The Study
Systematic Investigation of the Reduction of Inorganic Arsenic and Bioactive Nutrients in Rice with Various Cooking Techniques.
This study didn't test people or animals — it just cooked rice in the lab and measured what happened to the chemicals in it. So we know how much arsenic disappeared or nutrients were lost, but we don't know if eating that rice actually changes your health.
Analysis score
Maximum 44 for a cross-sectional study.
Where the score came from
Washing and soaking rice can wash away some harmful arsenic, but it also washes away good stuff like fiber.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 56 / 100
Quality score
Snapshots of a population at a single point in time, or descriptions of small groups. Can identify correlations and prevalence, but cannot determine cause and effect.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1Yes — you can eat less arsenic, but you also lose some healthy fiber, especially in very polished white rice.
- 2Rinsing white rice 10 times cuts arsenic by 39%.
- 3Soaking in lots of water cuts it a little.
- 4Best cooking cuts arsenic to 42-56% of original, but fiber drops by 25-55%.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
Journal of food protection
Year
2017
Authors
S. Yim, J. Kim, Mi-Hee Choi, G. Park, S. Shim, M. Chung
Related Content
Claims (4)
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.
Soaking rice in six times its volume of water instead of 1.5 times reduces arsenic levels by 4.4% to 7.5%, with the amount of reduction depending on how long the rice is soaked.
When cooked using an optimal method, white rice with 10% bran remaining has 42.0% of the original inorganic arsenic, while brown rice retains 56.1%, showing that removing more bran reduces arsenic levels more effectively.
Cooking white rice in the most effective way to lower arsenic removes 54.7% of its dietary fiber, and cooking brown rice the same way removes 24.8% of its dietary fiber.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.