Rice is the single largest dietary source of inorganic arsenic for most people, but it is far from the only food that carries the element. Seafood, certain seaweeds, fruit juices, and some vegetables also contribute, though the type of arsenic they contain and the actual health risk vary enormously. The good news is that simple kitchen techniques, especially how you cook rice, can cut your exposure substantially.
Why Rice Tops the List
Rice absorbs arsenic from soil and water far more efficiently than other grains. Transfer of arsenic from soil to grain is roughly ten times greater in rice than in wheat or barley, even though rice is actually less efficient at moving arsenic from its shoots into the grain itself. The difference comes down to how rice is grown: flooded paddy fields create oxygen-starved conditions that convert arsenic in the soil into a form called arsenite, which is both more mobile and more easily taken up by plant roots.1PubMed. Greatly enhanced arsenic shoot assimilation in rice leads to elevated grain levels compared to wheat and barley Rice roots even have channels designed for absorbing silicic acid, a nutrient the plant needs, and arsenite slips through those same channels as a molecular stowaway.2PubMed. Comparative evaluation of Tobit and Free Ion Activity Models for optimizing genotype-specific permissible arsenic limits in rice soil and irrigation water
Around half the world’s population eats rice as a staple, which makes this more than a niche concern.3PubMed. Ferrihydrite level in paddy soil affects inorganic arsenic species in rice grains The arsenic that accumulates in rice grains is predominantly the inorganic kind, which is the form considered most toxic to humans. That distinction between inorganic and organic arsenic matters a great deal, and it is what makes rice a bigger worry than, say, a plate of shrimp.
Brown Rice Versus White Rice
If you have switched to brown rice for the fiber and nutrients, there is a trade-off worth knowing about. Brown rice and rice bran consistently contain higher concentrations of arsenic, including inorganic arsenic, compared to white rice.4PubMed Central. Arsenic content and exposure in brown rice compared to white rice in the United States Arsenic tends to concentrate in the outer layers of the grain, which are milled away when white rice is produced but left intact in brown rice. This does not mean you should never eat brown rice, but if arsenic is a concern for you, white rice is the lower-exposure choice, and the cooking methods discussed later in this article work on both types.
Rice Products and Infant Exposure
The arsenic in rice carries over into anything made from rice: rice flour, rice milk, rice syrup, rice crackers, and rice cereal. This is especially relevant for infants. Rice cereal has long been a go-to first solid food, and babies eat a lot of it relative to their body weight. Research has estimated that an infant eating three servings of rice cereal per day takes in arsenic at a rate roughly six and a half times higher, per kilogram of body weight, than an adult drinking a liter of water at the U.S. maximum contaminant level.5PubMed Central. Potential Exposure to Arsenic from Infant Rice Cereal Even two servings per day pushed infant exposure above what you would get from formula mixed with water containing arsenic at the EPA’s action threshold.
Organic brown rice syrup, which is used as a sweetener in some “natural” food products, can also be a hidden source. It appears in certain energy bars, toddler formulas, and cereal bars marketed as healthier alternatives, carrying the arsenic from the rice it was derived from.6PubMed Central. Arsenic, Organic Foods, and Brown Rice Syrup The U.S. FDA now sets a limit of 100 parts per billion for inorganic arsenic in infant rice cereal, but parents looking to minimize exposure further can rotate in oat-based or barley-based cereals, which come from grains that accumulate far less arsenic.
Seafood and the Organic Arsenic Distinction
Seafood often shows up high on lists of arsenic-containing foods, and that is technically true in terms of total arsenic. Fish and shellfish can contain quite a lot. But the dominant form of arsenic in marine fish muscle is arsenobetaine, which is widely considered nontoxic.7PubMed Central. Significant Biotransformation of Arsenobetaine into Inorganic Arsenic in Mice Arsenobetaine accounts for more than 95% of the arsenic extracted from the muscle tissue of fish species that have been studied in detail.8Applied Organometallic Chemistry. Arsenobetaine as the major arsenic compound in the muscle of two species of freshwater fish Cell studies comparing arsenobetaine directly to inorganic arsenite found that arsenobetaine lacked the toxicity and cancer-promoting properties seen with the inorganic form.9PubMed. Cellular retention, toxicity and carcinogenic potential of seafood arsenic. I. Lack of cytotoxicity and transforming activity of arsenobetaine in the BALB/3T3 cell line
That said, the story is not quite as tidy as “organic arsenic is harmless.” Recent animal research suggests that gut bacteria can convert some arsenobetaine from seafood into more toxic arsenic species inside the body. In germ-free animals (those with no gut microbiome), these toxic breakdown products were absent, indicating the transformation depends on intestinal bacteria.10PubMed. Microbiota-dependent in vivo biotransformation, accumulation, and excretion of arsenic from arsenobetaine-rich diet This is still early-stage research, and the practical significance for people eating normal amounts of fish remains unclear. For now, the scientific consensus is that eating fish and shellfish does not pose the same arsenic risk as eating equivalent amounts of rice, but researchers are paying closer attention to the gut microbiome’s role than they used to.
