Arsenic in All Rice Milk

[4evermom]

Did anyone post this yet?

http://www.wholechildwellness.com/news-ricedrinks.htm

[allnaturalmom]

IDK... This is the first I've seen it.

[tanyam926]

Yikes, never heard of this before now. I guess it's good that my kids hate rice milk and prefer almond milk.

I wonder where I can learn more about this study.

[4evermom]

Originally Posted by tanyam926

Yikes, never heard of this before now. I guess it's good that my kids hate rice milk and prefer almond milk.

I wonder where I can learn more about this study.

The second link in the link I posted seems to be a download of 20 pages of info about the study. The first link is basically the same info written on another site. It looks like this study was just done in February of this year, so pretty new.

[desertpenguin]

i hadn't read that per say, but i did read a couple of months ago some stuff about the arsenic in rice. we're gluten free and corn free...now trying to cut back on the rice in our baked goods too. meh, it seems like everything is contaminated. one of the articles i read was from, i believe, 2007 so i guess they have known about this for a little while.

[kjbrown92]

So now we know why it says not to be used as a formula substitute for kids under the age of 5 on the side of the box... wish they'd made it clear WHY they were saying that.

[fruitfulmomma]

So now we know why it says not to be used as a formula substitute for kids under the age of 5 on the side of the box... wish they'd made it clear WHY they were saying that.

All milk substitutes say this because they don't contain the nutrients needed for growing a tiny human. Because babies have actually died from starvation when parents chose to use them instead of formula.

[~bookcase~]

what are the longterm implications?

[samy23]

Oh my GOSH!!

[inkslinger]

Yikes.

[Ruthla]

This is already being discussed on the Allergies forum.

The conclusions are that rice milk contains too much arsenic for toddlers and young children to drink as a "milk replacement", but it's fine for adults and older kids since we tend to drink far less milk in proportion to our body weights.

What I'm wondering most about all this is that the arsenic comes from the rice itself, it's not something that forms in the processing of rice milk. How much rice/rice flour/rice pasta/ rice cereal/etc is it safe to consume per day? Will they stop recomending rice cereal for infants in light of this new research? Is it safe for adults to eat tons of rice products, regardless of whether or not rice milk is included in the "total rice for the day"?

[samy23]

Originally Posted by Ruthla

This is already being discussed on the Allergies forum.

The conclusions are that rice milk contains too much arsenic for toddlers and young children to drink as a "milk replacement", but it's fine for adults and older kids since we tend to drink far less milk in proportion to our body weights.

What I'm wondering most about all this is that the arsenic comes from the rice itself, it's not something that forms in the processing of rice milk. How much rice/rice flour/rice pasta/ rice cereal/etc is it safe to consume per day? Will they stop recomending rice cereal for infants in light of this new research? Is it safe for adults to eat tons of rice products, regardless of whether or not rice milk is included in the "total rice for the day"?

I have stopped buying rice milk for now, this scares me, should they still be even selling rice milk or rice products when they know they contain arsenic? Could you please post a link to the thread about this in the allergies forum, if you have chance to do so?

[YummyYarnAddict]

Apparently rice milk had not been tested in the US by the FDA because it's categorized as a food and not a drink. They don't have those issues in the UK. Here's a link to the (scientific) study: http://www.speciation.net/Public/New...3/15/3519.html

You can see that in the actual testing, there's a difference in the results when they test commercial v. homemade rice "milk" so there isn't something inherently wrong with rice "milk" but something with the processing.

It's been recognized that there are all sorts of problems with soy and with phytic acid in nuts if they aren't properly soaked (and who knows if almonds are properly soaked when they're making almond milk), so we stick to hemp milk (which is delish!) when we don't have raw cow's milk here.

[noobmom]

Originally Posted by Ruthla

What I'm wondering most about all this is that the arsenic comes from the rice itself, it's not something that forms in the processing of rice milk. How much rice/rice flour/rice pasta/ rice cereal/etc is it safe to consume per day? Will they stop recomending rice cereal for infants in light of this new research? Is it safe for adults to eat tons of rice products, regardless of whether or not rice milk is included in the "total rice for the day"?

I believe that it's specific to rice grown in certain regions (US being one). I continue to eat rice from Thailand.

[AllyRae]

CRAP. My older kids have been drinking it for well over a year because they have dairy & almond allergies.

Guess they're stuck with drinking coconut milk beverage then.

[tanyalynn]

Originally Posted by noobmom

I believe that it's specific to rice grown in certain regions (US being one). I continue to eat rice from Thailand.

I know Bangladesh has a nasty arsenic issue, both in groundwater and of course in the rice grown in it. I haven't looked country-by-country though.

[FiveZip]

I posted this in another thread that was 3 pages.  I thought I'd post the same link to this thread as well.

I realize that this thread is old, but I would like to add a page from the Consumer Reports website about the arsenic-in-rice issue. It's from December 2011.

http://news.consumerreports.org/safety/2011/12/new-study-focuses-on-arsenic-in-rice.html

Yes, the arsenic is in the RICE. And yes, it is possible that the water feeding the rice (or whatever crop such as apples) can be contaminated, but that seems less improbably because our waters are tested and treated. This may be true in developing countries. The bulk of the source seems to be in the soil from heavy pesticide use back in the day when cotton was grown in that soil, before rice or apple trees were planted.

Therefore, I am wondering if we buy organic rice from farmers who have been practicing organic methods as long as possible would be a safer rice to eat in the U.S. Older the farm, the better. For example, Lundberg family seems to have been an organic farm from the beginning, but I don't know if starting a business in 1937 was early enough. Considering the fact that the scientists created GMO rice that would grow better in pesticide-laden field, the time frame for Lundberg rice might be okay. And, they are grown in CA, not in the midwest.

The link one of the posters included was a Telegraph (UK) article said that Basmati rice from India and rice from Egypt are the safest. If we want to eat rice, that is another option.

As for rice milk, I suppose we would have to know the source of the rice from where the company buys.  Soy milk is the same thing.  Even some well known companies, such as White Wave/Silk, are not very open about their source of soy and are not of good quality.  They could come from any where in the world.