Yes, arsenic in rice is real. No, simply rinsing your rice does not solve the problem.
Rice can contain more inorganic arsenic than many other common grains because of the unusual way the plant is grown and the way it absorbs minerals from flooded soil. But the amount varies enormously depending on where the rice was grown, the variety, whether the bran remains intact, the water used to cook it, and how the rice is prepared.
So the useful question is not simply:
“Should I wash my rice?”
A better question is:
“If I eat rice regularly, what actually reduces my arsenic exposure?”
The answer involves choosing your rice intelligently, using clean cooking water, varying the grains you eat, and—in situations where minimizing arsenic matters—using a cooking method that removes substantially more arsenic than rinsing alone.
Why Does Rice Contain Arsenic?
Arsenic occurs naturally in rock, soil, and groundwater. Human activity can add additional arsenic to the environment through mining, industrial processes, and the historical use of arsenic-containing agricultural chemicals.
Rice is unusual because it is commonly grown in flooded fields.
Under flooded conditions, arsenic in soil becomes more mobile and available to the plant. Rice also happens to be particularly efficient at taking arsenic up through transport systems the plant normally uses for other compounds such as silicon. As a result, rice tends to accumulate more arsenic than many other cereal grains.
The form that matters most from a health standpoint is inorganic arsenic.
Organic arsenic compounds also exist, particularly in seafood, but these should not simply be lumped together with inorganic arsenic. The World Health Organization notes that arsenic in seafood is predominantly present in less-toxic organic forms.
That is one reason comparing the arsenic issue in rice directly with foods such as tuna is misleading. Mercury is generally the contaminant of greater concern with large predatory fish.
Is the Arsenic in Rice Actually a Health Concern?
This is primarily a long-term exposure issue, not a reason to panic over an occasional bowl of rice.
Chronic inorganic arsenic exposure has long been associated with serious health effects. Importantly, the evidence has continued to evolve.
In its most recent major reassessment, conducted in 2025 and published in full in 2026, the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives concluded that the evidence linking inorganic arsenic with lung, bladder, and skin cancer has strengthened. The committee also found stronger evidence associating arsenic exposure with ischemic heart disease.
The same evaluation concluded that dietary inorganic arsenic exposure may be a health concern in some populations even where drinking-water arsenic is relatively low.
That does not mean eating rice occasionally is dangerous.
It means exposure should be viewed the way we should view many environmental burdens: dose, frequency, source, and duration matter.
Someone eating rice occasionally has a very different exposure pattern from an individual eating rice or rice-derived foods several times every day.
Does Washing Rice Remove Arsenic?
Here is where much of the popular advice becomes misleading.
Rinsing rice can remove some material from the surface—but it is not an effective arsenic-removal strategy by itself.
The FDA has studied this directly and reports that ordinary rinsing has only a minimal effect on the arsenic concentration of cooked rice.
Why?
Because arsenic isn't simply sitting on the outside of the grain like dust.
A meaningful portion has been taken up by the plant and incorporated into the rice kernel itself.
You cannot wash that away with a few passes under the faucet.
Different experimental methods have produced different reductions depending on the rice, the number of rinses, polishing, soaking, and other variables. Some laboratory studies have demonstrated measurable reductions with aggressive washing protocols. But that should not be confused with the normal rinse most people perform before putting rice into a cooker.
Bottom line: rinse rice if you want to, but don't assume rinsing has made high-arsenic rice low in arsenic.
There Is Another Catch: Washing Can Remove Nutrients
This becomes particularly relevant with enriched white rice.
In the United States, polished white rice may have iron, folic acid, thiamine, and niacin added back after milling.
Those nutrients can be present on or near the surface of the grain.
FDA research found that rinsing can wash some of these added nutrients away.
So blindly repeating:
“Always rinse until the water is perfectly clear”
isn't necessarily the best nutritional advice either.
Check the package. If the rice is enriched or fortified, the manufacturer may specifically recommend against rinsing.
For traditional jasmine, basmati, sushi, or other rice preparations, rinsing may still be desirable for culinary reasons, particularly to remove loose surface starch. But that is a different question from arsenic reduction.
What Actually Removes More Arsenic?
Water can remove arsenic during cooking—but the contaminated water has to leave the pot.
If you cook rice by the standard absorption method, virtually all of the cooking water ends up in the rice.
If arsenic migrates from the grain into that water and the rice subsequently reabsorbs the water, you haven't accomplished very much.
This is why cooking method matters more than simply washing.
Method 1: Cook Rice Like Pasta
The FDA reports that cooking rice with approximately 6 to 10 parts water for every 1 part rice, followed by draining the excess water, can reduce inorganic arsenic by roughly 40–60%, depending on the rice.
There is a tradeoff.
The same technique can remove approximately 50–70% of some added nutrients—including folate, iron, niacin, and thiamine—from enriched polished or parboiled rice.
For someone obtaining these nutrients abundantly elsewhere in the diet, that may not be particularly important. For infants or people relying heavily on fortified rice for micronutrients, it deserves more consideration.
Method 2: Parboil, Drain, Then Finish Cooking
An interesting alternative was developed by researchers at the University of Sheffield.
They called it the Parboiling with Absorption method, or PBA.
The procedure is simple:
1. Bring approximately 4 cups of water to a boil for every 1 cup of dry rice.
2. Add the rice and boil it for 5 minutes.
3. Drain and discard that water.
4. Return the rice to the pot.
5. Add approximately 2 cups of fresh water per cup of rice.
6. Cover and cook at low-to-medium heat until the remaining water is absorbed.
In the rice tested in the study, this method reduced inorganic arsenic by approximately 73% in white rice and 54% in brown rice, while retaining more of the measured mineral nutrients than conventional excess-water cooking.
