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Eating too much rice can be dangerous

It is one of the most popular foods in the world and also in Israel, but rice in large quantities may contain carcinogens that you would not want on your plate. Here are all the reasons and explanations, and also - what kind of rice is probably the safest

• Rice
• cancer

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If you eat white rice almost daily, at lunch or dinner, you may want to reconsider the nutritional composition of your meals. Although it is one of the most popular and easy-to-prepare foods, experts warn that eating too much rice can be fatal in the long run.

While rice does contain low levels of arsenic, new research estimates that prolonged exposure to it can cause thousands of premature deaths a year, which can be avoided by a small dietary change. According to a study by two universities in Manchester, prolonged exposure to low levels of inorganic arsenic can be linked to health problems such as cancer and cardiovascular disease.

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Researchers from the University of Manchester and the University of Salford examined this connection and their findings were recently published in the journal Science of the Total Environment. The results of their study show that there is a significant association between increased cardiovascular mortality and consumption of rice containing inorganic arsenic.

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This is not the first study to reveal this troubling link, as rice is the largest source of exposure to inorganic arsenic (compounds with oxygen, iron, chlorine and sulfur) in Europe, and in countries like Bangladesh and China. Inorganic arsenic has been classified as a definite carcinogen in humans by the International Agency for Research on Cancer and the United States Environmental Protection Agency. This is especially true in the exposure of infants and young children. According to them, because of the method of growing rice in flooded fields, rice absorbs ten times more arsenic from the soil than other foods.

Professor David Puglia of the University of Manchester said: "The type of research being conducted, ecological research, has many limitations, but is a relatively inexpensive way to determine whether there is a plausible link between increased consumption of inorganic rice and increased risk of cardiovascular disease." Professor Puglia, "The study suggests that the top 25 per cent of rice consumers in the UK may be at higher risk of cardiovascular mortality from arsenic exposure compared to the low 25 per cent of rice consumers."

Today more than three billion people worldwide consume rice as their main food. The current study does not ask people to stop eating rice, but instead suggests consuming different types of rice, which are known to contain less inorganic arsenic - such as basmati rice. In addition, they recommend eating a balanced range of foods, rather than relying on rice as a main ingredient.