Pregnant women who consume average-sized portions of rice are more likely to have higher levels of arsenic compared to those who do not eat rice.
University of Michigan researchers warned that the US women who reported eating even relatively modest levels of the cereal grain or about half a cup of cooked rice per day are at greater risk of having unsafe levels of arsenic in their body.
Arsenic is a toxic element tied to higher rates of cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Exposure to the chemical element during pregnancy may raise the odds of miscarriage and developing respiratory infections in babies after birth.
One of the main sources of people’s exposure to arsenic is known to be contaminated water. That is why many countries measure the element’s levels in their drinking water.
According to the new study, women who were exposed through both eating rice and drinking water had on average twice the level of arsenic in their urine than those who did not eat rice and were only exposed through water.
Scientists investigated sources of arsenic exposure among 229 pregnant women living in New Hampshire, a state with high arsenic concentrations in well water.
The average arsenic concentration in the urine was doubled for women who consumed rice in the two days prior to sampling. Those women also had a higher concentration of inorganic arsenic which is the most toxic form of the element.
Calculations suggest that each gram of consumed rice was associated with a 1 percent increase in the concentration of arsenic in the urine, researchers wrote in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
The findings highlight the need to regulate arsenic in food and suggest that governmental agencies should consider rice consumption when designing arsenic reduction strategies and standards.
SJM/TE