Arsenic in rice: scaremongering or real risk?
10.3.2026
Translation: Elicia Payne
Virtually all rice contains arsenic, which can cause cancer and cardiovascular disease. Here’s how much you can still eat without worrying and how you can reduce the arsenic content with the right preparation.
Arsenic’s found all over the world. Whether it can harm you depends on the chemical form of the element. Organic arsenic (which is bound to at least one carbon atom) is found in large quantities in fish and seafood, for example. But this won’t cause any harm to your body as the compound is so stable that this form of arsenic is simply excreted in your urine.
Rice and algae contain particularly high levels of arsenic
The situation’s different for inorganic arsenic (without carbon atoms), which enters plants via the soil and groundwater. Your body can’t just excrete it – instead, it gets stored in your tissue. High doses can cause poisoning; small doses over an extended period of time can damage cells in the long run and cause cancer, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and nerve disorders. Most foods contain very little inorganic arsenic and are therefore harmless. Algae and rice, on the other hand, are different. Whole grain rice, parboiled rice, long grain rice and basmati rice have particularly high arsenic levels, but other types of rice are also contaminated.
There’s so much in these that you shouldn’t eat rice every day. You should also avoid eating sushi more than twice a week because this mainly consists of rice and seaweed.
Source: Mahmoud Fawzy/Unsplash
How to reduce the arsenic content
If you’re a rice fan, this might sound rather devastating. But there’s a trick you can use to significantly reduce the arsenic content. To do this, soak the rice in plenty of water overnight. The next day, drain the water and cook the rice in plenty of water. Then pour off the excess water and rinse the grains with hot tap water. In this way, up to 84 percent of the arsenic is dissolved and you can eat your rice without worrying.
What’s actually healthy and what’s just a fad?
If you’d like the answers to more questions like these, I can recommend the German book «Bad milk and good spelt?» (Böse Milch und guter Dinkel?).
In their guide, nutritionist Achim Sam and internist and professor of nutritional medicine Christian Sina tackle common nutritional myths. How healthy is milk? Is spelt healthier than wheat? Does apple cider vinegar help you lose weight? Is aquaculture or wild-caught salmon better? The two experts answer these and many other questions in a clear, simplified way and explain the science that supports it. You get a comprehensive overview of what modern research in healthy nutrition looks like today.
Healthy nutrition put straight
The first part of the book gives you an overview of the most important nutrition basics. Here you find out, among other things, which fats are «good» and «bad», which nutrients we can’t do without, whether sugar really makes us ill and how diet affects blood sugar levels, sleep, mood and memory. In the following chapters, the authors discuss different forms of nutrition, the best nutrition in particular phases of life, what happens when you lose weight and what’s important when it comes to food quality.
Fact check on nutrition myths and misconceptions
The last part of the book tackles nutritional myths. In compact sections, the experts shed light on the world of nutritional misconceptions and answer questions such as «What food helps with high blood pressure?», «Are meat substitutes bad for your health?» and «Does eating after 7 p.m. make you fat?». I particularly like the fact that each of the answers ends with a short summary of all the relevant information.
Header image: Anthony Espinosa/Unsplash
Anna Sandner
Senior Editor
Anna.Sandner@galaxus.deScience editor and biologist. I love animals and am fascinated by plants, their abilities and everything you can do with them. That's why my favourite place is always the outdoors - somewhere in nature, preferably in my wild garden.
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