Is Eating Rice (With High Arsenic Levels) Safe?

[willbewhatiwill]

I have stopped eating rice (and its products like rice noodles, rice flour, etc) for nearly a year now. I do no feel good and healthy after eating rice, as rice contains more arsenic that any other crops grown for food.

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/features/high-levels-of-arsenic-in-rice-why-isnt-it-regulated-in-our-food-9836900.html reported, “Rice has, typically, ten times more inorganic arsenic than other foods and, as the European Food Standards Authority have reported, people who eat a lot of rice are exposed to worrying concentrations. What sets rice apart is that it is the only major crop that is grown under flooded conditions. It is this flooding that releases inorganic arsenic, normally locked up in soil minerals, which makes it available for the plant to uptake. Chronic exposure can cause a range of health problems including developmental problems, heart disease, diabetes and nervous system damage. However, most worrying are lung and bladder cancers. Bottled water in the EU is around 50 times lower in inorganic arsenic water concentrations than rice. Therefore, you would need to drink five litres of water to get the equivalent arsenic dose of eating a small 100g (dry weight packet) portion of rice. Brown rice is higher in inorganic arsenic than white as arsenic is concentrated in the bran that is removed by milling to produce white rice. Sourcing rice from regions with lower grain inorganic arsenic concentrations – for example, basmati rice is two to three-fold lower in inorganic arsenic than rice from the European Union or from the US. Cooking rice in a large excess of water also helps to remove inorganic arsenic”.

[dannyk13]

http://www.healthline.com/nutrition/arsenic-in-rice#section7

[Hopkirk]

This was on one of those Trust Me I'm A Doctor programmes recently (or similar). Soak and rinse the rice first, rinse with boiling water after cooking and this gets rid of most to safe levels.

[Mamyalynne]

There are and have been for some time some petitions on this topic.

[dannyk13]

Petitioning for what Lynne?

[willbewhatiwill]

Hopkirk: "Soak and rinse the rice first, rinse with boiling water after cooking and this gets rid of most to safe levels".

Frankly, I never want to eat rice ever again. I do not feel good & health after eating any rice products, regardless how (or assurances received on how) they are prepared.

[willbewhatiwill]

Mamyalynne

Not my petition, I do not even know there is a petition. If there is a petition, I would like to sign it, if possible.

[Samuraisan]

Well then don't. People if the Far East don't seem to have any problems, and they eat it everyday.

[-Talbot-]

Uncle Ben wouldn't poison me.

[ummmm]

Exactly, Sam.

[Mamyalynne]

Don't know the dates but here's one though I think it's from America - I wasn't implying it was yours Wil.

A Google may find others.


https://www.change.org/p/tell-the-fda-and-eu-set-arsenic-limits-for-rice-protect-our-kids

[willbewhatiwill]

Talbot, ummmm,

Uncle Ben? 'I wouldn't trust the company as far as I could throw them'.

[EcclesCake]

I think I'll spend more time worrying about getting hit by the No19 bus.

[ummmm]

I had rice for breakfast :-)

[EcclesCake]

I'm not much of a breakfast eater but a plate of nasi goreng with chicken and cucumber was my favourite way of starting the day in Malaysia :-)

[woofgang]

oooo nasi goreng with prawns in it and a fried egg on top....

[ummmm]

I don't eat breakfast either but I was awake at 5 :-)

[Khandro]

As Paracelsus said there's really no such thing a "poison" .
"The dose makes the poison" (Latin: ''sola dosis facit venenum'') is an adage intended to indicate a basic principle of toxicology. It is credited to Paracelsus who expressed the classic toxicology maxim "All things are poison and nothing is without poison; only the dose makes a thing not a poison."
Wise words.

[willbewhatiwill]

Khandro: "All things are poison and nothing is without poison; only the dose makes a thing not a poison."

The proposed new EU recommendations will limit 200 parts of arsenic per billion for adults and just 100 ppb for children and babies. Most food have arsenic levels than this recommended level.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2817542/More-half-rice-products-exceed-new-EU-limits-ARSENIC.html reported, “The proposed new EU recommendations will limit 200 parts of arsenic per billion for adults and just 100 ppb for children and babies. During the research products including Kelloggs' Rice Krispies and Kallo organic puffed rice cereal were tested multiple times - and some showed high levels of inorganic arsenic, far above the proposed limits. Organic original puffed rice cereal by Kallo Foods was found to have 323 parts of arsenic per billion (ppb) while Organic wholegrain baby rice by Organix was found to have 268 ppb – 168 per cent above recommended levels for babies and children. Smooth Baby Rice by Heinz was found to be 129 ppb– 28.9 per cent above recommended levels for babies and children”.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2817542/More-half-rice-products-exceed-new-EU-limits-ARSENIC.html continues, “While not harmful in small quantities to humans, scientists say exposure to high levels of inorganic arsenic over a prolonged period can lead to cancer or heart disease. Professor Andrew Meharg, Professor of Biological Sciences at Queen's University Belfast, told Dispatches: 'The European Union is going to set standards for arsenic levels in baby rice at 100 parts per billion. To my estimation that is far too high. It should be at least half that. The levels of arsenic in rice vary by type. Italian brown rice has 160ppb, red rice from France 310ppb and basmati rice from India has just 40ppb”.

[ummmm]

Can you not condense your posts. Far too much reading!

[Mamyalynne]

Do you have up to date news and figures since the articles linked to are a few years old?