Info Arsenic levels in Rice

[Dr. Nate]

Arsenic concentrations

Rice absorbs a lot more arsenic than most other cereal crops due to the flooded conditions it's grown in [1]. Seafood can have higher arsenic concentrations than rice, but the arsenic in seafood is almost entirely in the organic form. In contrast, rice has significant levels of inorganic arsenic, which is generally a lot more toxic [2].


How to reduce the arsenic levels?

You can boil your rice in a bunch of water and drain the excess water when the rice is finished cooking. This decreases arsenic by ~50%, but you lose a bunch of nutrients too (especially the ones that were added during enrichment, since those leave pretty easily) [3, 4].
You can also avoid brown rice, since arsenic is more concentrated in the rice bran (which is removed in white rice and kept in brown rice) [5].

Spoiler: References

1. Li, G., Sun, G. X., Williams, P. N., Nunes, L., & Zhu, Y. G. (2011). Inorganic arsenic in Chinese food and its cancer risk. Environment international, 37(7), 1219-1225.
2. Taylor, V., Goodale, B., Raab, A., Schwerdtle, T., Reimer, K., Conklin, S., ... & Francesconi, K. A. (2017). Human exposure to organic arsenic species from seafood. Science of the Total Environment, 580, 266-282.
3. Raab, A., Baskaran, C., Feldmann, J., & Meharg, A. A. (2009). Cooking rice in a high water to rice ratio reduces inorganic arsenic content. Journal of Environmental Monitoring, 11(1), 41-44.
4. Gray, P. J., Conklin, S. D., Todorov, T. I., & Kasko, S. M. (2016). Cooking rice in excess water reduces both arsenic and enriched vitamins in the cooked grain. Food Additives & Contaminants: Part A, 33(1), 78-85.
5. Sun, G. X., Williams, P. N., Carey, A. M., Zhu, Y. G., Deacon, C., Raab, A., ... & Meharg, A. A. (2008). Inorganic arsenic in rice bran and its products are an order of magnitude higher than in bulk grain. Environmental science & technology, 42(19), 7542-7546.

 

[Dr. Nate]

Also washing your rice can slightly reduce the arsenic content, but the effect is mild, and you should probably already be washing your rice anyways

 

[Deleted Member 85367]

Arsenic concentrations

Rice absorbs a lot more arsenic than most other cereal crops due to the flooded conditions it's grown in [1]. Seafood can have higher arsenic concentrations than rice, but the arsenic in seafood is almost entirely in the organic form. In contrast, rice has significant levels of inorganic arsenic, which is generally a lot more toxic [2].


How to reduce the arsenic levels?

You can boil your rice in a bunch of water and drain the excess water when the rice is finished cooking. This decreases arsenic by ~50%, but you lose a bunch of nutrients too (especially the ones that were added during enrichment, since those leave pretty easily) [3, 4].
You can also avoid brown rice, since arsenic is more concentrated in the rice bran (which is removed in white rice and kept in brown rice) [5].

Spoiler: References

1. Li, G., Sun, G. X., Williams, P. N., Nunes, L., & Zhu, Y. G. (2011). Inorganic arsenic in Chinese food and its cancer risk. Environment international, 37(7), 1219-1225.
2. Taylor, V., Goodale, B., Raab, A., Schwerdtle, T., Reimer, K., Conklin, S., ... & Francesconi, K. A. (2017). Human exposure to organic arsenic species from seafood. Science of the Total Environment, 580, 266-282.
3. Raab, A., Baskaran, C., Feldmann, J., & Meharg, A. A. (2009). Cooking rice in a high water to rice ratio reduces inorganic arsenic content. Journal of Environmental Monitoring, 11(1), 41-44.
4. Gray, P. J., Conklin, S. D., Todorov, T. I., & Kasko, S. M. (2016). Cooking rice in excess water reduces both arsenic and enriched vitamins in the cooked grain. Food Additives & Contaminants: Part A, 33(1), 78-85.
5. Sun, G. X., Williams, P. N., Carey, A. M., Zhu, Y. G., Deacon, C., Raab, A., ... & Meharg, A. A. (2008). Inorganic arsenic in rice bran and its products are an order of magnitude higher than in bulk grain. Environmental science & technology, 42(19), 7542-7546.

cool thank you