Arsenic And Other Heavy Metals You Probably Didn't Know Were In Rice

Are there heavy metals in rice? Be informed about the potential dangers of what you’re eating here.

Troubling news of arsenic in rice has popped up all over the tv and internet today. Don’t panic! We get our ingredients, including rice protein, from all over the world. They are tested by an FDA lab in the United States and approved before they are even allowed to leave the docks, but we also do our own internal testing with independent labs. These tests look for everything including mold, yeast, E Coli, salmonella, heavy metals, melamine, and more. We have yet to see a failed test.

Almost every plant food has naturally occurring metals in it. Plants absorb metals from the soil. Yams, turnips, apples, tomatoes, artichokes, carrots, cucumbers, green beans, lettuce, spinach, potatoes, corn, and many other fruits and vegetables contain arsenic. For instance, carrots contain 12.80 micrograms of arsenic in a one cup serving. Arsenic is even found in fairly high levels in drinking water. Arsenic isn’t the only boogey man out there. Green beans contain 28.75 micrograms of lead in a one cup serving.

That’s 56 times the allowable limit! And yet we continue to live after a serving of green beans, because the body is prepared to remove these modest doses without problems. Rice naturally picks up arsenic from the water drenched patties where it is grown. There is no rice that does not contain some arsenic. A serving of our rice protein contains much less than the amount allowed by the FDA and these test results are based on a combination of organic and inorganic arsenic. If we did further testing to determine just inorganic arsenic, the results would be even lower. There is no danger in the serving sizes we offer.

If you are worried about arsenic or any other compound, we recommend varying protein sources. Most people do not get all their protein from our Classic Rice Protein. We also offer Warrior Blend as an alternative or to be alternated with Classic Protein.

Safeguard Yourself from Heavy Metal Poisoning

What does fear-mongering have to do with your health? EVERYTHING!

Stay informed with accurate information to safeguard your greatest asset: You!

A simple flu greatly affects your performance and daily activities; now imagine toxic metals slowly poisoning you from the inside through the staple foods you eat. That’s why it’s important to know how your food is harvested and processed to keep your body safe from contamination.

Yet, certain reports about possible toxicity in organic food can scare people away from switching to a more plant-based diet. Let’s find out how to determine the truth under all the fearmongering.

In the Headlines

Protein powders and heavy metals are making headlines again. It seems to be about a two to four-year cyclical attention-grab that takes advantage of fear tactics to make money off good people who care about their health and the health of their loved ones.

The most recent fearmonger is asking for donations on every page of their site, having pop-ups ask again, collecting your data for future fear triggered marketing, leveraging the companies they rate poorly to pay to certify through them, and making more money by including affiliate links to every product they rate.

Because human health is a sensitive subject for everyone, receiving news about possible contamination in the food we consume can easily grab people’s attention. Breaking news, like high amounts of arsenic in rice, may trigger mass paranoia.

Why Fear Works

Unfortunately, this type of negative marketing works wonders on the human mind. We are drawn to negativity.

The media uses it to make you watch and read more. Clickbait uses it to catch your attention.

Fear-based marketing is big business. Watch this Ted Talk to understand more about how our brains crave negativity.

Fear marketing also uses misleading numbers purposely to confuse and amp up the stress response. We’ll talk more about that later.

It Isn’t New

The FDA dropped some interesting test results about arsenic in rice on the public in September of 2012, with some products containing as high as 11 mcg of inorganic arsenic per serving. Consumer Reports followed shortly after with a list of their own test results.

Both created a lot of confusion and managed to scare many of us away from rice products for a while.

The FDA quietly released a statement later to say, “FDA scientists have determined that the levels of inorganic arsenic found in the samples are too low to cause immediate health damage.”

Natural News did much of the same fear-based marketing in 2014 that’s being done today. They drove tens of thousands of people to their site and their affiliate linked proteins, doing their own testing on arsenic and other heavy metals in vegan rice proteins and other products.

This did bring Sunwarrior, Garden of Life, Natural News, and other health advocates together to hold suppliers and farmers more accountable for the metals that make their way into our foods.

Looking at the Numbers

These fearmongers continue to publish numbers of possible toxicity exposure in rice, fruits, vegetables, and other organic products. From looking at these numbers alone, the risk of getting heavy metal poisoning is quite alarming.

The numbers certainly look scary, but what do they actually mean? Are we at risk?

Let’s dig a little deeper and look at some of the answers.

