FOOD NEWS: Arsenic Rice!

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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FOOD NEWS: Is Soy Hazardous To Our Health? Experts Weigh In!

Where do you stand on the Soy debate?

Some people stand on a mountain top to sing soy's praises while others spout cautionary tales of cancer and rising infertility.

As a widely used substitute for food allergies and intolerances  soy has become a staple in many people's diets. It has also become one of our nation's biggest crops!

Where do you stand on the debate? Vote at the below link and then read opinions from two leading experts.

Click Here to caste your vote!

FOOD NEWS: Pretty Tomatoes Taste Like Cardboard

Patterns of ripe fruit pigmentation and associated nutrient quality are
under the direction of UNIFORM/SlGLK2 transcription factor.

[Image courtesy of S. Zhong and J. Giovannoni]

The next time you bite into a supermarket tomato and are less than impressed with the taste, blame aesthetics. A new study reveals that decades of breeding the fruits for uniform color have robbed them of a gene that boosts their sugar content.

The finding is "a massive advance in our understanding of tomato fruit development and ripening," says Alisdair Fernie, who studies the chemical composition of tomatoes at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology in Potsdam, Germany.

The tomato originated in South America and is now grown around the world. More than 15 million tons are harvested in the United States alone each year. Farmers pluck the fruits from the vine before they are ripe, and for about 70 years breeders have selected tomatoes that are uniformly light green at that time. This makes it easier to spot the tomatoes that are ready to be harvested and ensures that, by the time they hit supermarket shelves, the fruits glow with an even red color. Wild varieties, in contrast, "have dark green shoulders, and that makes it harder to determine the right time to harvest," says Ann Powell, a plant scientist at the University of California, Davis. Consumers might also find unevenly colored tomatoes less appealing, she suggests.

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Ugly tomatoes have never looked so good!