Consumer Reports magazine has announced disturbing news about arsenic levels in rice. Eating rice once a day is enough to increase arsenic levels in the body by 44%. Rice eaten twice a day will raise arsenic levels in the body by a staggering 70%.
The FDA is doing their own research into this accusation and "So far our results…we actually have about the same number of samples in (and) these two data sets are fairly similar," FDA commissioner Margaret Hamburg stated.
The FDA has gone on to say, "We are not recommending that consumers need to change their consumption of rice products in dramatic ways," Hamburg said. "We think the best advice is a balanced diet (and) it's good nutrition. There are lots of varieties of grains and other products that should be part of a balanced diet."
Consumer Reports tested many forms of rice for arsenic, from cereal for babies and adults, to brown and white whole grain, pasta and drinks. More than 60 rice and rice products were tested overall, including name brands.
No brands have been named yet but Nestle, the parent company of Gerber, has release the following statement to ABC News, "all Gerber products are safe to consume, including Gerber rice cereal and Gerber SmartNourish organic brown rice cereal." They added that although they monitor arsenic levels, consumer concern led them to "exclusively use California rice in the production of our rice-containing infant nutrition products… because California rice has the lowest naturally occurring arsenic levels for rice grown in the United States."
There seems to be a geographical distinction with certain areas producing rice with high arsenic levels.
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