Do you eat rice? Are you concerned about arsenic in rice? The BBC has an article of interest on how to cook rice to reduce the arsenic level:
Source: BBC
- Soak your rice overnight – this opens up the grain and allows the arsenic to escape
- Drain the rice and rinse thoroughly with fresh water
- For every part rice add five parts water and cook until the rice is tender – do not allow it to boil dry.
- Drain the rice and rinse again with hot water to get rid of the last of the cooking water.
- Serve your reduced-arsenic rice – it’s as simple as that!
In 2011, the Oman Medical Journal discussed the situation in Bangladesh and a quick summary of arsenic’s effects:
In Bangladesh, arsenic contamination in groundwater was first detected in the year 1993. According to the data provided by UNICEF in 2008, there are approximately 8.6 million tube-wells in Bangladesh. Of these, 4.75 million tube wells (55%) have been tested for arsenic among which 3.3 million (39%) were marked green indicating that the ground water is safe; while 1.4 million (16%) were marked red indicating that they are unsafe to use as sources of drinking water due to the high arsenic level, (Fig. 1). Recent findings show that about 20 million people in Bangladesh are using tube-wells contaminated with arsenic over the permissible level (>50 ppb).
Chronic arsenic exposure is associated with many human health conditions, including skin lesions and cancers of the liver, lung, bladder and skin. It is also associated with many non-cancer health conditions, such as adverse reproductive outcomes, neurological disorders and impaired cognitive development in children. Cardiovascular effects in human drinking arsenic-contaminated water include black foot disease, atherosclerosis, cerebrovascular diseases and ischemic heart disease. Moreover, maternal arsenic exposure via drinking water is associated with fetal loss, small size at birth, infant morbidity and mortality.
If your consumption of rice is spotty, I should think there’s nothing to worry about – but if you relish a good rice, then the cooking suggestion is probably worth your time.
