What do you make of this arsenic in rice deal?

[Bridget]

I wouldn't be so worried if I hadn't pretty much gone hog wild on rice since we went gluten free for Kai. And now with the possible dairy free I went and bought rice protien powder. I used brown rice flour in almost everthing I make that calls for flour these days.

[Suja]

Bridget, our food habits are extremely rice based. As in, most of our breakfast, lunch and dinner involves dishes made from rice. I am fairly certain that y'all likely consume WAY less rice than we have been, for generations. I am yet to see any health problems caused by it. I am keeping an eye on the research, but have not altered our food habits any.

ETA: Our diet is primarily white rice, which tends to be lower in arsenic than brown rice, and our white rice is generally not grown in the US (which I don't know if it is good or bad, but there seems to be a correlation between the regions where rice is grown - the southern states where cotton used to be a crop and arsenic compounds were used as pesticides - and the levels of arsenic in the rice).

[Bridget]

I am glad to hear you say that, Suja. Honestly, I have only read the headlines and have not yet looked very deeply into it as I just can't handle that right now! lol. It's been hard modifying our life to living without whole wheat flour and rice has saved me thus far.

[JJorn]

I am not super concerned yet either. If arsenic is in ground water where rice is grown it is also in drinking water in those areas. We have just gotten so much better at detecting smaller and smaller amounts that we're going to see a lot more things like this coming up in the news.

[hotpinkmomma0811]

I did not even hear about this!!! Great add it to list.

[Ashleen]

I did not even hear about this!!! Great add it to list.

I didn't either! ... I guess I'm off to do some googling on the subject...

[tanyachap]

Bridget, our food habits are extremely rice based. As in, most of our breakfast, lunch and dinner involves dishes made from rice. I am fairly certain that y'all likely consume WAY less rice than we have been, for generations. I am yet to see any health problems caused by it. I am keeping an eye on the research, but have not altered our food habits any.

ETA: Our diet is primarily white rice, which tends to be lower in arsenic than brown rice, and our white rice is generally not grown in the US (which I don't know if it is good or bad, but there seems to be a correlation between the regions where rice is grown - the southern states where cotton used to be a crop and arsenic compounds were used as pesticides - and the levels of arsenic in the rice).

Great points. I live in So Cal and there are SOOOOOO MANY Asian and Middle Eastern people here who live on rice and consume it with every meal. I have asked some of them and nobody seems concerned (but have made remarks about how much bread we eat LOL). Nobody has changed their habits and they eat it all day long, with everything. Our very good Filipino friend eats it with his scrambled eggs for breakfast

[MomOfAnOnly]

I've been using Bob Mills All Purpose gluten free flour in almost everything, rice flours as little as possible. I like the AP texture better (the final product is much fluffier and not as grainy as with rice flour) and I feel like chickpea powder (the first ingredient in Bob Mills AP flour) is a healthier choice especially given all the recent press about rice and arsenic.

[macksmom]

Was it just in pesticides used on rice or the actual rice? Could you buy organic rice products?

I agree SO many cultures are rice-based...I would think there would be serious problems if this was a bad as it's been made out to be. I also think it was a concern for babies because most people start on rice cereal and some babies end up consuming a lot as their first food in their tiny bodies.