Rice is a staple food for billions of people around the planet, but a new study suggests climate change may increase arsenic levels contained within the grain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rice is a staple food for more than half of the global population. It is consumed on a daily basis by more people than either wheat or maize, also known as corn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So it is with some concern that scientists have unveiled a recent finding: that as carbon emissions rise and the Earth continues to warm, so too will arsenic levels in rice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The presence of arsenic in rice has long been known as a problem. Almost all rice contains arsenic. The harmful, naturally occurring chemical can accumulate in the soil of paddy fields, leaching into the grains of rice grown there. But the amounts found in rice grains can vary considerably from well below the recommended limits set by regulatory bodies to several times higher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yet, consuming even low amounts of inorganic arsenic through food or drinking water can lead to cancers and a range of other health problems, such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Researchers around the world have been working on ways to reduce the levels of arsenic in rice \u2013 and in the meantime, there are ways of cooking it that can extract some of this harmful element from grains (see the box further down the story for more).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But a new study of inorganic arsenic accumulation has found it may become a greater problem due to climate change. The researchers grew 28 different strains of paddy rice at four different locations in China in experimental conditions over a 10-year period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They found that arsenic levels in the rice increased as carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in the atmosphere and temperatures rise. Then epidemiologists modelled how, at current rice consumption levels, these arsenic levels could affect people\u2019s health. They estimated that the corresponding increases in arsenic levels in rice could contribute approximately 19.3 million more cancer cases in China alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cInorganic arsenic has been shown in more studies than I can throw a stick at to be a carcinogen, to have adverse effects with respect to pulmonary health, with respect to cardiovascular health \u2013 it\u2019s a long laundry list,\u201d says Lewis Ziska, associate professor of environmental health science at Columbia University in New York, who co-authored the study. \u201cAnd two metrics of climate change \u2013 the increase in CO2 and the increase in temperatures \u2013 are resulting in greater amounts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s worth noting that the researchers\u2019 worst-case scenario is beyond the high emissions \u201cbusiness as usual\u201d scenario used by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the United Nations body on climate change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The most dire predictions assume temperatures rise by 2C, and CO2 levels increase by an additional 200 parts per million between 2025 and 2050. But it does provide a snapshot of what may happen to rice crops in the future if carbon emissions are not reduced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While the researchers focused on locations in China for their experiments, they say such impacts are likely to be seen in rice grown in regions including Europe and the US too, as inorganic arsenic is common in rice grown around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And rice from certain areas, including east Africa, has less arsenic than rice from other areas, including parts of the US, Europe, and south-east Asia. Researchers at the University of Sheffield in the UK also recently discovered a way of cooking rice that can remove 50% of the arsenic in brown rice and 74% from white rice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n They recommend first parboiling the rice in pre-boiled water for five minutes before draining. Then add fresh water and cook it on a lower heat to absorb all the water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rice is a staple food for billions of people around the planet, but a new study suggests climate change may increase arsenic levels contained within the grain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":482829,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[688],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-482822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-infotainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=482822"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/482822\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/482829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=482822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=482822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nagalandpost.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=482822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Lowering the arsenic in your rice<\/strong>
If you want to lower your arsenic exposure from rice, there are a few things you can do.
First, some types of rice have more inorganic arsenic than others. White rice has a lower inorganic arsenic content than brown rice but has less nutritional value. Basmati rice has less inorganic arsenic than other varieties. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The UK\u2019s Food Standard\u2019s Agency recommends rinsing your rice before cooking and then boiling it in six parts water to one part rice before draining and rinsing again. (BBC)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"