Hijiki Seaweed Stands Alone
Not all seaweeds are created equal when it comes to arsenic. Hijiki (also spelled hiziki) is a brown seaweed popular in Japanese and Korean cuisine, and it contains extraordinarily high levels of inorganic arsenic. Reported concentrations reach around 100 milligrams per kilogram of total arsenic and roughly 44 milligrams per kilogram of inorganic arsenic on a dry-weight basis.11Advanced Materials Research. Hijiki Seaweed (Hizikia fusiformis): Nutritional Value, Safety Concern and Arsenic Removal Method The UK Food Standards Agency and food safety bodies in several other countries have issued explicit warnings telling consumers not to eat hijiki because of this contamination.12PubMed. Toxicity of so-called edible hijiki seaweed (Sargassum fusiforme) containing inorganic arsenic
Other commonly consumed seaweeds like nori, wakame, and kombu contain arsenic at much lower levels, and in those seaweeds a larger proportion tends to be organic. If you eat seaweed regularly, avoiding hijiki specifically is the most impactful single choice you can make. Soaking and cooking hijiki does reduce its arsenic content somewhat, but the starting levels are so high that the results after preparation can still be a concern.13PubMed Central. Reduction of total, organic, and inorganic arsenic content in Hizikia fusiforme (Hijiki)
Vegetables, Fruit Juices, and Other Foods
Vegetables generally contain low levels of arsenic, but certain crops accumulate more than others depending on the soil. Research on crops grown in historically contaminated orchard soils found that lettuce and green beans had the highest arsenic concentrations among common vegetables, with carrots somewhat lower and tomatoes much lower.14PubMed Central. Arsenic and Lead Uptake by Vegetable Crops Grown on Historically Contaminated Orchard Soils For most people buying produce from grocery stores, the levels in vegetables are low enough that they are not a primary concern. The exception is if you grow your own food on land with a history of pesticide use (old orchards in particular, where lead arsenate was once widely sprayed).
Apple juice and grape juice have drawn attention because the fruits can absorb arsenic from contaminated soil or from water used in processing. The FDA has set guidance levels for inorganic arsenic in apple juice. Beer and wine can also contain trace amounts, partly because water and grain or grapes contribute. None of these individually are as large a contributor as rice for most people, but they add up, and dietary arsenic exposure is cumulative across everything you eat and drink.
What Chronic Low-Level Exposure Does to Health
Inorganic arsenic is a confirmed human carcinogen. Chronic exposure, even at the low levels typical of dietary intake, has been linked to increased risk of bladder, lung, and skin cancers.15PubMed Central. Health effects of chronic arsenic exposure A recent risk assessment estimated that inorganic arsenic exposure from eleven common foods in the U.S. diet is associated with thousands of additional bladder, lung, and skin cancer cases each year. The ranges are broad, reflecting uncertainty in the modeling, but the estimates for lung cancer alone run from roughly 1,600 to nearly 11,000 additional cases per year.16PubMed. Cancer Burden from Dietary Exposure to Inorganic Arsenic in the United States: Risk Assessment and Policy Implications
Beyond cancer, chronic arsenic exposure has been associated with cardiovascular disease, diabetes, skin lesions, and neurological effects. These outcomes are best documented in populations with high arsenic in drinking water, where exposure is much greater than what food alone typically delivers. Still, the point of dietary mitigation is that food exposure adds on top of water exposure, and many people face both simultaneously.
How to Reduce Arsenic When Cooking Rice
The most effective and practical thing you can do is change how you cook rice. The traditional method of cooking rice in just enough water for it to be fully absorbed locks the arsenic into the grain. Cooking in a large excess of water and draining the leftover liquid, much like you would cook pasta, washes a significant portion of the arsenic away.
How much it removes depends on the rice type. Cooking in excess water reduces inorganic arsenic by about 40% in long-grain polished rice, about 60% in parboiled rice, and about 50% in brown rice.17PubMed. Cooking rice in excess water reduces both arsenic and enriched vitamins in the cooked grain Other research using a high water-to-rice ratio found reductions of about 35% for total arsenic and 45% for inorganic arsenic in long-grain and basmati varieties.18PubMed. Cooking rice in a high water to rice ratio reduces inorganic arsenic content The numbers vary across studies, but the direction is consistent: more water and draining it off means less arsenic in what you eat.
Rinsing rice before cooking also helps. The combination of thorough rinsing and high-volume cooking water is more effective than either step alone. Researchers have even tested a percolating method, running fresh hot water continuously through the rice during cooking, similar to how a coffee percolator works. This approach removed up to 85% of inorganic arsenic from individual rice types in laboratory testing, and about 49% on average using a simple off-the-shelf coffee percolator at home.19PubMed Central. Rethinking Rice Preparation for Highly Efficient Removal of Inorganic Arsenic Using Percolating Cooking Water
There is one important caveat to all of these methods: the water you cook with matters. If your cooking water itself contains arsenic, you could actually be adding arsenic to the rice rather than removing it. A field study in rural Bengal found that when households cooked rice with arsenic-contaminated water, two-thirds of participants exceeded a cancer-risk threshold for inorganic arsenic intake from rice alone. Among those using arsenic-free cooking water, only about 29% exceeded the same threshold.20PubMed. Arsenic exposure from drinking water and staple food (rice): A field scale study in rural Bengal for assessment of human health risk If you are on well water in an area where arsenic contamination is known or suspected, getting your water tested is a smart first step before worrying about cooking techniques.
