"How Much Arsenic in Rice is Too Much?"
Those who are exposed to the most arsenic in rice
are those who are exposed to the most rice,
like people who are eating plant- based or gluten-free, dairy-free.
So at-risk populations are not just infants and pregnant women,
but those who may tend to eat more rice.
What a terrible irony for the health conscious who are trying to avoid dairy,
eat lots of whole foods, lots of brown rice,
so much so that they may not only suffer some theoretical
increased lifetime cancer risk, but actually suffer arsenic poisoning.
For example, this poor woman: bad enough she had celiac disease
so had to avoid wheat, barley, and rye, but turned to so much rice
she ended up with sky-high arsenic levels and some typical symptoms:
diarrhea, headache, insomnia, loss of appetite, abnormal taste,
and impaired short-term memory and concentration.
So we, as doctors, should keep an eye out for it
in those who eat lots of rice day in and day out.
In their 2012 arsenic-in-rice exposé, Consumer Reports recommended
adults eat no more than an average of 2 servings of rice a week,
or 3 servings a week of rice cereal or rice pasta,
though in their later analysis it looked like rice cereal and rice pasta had more,
so dropped their recommendation down to only 2 servings a week.
And that's if you're not getting arsenic from any other rice sources.
So they came up with this kind of point system
so people could add up all their rice products for the week
and make sure they're staying under 7 points a week on average.
So if your only source of rice is just rice,
then they recommend no more than 1 or 2 servings and then call it a week.
But I recommend 21 servings of whole grains a week in my Daily Dozen.
Well, get to know quinoa, or buckwheat, or millet, or oatmeal, or barley,
or any of the other dozen or so
common non-rice whole grains out there.
They tend to have negligible levels of toxic arsenic.
Rice accumulates 10 times more arsenic than other grains,
which helps explain why the arsenic levels in urine samples from those
who eat rice tend to be consistently higher than those who do not eat rice.
The FDA recently tested a few dozen quinoa samples
and most had arsenic levels below the level of detection, or just trace amounts,
including the red quinoas that are my family's favorite,
which I was happy about,
though there were still a few that were up around like half that of rice.
But overall, quinoa averaged ten times less arsenic than rice, the toxic arsenic.
So instead of 2 servings a week following the Consumer Reports'
recommendation, you could have 20.
So that's strategy #1: diversify the diet and consider alternatives to rice,
especially for infants.
Then we can minimize exposure, cooking rice like pasta
with plenty of extra water---we found that 10:1 water to rice seemed best,
though the data suggest the rinsing they recommend here
doesn't seem to do much.
We can avoid processed foods sweetened with brown rice syrup.
Anything else we can do at the dining room table
while waiting for federal agencies to establish some regulatory limits?
What if you eat a lot of fiber- containing foods with your rice?
Might that help bind some of the arsenic?
Apparently not.
But the presence of fat did seem to have an effect, but in the wrong direction,
increasing estimates of arsenic absorption,
likely due to the extra bile we release when we eat fatty foods.
We know that the tannic acid in coffee and especially tea
can reduce iron absorption,
which is why I recommend to not drink tea with meals,
but hey, might it also decrease arsenic absorption?
Yes, by perhaps 40-plus percent.
So they suggest tannic acid might help,
but they used megadoses: 17 cups of tea worth,
or that found in 34 cups of coffee, so it isn't really practical.
What do the experts suggest?
Well, hey, arsenic levels are lower in rice
from certain regions like California and parts of India.
So why don't we blend some of that in with some of the higher arsenic rice
to even things out for everybody?
What?!
Another wonky, thinking outside the ricebox idea
involves an algae discovered in the hot springs of Yellowstone National Park
with an enzyme that can volatize arsenic into a gas.
Aha!
So let's genetically engineer that gene into a rice plant,
and they were able to get a little arsenic gas off the thing,
but the rice industry is hesitant.
"Posed with a choice between genetically engineered rice
and rice with arsenic in it, consumers may decide
they just aren't going to eat any rice at all."