Rice Health Risk: Cooking Grain This Way Could Expose You To Arsenic Poisoning
Did you know rice contains arsenic? Scientists have been aware for a while, but it’s generally believed that this cancer-causing ingredient is cooked out.
For the BBC program "Trust Me, I’m a Doctor," Professor Andy Meharg of Queens University Belfast tested three ways of cooking rice and examined the arsenic level afterwards. The U.K.’s Independent reported the results, which showed that simply boiling rice with some water may expose those who eat it to traces of the poison.
In one scenario, Meharg prepared the grain using a ratio of two parts water to one part rice, and then simply boiled it in a pan until all of the water steamed out. This common method left most of the arsenic present in the rice when compared to the other two ways to prepare rice.
Levels of arsenic were significantly reduced when Professor Meharg used five parts water to one part rice and washed the excess water off afterwards. He also cooked the rice after soaking it overnight, which decreased levels of the toxin even more.
The Independent reported that healthy levels of arsenic are really only gone when the rice is soaked overnight.
Arsenic has been linked to health problems like heart disease, diabetes and cancer, and developmental disorders.
According to Yahoo, research from Channel 4's "Dispatches" and the Institute for Global Food Security found that about 58 percent of rice-based products in the UK contain high levels of arsenic.
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