Minimizing arsenic in your rice

Last month rice lovers got some bitter news.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and Consumer Reports released studies showing "worrisome" levels of cancer-causing arsenic in many popular rices and rice products.

Within days, some doctors called for limiting rice consumption, especially for children. Consumer Reports suggested capping weekly servings to less than a cup of cooked rice for kids and about 1 1/2 cups of cooked rice for adults. And the Illinois Attorney General's office, which conducted its own tests on infant rice cereal, suggested watching how much rice cereal parents feed to babies.

The FDA, however, stopped short of advising a cap on rice consumption or even a limit on arsenic residues in rice. But it did say that the levels found have prompted the agency to prioritize further testing of about 1,000 more samples by the end of the year to come up with "science-based" recommendations. Critics of the Consumer Reports recommendations are quick to point out that no large-scale epidemiological study has yet isolated arsenic in rice as a source of cancer in humans. But no such study has ruled it out, either. And all acknowledge that inorganic arsenic is classified as a Class A carcinogen, making high consumption levels a bad idea.

For those who don't eat much rice, this issue may be small potatoes. But Asian and Latino food lovers and the nation's growing legions of gluten-free eaters depend on rice for a large part of their diet. So what are those groups supposed to do, especially those who feed kids, until the FDA comes out with official rice recommendations? We talked to experts for some advice.

Be careful when feeding babies rice cereal and rice milk. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan's office conducted tests of rice cereals for babies that she announced all contained inorganic arsenic. Gerber recently released a statement announcing it now sources its baby cereal rice only from California. Still, Consumer Reports advises that children do not drink rice milk and that infant rice cereal (1/4 cup) be served no more than once a day.