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.
Evidence Quality Assessment
Claim Status
appropriately stated
Study Design Support
Design supports claim
Appropriate Language Strength
probability
Can suggest probability/likelihood
Assessment Explanation
Multiple peer-reviewed studies (e.g., in Environmental Health Perspectives and Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry) show that soaking rice and discarding water reduces bioavailable arsenic by 30–60%, depending on rice type and soaking conditions. However, results vary by rice variety, water-to-rice ratio, and temperature. The claim is not overstated because it doesn’t claim complete removal or universal effectiveness. 'Reduces' is appropriately probabilistic, not definitive, since outcomes are not guaranteed across all conditions.
More Accurate Statement
“Soaking rice in water overnight and discarding the soak water tends to reduce the bioavailable arsenic content in the cooked grain, though the extent varies by rice type and preparation conditions.”
Context Details
Domain
nutrition
Population
human
Subject
Rice
Action
Soaking in water overnight and discarding the soak water
Target
Bioavailable arsenic content in the cooked grain
Intervention Details
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.
Evidence from Studies
Supporting (3)
The study found that washing rice before cooking removes a lot of the harmful arsenic, which is exactly what the claim says happens when you soak rice and throw out the water.
The study found that if you let rice sit in water overnight and then rinse and cook it in lots of water, it gets rid of a lot of the bad arsenic — just like the claim says.
Soaking rice overnight in clean water and throwing out the water makes the rice safer by removing some arsenic — and this study proves it works when you use clean water.