/20ish like Chris talks about. High quality organic nourishing foods 80% of the time and 20% of the time we make exceptions with limits of course
I have recently bought tapioca syrup from barry farms and it tastes so much better than rice syrup with non of the arsenic.
My advice would just be to make sure you continue to have lots of high quality foods in your childs diet, I like to sneak things into smoothies and alike. Spinach in berry smoothies, dulse in soups. etc.
Some good foods to premote detox are high quality whey, high Vitamin C foods and sulfur rich foods.
You are doing a good job because you are here asking the questions:)
I am a tad suspicious to tests like this for the reason that there is no counterparts aka other nonrice products to related to.
Like, what is the levels in;
wheat
maize
oat
potatoe
soy
peas
?
MUCH better, equal/simillar, MUCH worse?
As it is now, one might go;
“Oh no! Everything with rice is extremely dangerous, I must switch all the rice to x!”
And this might be just the same as rice or maybe even worse.
It is a known fact that different plants have an affinity for different minerals. Since rice is selectively taking up arsenic (mineral) from the soil, wouldn’t you think that over time the arsenic concentration in older rice paddies would decline, thus reducing the arsenic levels of the rice grown in them?
Is it possible that the growers somehow (inadvertently) replenishing the arsenic back into the soil? Would you like to see a study on this?
Chris,
have there been studies that prove that brown rice + rice bran are actually less nutritious than white rice due to the phytates etc? because cattle are fed rice bran and absolutely thrive on it in a mixed ration. its a high quality feed rich in vitamins and minerals.
this is for cadmium in rice protein powders. I believe arsenic would be similar problem no?
http://proteinpowderguide.com/rice-protein-powder-cadmium-content.html
Minor grammar nit:
The phrases below don’t make sense.
ppm is a ratio, not a quantity.
10 ppb arsenic per liter
5 ppb per day
1.6 ppb arsenic per serving
3.0 ppb per 1/4 cup
I think I’ll take the risk and hope the rice noodles I’m eating for dinner won’t kill me.
Hi Chirs,
Here is an article by another skeptic such as yourself that is not as worried..what do you think and how would you counter his arguments:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/35306361/Stabilized-Rice-Bran-and-the-Arsenic-Myth
Hi Chris,
I hope this get to you. I am a first time mother of a 6 month old who is breastfeed. She has just started solids, mainly veggies. I was told by her pediatrician to start feeding her rice cereal. I am very very hesitant and have yet to give her any due to all this news about the aresenic.
I have been frantically researching trying to find the rice with the least amount, or an alternative but Im not sure what to do. I make my own baby food so I purchased the ludenburg brown rice from whole foods. But per your article brown rice the most arsenic in it. I don’t want to deprive her of nutrition, this whole this is really stressing me out.
Can you give me any sugesstions on what rice to give or a healthy alternative like sweet potato??
What about toasted brown rice green tea?
Hi Des, I would guess that since you are only using approx 1 tsp of the tea, and since only a small amount of that is rice, the amount of arsenic you’d be getting in your cup of tea would be very small. In fact, I’d be more worried about the fluoride content of the tea itself (which luckily appears to be lower for loose-leaf teas than tea bags — that’s why I switched to loose-leaf tea).
I wouldn’t be surprised if the tea leaves contain some amount of arsenic too! But it’s the amount you’re exposed to that matters.
Hello,
I was wondering about Wild Rice…is that the same as brown rice?
I am GF, dairy free and not great with corn. What pasta can I eat? Are you familiar with the product called “miracle noodles”? Do you know anything about them?
Thanks so much!
It depends where it’s grown. If it’s grown in the southern U.S., I’d imagine it has similar arsenic levels to brown rice.
Wild rice is not rice. It is a grain harvested from certain types of grass. It may or may not have any more arsenic than other non-rice grains, such as quinoa or millet.
Personally, I find that brown rice digests more slowly than white, and therefore has less impact on my blood sugar. I eat Lundberg Organics Short Grain Brown or Brown Jasmine, perhaps once a month. Even when Hubs and I did the McCombs Candida Plan (www.mccombsplan.com) we ate it perhaps once a week. I don’t think I’ll worry too much about it, unless I were to become pregnant (I’d be of quite advanced maternal age if so).