If you soak your rice in water overnight and then throw out that water before cooking, you’ll end up with rice that has less of the harmful arsenic your body can absorb.

Pro

Against

Evidence from Studies

Supporting (3)

Community contributions welcome

Assessing Cancer Risk from Wheat and Rice Based Diets in Arsenic Endemic Regions of the Middle Ganga Plain, India: Identification of Hotspots and Risk Reduction Strategies

Cross-Sectional Study

Human

The reduction of toxic metals of various rice types by different preparation and cooking processes - Human health risk assessment in Tehran households, Iran.

Cross-Sectional Study

2019 May 15

An assessment of the impact of traditional rice cooking practice and eating habits on arsenic and iron transfer into the food chain of smallholders of Indo-Gangetic plain of South-Asia: Using AMMI and Monte-Carlo simulation model

Computational/Algorithm Study

2024 Apr 15

Contradicting (1)

Community contributions welcome

Arsenic in cooked rice in Bangladesh.

Gold Standard Evidence Needed

According to GRADE and EBM methodology, here is what ideal scientific evidence would look like to definitively prove or disprove this specific claim, ordered from strongest to weakest evidence.

Similar Assertions

Soaking your rice for longer—like 12 hours instead of just 1—can wash out more of the bad stuff like arsenic and lead, making your rice safer to eat.

78%

Washing and soaking rice helps reduce harmful lead and cadmium to safe levels, but it doesn’t cut down arsenic enough to make it safe from cancer risk.

74%

Washing your rice and wheat with three times as much water as grain before cooking can wash away some harmful arsenic, which might lower your chance of getting cancer if you eat these foods every day.

72%

Washing rice before cooking and using lots of water (like boiling it like pasta) removes more harmful metals like arsenic and lead than just cooking it in a small amount of water — so rinsed cooking is better at making rice safer to eat.

71%