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ARSENIC in Rice, rice milk, rice cakes...

Dreambirdie

work in progress
Messages
5,569
Location
N. California
Thanks Dan--

I have had many hair analyses that have indicated high levels of arsenic. I could never figure out WHERE it was coming from, because I eat an all all organic, mostly locally grown food diet. I have an RO filter under my sink and wash my vegies with it. It is strange to think that the rice I eat (the only grain in my diet) could be the source. Kind of sucks.
 

V99

Senior Member
Messages
1,471
Location
UK
I was given arsenic as a child. Not a child abuse thing, it was doctors and for a medical condition. Came as a surprise when I found out, about the same time Cary Grant did, that you could poison people with it. :D:D
 

dannybex

Senior Member
Messages
3,561
Location
Seattle
Since posting this I came across a site that claimed that Lundberg rice was 'arsenic free'...still checking this out, but other sites have said that rice from California and Texas -- where they don't flood the fields with water -- are safer. Off to the docs...for now.
 

IntuneJune

Senior Member
Messages
562
Location
NorthEastern USA
:tear::tear:Oh geeeezzzzz, I eat little grains.....on my GF diet, but rice was the main grain. I have found I do not tolerate other grains very well.

Geeeezzzzzz

Well, thanks for the link. :tear::tear::tear:

June
 

Lisa

Senior Member
Messages
453
Location
Western Washington
Hey Danny :Retro smile:

Do you have a link for where you saw California rice isn't grown in flooded conditions? I lived for several years in the area it is grown back in the mid 1990's and they very definitely were flooded at that time.

Also found this at the California Rice Commission:
Rice fields are continuously flooded from before or shortly after planting in April to the end of May until about 2 weeks before harvest, typically in mid-September to mid-October. Properly managed, rice cultivation is unique among the potential economic land uses in these areas because it provides many of the benefits once preserved by the natural wetland habitat that historically occurred in the Sacramento Valley.

This sure is a bummer about rice and arsenic. :(

Thanks for starting the topic Danny, I had not heard it before but it will make me think a bit about if I want to keep it around for the odd meal.

Take care, Lisa:Retro smile:
 

Tammie

Senior Member
Messages
793
Location
Woodridge, IL
i wonder if that has anything to do with why rice is among the many foods I now have sensitivities to......I am unable to eat so many things bc of MCS, but the rice issue has never made sense since it is one of the things that most everyone can tolerate (& the first foods they give to babies - scary knowing that if there is arsenic in it - babies are getting poisoned)

anyway, maybe my super sensitive to everything body is somehow reacting to the aresenic
 

dannybex

Senior Member
Messages
3,561
Location
Seattle
Hey Danny :Retro smile:

Do you have a link for where you saw California rice isn't grown in flooded conditions? I lived for several years in the area it is grown back in the mid 1990's and they very definitely were flooded at that time.

Also found this at the California Rice Commission:


This sure is a bummer about rice and arsenic. :(

Thanks for starting the topic Danny, I had not heard it before but it will make me think a bit about if I want to keep it around for the odd meal.

Take care, Lisa:Retro smile:

Hi Lisa and all,

I can't remember where I read that about California not flooding their fields, but if you lived there and saw it happen, then of course at least in some areas they must be still doing it.

However, location is important, only if the rice is grown on soil that is high in inorganic arsenic, or was contaminated with arsenic:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1892142/

"At one point during the reign of King Cotton, farmers in the south central United States controlled boll weevils with arsenic-based pesticides, and residual arsenic still contaminates the soil. Today, rice paddies cover fields where cotton once grew, and a large market basket survey published in the 1 April 2007 issue of Environmental Science & Technology now shows that rice grown in this area contains, on average, 1.76 times more arsenic than rice grown in California."

..."Total arsenic levels in the 107 south central rice samples averaged 0.30 μg/g, compared to an average of 0.17 μg/g in the 27 California samples. A white rice sample from Louisiana ranked highest in total arsenic (0.66 μg/g), and an organic brown rice from California ranked lowest (0.10 μg/g). Organic growing conditions, however, do not guarantee low arsenic levels, since any rice growing in arsenic-laden soil soaks up arsenic, says Meharg."

And finally...

"“Until this all gets sorted out, consumers shouldn’t be overly concerned,” Duxbury says. Nevertheless, rice fanciers might note that both Duxbury and Meharg found basmati rice imported from India and Pakistan and jasmine rice from Thailand to contain the least arsenic."

I'll email Lundberg tomorrow and ask if they test for arsenic.

d.