Health Commissioner urges families to restrict rice consumption

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - Some doctors are urging parents to restrict how much rice their children are eating. That's because a new study found high levels of arsenic in it.

A Consumer Reports Investigation made all of this public . The news has parents asking questions and some doctors concerned. Right now there's no federal limit for arsenic in most foods. After an investigation by Consumer Reports some doctors are urging parents to watch out for how much rice formulas and rice cereals they're feeding their children.

"One of the most important concerns is for babies. So, what I would do is talk with your pediatrician about that in terms of the rice cereals," Allen County Health Commissioner Deb Mcmahan said.

The Food and Drug Administration said the problem with arsenic levels comes from rice grown in southern states. That accounts for about 76 percent of rice in the US. The FDA said rice is grown in water and soil in a way that it appears to absorb a bit more arsenic than other food.

The Health Commissioner of Allen County, Deb Mcmahan, said infants and people younger than 25 should watch how much they're consuming. Consumer Reports encourages that age group to only eat two servings of rice a week. Mcmahan said this will be an adjustment for people who consume a lot of rice products.

"The bigger concern for me is that for a lot of folks who rice is a real staple in their diet I think this is going to represent a big change for them."

Consumer Reports also found brown rice has more arsenic in it than white rice.

"The problem with that is we've been really encouraging folks who eat a lot of rice every day to switch to brown rice because white rice increases your risk of developing diabetes. So, now we have two competing kinds of recommendations that I think we need to consider."

Although Mcmahan said parents should reevaluate how much rice is in their children's diet, the FDA said there's no need to.

"There is no need based on available data scientific literature to change dietary consumption of rice overall," FDA's Margaret Hamburg said.

The FDA's reevaluting the Consumer Reports investigation and will determine if the level of arsenic in rice needs to be restricted.