Those percentages should not be treated as a guarantee for every bag of rice. Arsenic content and removal vary by variety, source, grain structure, and water chemistry.
But the experiment demonstrates something important:
Getting arsenic out of rice depends much more on transferring it into water and then discarding that water than on simply rinsing the outside of the grain.
The Water You Cook With Matters Too
There is an important detail that is easy to miss.
You need relatively low-arsenic water for any arsenic-removal technique to make sense.
If your cooking water itself contains significant arsenic, rice can absorb arsenic from the water during cooking. Research in regions with arsenic-contaminated groundwater has demonstrated substantial increases in arsenic concentrations in cooked rice when contaminated water is used.
This is particularly relevant for households using private wells.
If there is uncertainty about well-water quality, test the water. Do not assume that boiling it makes arsenic disappear. It does not.
Brown Rice Versus White Rice
Brown rice has several nutritional advantages over white rice, including more fiber and retention of nutrients contained in the bran.
Unfortunately, the bran is also where a substantial portion of rice's arsenic tends to concentrate.
Consequently, brown rice generally contains more inorganic arsenic than the corresponding polished white rice. Research examining the physical distribution of arsenic within rice grains has confirmed preferential accumulation in the outer layers retained in brown rice.
That doesn't make brown rice a “bad food.”
It means its nutritional advantages and contaminant burden both deserve consideration.
If someone eats rice only occasionally, this distinction is unlikely to dominate their nutritional health.
If someone eats rice several times every day, the equation changes.
Does Organic Rice Have Less Arsenic?
Not necessarily.
“Organic” describes how a crop was grown. It does not mean the soil or groundwater naturally contains no arsenic.
Arsenic can be geologic—it may have been present in the environment long before the rice was planted.
In fact, FDA's arsenic guidance for infant rice cereal applies to both organically and conventionally produced rice products.
Choose organic rice if organic agricultural practices matter to you.
Just don't use the word organic as a proxy for low arsenic.
Those are two different questions
Where the Rice Comes From Can Matter
Arsenic concentrations vary substantially among growing regions and rice varieties.
Historical U.S. surveys have found higher average arsenic concentrations in rice from parts of the south-central United States than in rice grown in California. Other testing has found relatively low concentrations in some basmati rice from India, Pakistan, and California, as well as certain U.S. sushi rice.
More recent research also supports substantial variation according to rice genetics and geographical origin, with aromatic varieties often accumulating less arsenic than several other rice groups.
But don't turn this into another absolute rule.
“Basmati” does not automatically mean low arsenic.
“California” does not guarantee low arsenic.
And two bags grown in the same country can differ considerably.
Where possible, buy from companies that actually test their rice or can provide information about contaminant testing.
Testing beats assumptions.
Infants and Children Deserve Extra Attention
Children consume more food relative to body weight than adults and are developing rapidly, so reducing unnecessary exposure is particularly reasonable.
The FDA established an action level of 100 parts per billion of inorganic arsenic in infant rice cereal. FDA data also show that manufacturers have made considerable progress lowering arsenic levels through selective sourcing and testing.
The FDA does not recommend eliminating rice cereal entirely.
Instead, parents are encouraged to provide a variety of grains rather than making rice cereal the only grain an infant regularly eats.
Oat, barley, multigrain, and other cereals can reduce dependence on rice while expanding nutrient variety.
That principle makes sense for adults too.
A Practical Rice Strategy
You don't need to fear rice.
You also don't need to pretend the arsenic issue doesn't exist.
If rice is part of your regular diet:
- Vary your grains. Rotate rice with oats, quinoa, buckwheat, barley, millet, potatoes, legumes, and other carbohydrate sources.
- Pay attention to origin and variety, especially if you consume rice frequently.
- Remember that brown rice generally contains more arsenic than polished white rice.
- Do not assume organic means low arsenic.
- Use low-arsenic water for cooking.
- Rinse rice when appropriate for the rice and recipe—but don't count on rinsing as your primary arsenic-removal strategy.
- If arsenic reduction is a priority, consider excess-water cooking and draining or the PBA method.
- If rice is enriched or fortified, understand that aggressive rinsing and excess-water cooking can remove some of those added nutrients.
- For infants and young children, make rice one grain among many, rather than the default grain at every meal.
So, Should You Wash Your Rice?
Usually, I do.
But arsenic isn't the best reason.
Rinsing can remove loose starch and incidental material from the grain and may be useful depending on the rice and the dish you're preparing.
What it cannot reliably do is turn rice containing substantial arsenic into arsenic-free rice.
If you're concerned about arsenic, think one level deeper:
source, frequency cooking water, cooking method, total dietary exposure.
That is a much more useful strategy than arguing about whether rice should be rinsed three times or five.
Rice has nourished human populations for thousands of years and can absolutely remain part of a healthy diet.
The goal isn't fear.
The goal is reducing unnecessary exposure when a few intelligent choices can do it.
Research and Further Reading
U.S. Food and Drug Administration — What You Can Do to Limit Exposure to Arsenic
"FDA arsenic consumer guidance"
Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives — 2025 Evaluation of Arsenic
"WHO/JECFA arsenic evaluation"
Menon M, et al. — Improved rice cooking approach to maximise arsenic removal while preserving nutrient elements
"University of Sheffield research summary"
U.S. FDA researchers — Cooking rice in excess water reduces both arsenic and enriched vitamins in the cooked grain
"PubMed study"
FDA — Action Level for Inorganic Arsenic in Rice Cereals for Infants