Excess-water cooking does wash out some enriched vitamins along with the arsenic, particularly folate and iron that are sprayed onto white rice during processing.17PubMed. Cooking rice in excess water reduces both arsenic and enriched vitamins in the cooked grain If rice is a major part of your diet, you may want to make up those nutrients from other foods or supplements. For rice bran specifically, percolating cooking water can remove up to 96% of inorganic arsenic, which is useful if you use bran as a health-food ingredient.21PubMed. Inorganic arsenic removal in rice bran by percolating cooking water
Practical Steps Beyond the Kitchen
Cooking methods address the rice already in your pantry, but broader strategies can reduce exposure at other levels. On the agricultural side, researchers are exploring irrigation management that alternates wet and dry periods instead of keeping paddies continuously flooded. When farmers introduce aerobic periods into the growing cycle, the arsenic in soil shifts to a less mobile form, and grain arsenic drops. Studies across a range of soil types and climates have documented reductions anywhere from 10% to 98% depending on conditions.22PubMed Central. Agronomic solutions to decrease arsenic concentrations in rice Soil amendments and low-arsenic rice varieties are also being developed, though these are not yet widely available to consumers as labeled choices.
For your own shopping and meal planning, a few practical principles help:
- Vary your grains: Substituting quinoa, millet, oats, or bulgur for some of the rice in your diet dilutes your overall exposure without requiring you to give up rice entirely.
- Choose white over brown when arsenic is the priority: If you eat rice daily and are concerned about arsenic, polished white rice is lower in inorganic arsenic than brown. Basmati rice grown in certain regions also tends to be on the lower end.
- Read labels on processed foods: Rice flour, rice starch, and organic brown rice syrup appear in a surprising number of packaged foods. Awareness helps you spot cumulative sources.
- Test your well water: If you rely on a private well, especially in areas with known groundwater arsenic, a water test is cheap and informative. Municipal water systems are required to test and treat for arsenic, but private wells are not.
Your Gut Microbiome and Arsenic
An emerging area of research involves the bacteria living in your gut, which turn out to play a role in how your body handles arsenic. Gut microbes can chemically transform arsenic compounds, changing their toxicity, how easily they are absorbed, and how efficiently they are excreted.23PubMed Central. The Human Gut Microbiome’s Influence on Arsenic Toxicity This means that two people eating the same amount of arsenic could experience different levels of exposure at the tissue level depending on the makeup of their gut bacteria.
Animal studies have shown that disrupting or eliminating the gut microbiome changes arsenic excretion patterns and overall body burden.23PubMed Central. The Human Gut Microbiome’s Influence on Arsenic Toxicity The practical implications for everyday food choices are not yet clear. Researchers cannot yet tell you which probiotic strains help with arsenic metabolism, or whether dietary interventions that shape the microbiome could meaningfully reduce arsenic harm. But the work does suggest that the health of your gut may be one more variable in how susceptible you are to dietary arsenic.
The Role of Folate in Arsenic Excretion
One nutritional factor with a clearer connection to arsenic processing is folate. Your body excretes arsenic through a series of chemical reactions that depend on folate as a cofactor. If you are folate-deficient, your ability to methylate and clear arsenic from your body is impaired, which could increase the damage arsenic does over time. A Cochrane systematic review examined whether folic acid supplementation could help arsenic-exposed populations, based on the principle that adequate folate facilitates arsenic methylation and excretion.24PubMed Central. Provision of folic acid for reducing arsenic toxicity in arsenic-exposed children and adults This is particularly relevant in parts of the world where both arsenic exposure and folate deficiency are common, but even in wealthier countries, maintaining good folate status through leafy greens, beans, and fortified foods is a low-cost hedge. It will not make arsenic harmless, but it may help your body deal with whatever amount you do take in.
How Arsenic Contamination Varies by Geography
Not all rice carries the same arsenic load. Rice grown in different regions absorbs different amounts depending on the arsenic content of local soil and water, the irrigation practices used, and the variety of rice planted. In the United States, rice from the south-central states (Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi) tends to have higher arsenic levels than rice from California, largely because of historical pesticide use on cotton fields that preceded rice cultivation in those areas. Basmati rice imported from India and Pakistan, and jasmine rice from Thailand, have generally tested at the lower end of the range in various market surveys.
This geographic variation gives you some power as a consumer. If you eat rice frequently, favoring varieties and origins associated with lower arsenic can reduce your long-term exposure without changing your cooking habits at all. Combined with the cooking methods already described, the cumulative reduction becomes meaningful. No single intervention eliminates arsenic from rice entirely, but stacking rinsing, excess-water cooking, and thoughtful sourcing together brings the numbers down substantially.