PPB or Ug/Kg vs. PPM

The industry standard is parts per million (ppm), rather than parts per billion (ppb) or ug/kg to make the data more approachable and understandable. The ppb numbers certainly look impressive, but 10,000 ppb is only 10 ppm.

Take $10 and divide it among a million people, and what do you have left? Are you left with even a penny?

No, much, much less than that.

You are left with nothing, a number so small it is insignificant. 500 ppb is only 0.5 ppm.

Take $0.50 and divide it among a million people, and you can imagine how tiny it gets fast. That is the type of number we are looking at with the findings that were recently posted.

That’s .0000005 to make it clear.

The fearmonger marketers purposefully go against industry standard to make the numbers look scarier. Nine ug/kg makes you pause, look, feel the fear rise as you consider those whole numbers swimming out of your food and into your bloodstream, while the more appropriate number 0.009 mg/kg does not.

When we talk about amounts in foods, we use milligrams. Most of us are familiar with grams and milligrams.

You see the little “g” for grams next to sugars and proteins on labels and the “mg” next to many vitamins and minerals. The fearmongers are using micrograms.

That is what that less familiar “ug” is in the charts they are sharing. To put it into context even further, it takes 1,000 ug to make even a milligram, and it takes 1,000 mg to make a gram.

That means it takes 1,000,000 ug to equal a gram.

What Substances Are in Your Food

Now that it’s established how small the numbers actually are, what toxic substances do these fearmongers say are in the rice varieties?

It’s not only heavy metals in rice; confusing reports have also pointed to other chemicals found in other organic produce.

Reports cited known poisonous heavy metals like lead, arsenic, cadmium, and the chemical BPA. At first glance, this list is alarming, but what is the truth behind the presence of these substances in the produce we put on our kitchen tables?

Let’s take a look at each of these substances below.

What Is Lead?

Lead is a semi-soft metal naturally occurring in the earth’s crust, air, and water. It has many beneficial uses in batteries, electronics, and much more but is toxic to humans.

Lead likes to replace other essential minerals in biological reactions, causing problems with protein formation. Most of our exposure to lead comes from man-made pollutants, like exhaust and contaminated pipes.

Governments around the world are trying to minimize our exposure to lead, since lead is not like many other heavy metals which can come in safer organic forms.

What Is Arsenic?

Arsenic is a non-metal element with some metallic properties naturally found in low levels in soil, air, and water. It is a dull metallic grey in appearance.

The majority of plants do absorb arsenic from water and soil as they grow, meaning arsenic is a part of our food. Arsenic has always been a part of our food in one form or another.

Arsenic comes in two varieties, organic or inorganic.

Organic arsenic is created when arsenic binds to organic elements and molecules, ones that contain carbon. This produces arsenic that is rather innocuous.

Organic arsenic is fairly harmless; it’s hundreds of times less toxic than inorganic arsenic and easily ignored by the body.

Inorganic arsenic is another case altogether. It is highly toxic and was historically a favorite poison by would-be assassins.

Inorganic arsenic has branched away from regicide into many other uses. It has been used as a pesticide, to pressure-treat lumber, and in glass.

Arsenic isn’t the most mobile of elements, and only a few forms are water-soluble. Despite this, it can also enter the environment through mining, smelting, volcanic activity, pesticide use, and weathering.

Inorganic arsenic has been linked to cancer and heart disease. Luckily, the body still does a good job of removing it when the doses are very low.

What Is Cadmium?

Cadmium is a soft, blue-white metal similar to zinc and often found with zinc. It naturally occurs in small amounts in the earth’s crust.

Long-term exposure to large doses of cadmium is toxic and carcinogenic as this metal irritates internal organs when inhaled or ingested through creating reactive oxygen molecules. Like arsenic, cadmium comes in two forms, organic and inorganic.

Inorganic cadmium is highly dangerous, coming from mining, electronics, pigments in paints, and many other industrial sources. Organic cadmium is far safer and is typically what is found in foods.

Organic cadmium has always been a part of our diet in trace amounts as plants draw it from the soil and water. The body’s immune system can put organic cadmium to use to destroy cancer cells, according to some research.

RELATED: Rid Your Body Of Toxins The Natural Way

What Is BPA?

BPA is a synthetic polymer used to coat plastics, cans, and receipts. It is very good at keeping things from sticking or leaking.

In the body, it mimics hormones and can wreak havoc on the endocrine system, including the thyroid. There have been some links to BPA and obesity, too.

It has found its way into much of our food, though most of your exposure comes from handling receipts and money. Many BPA free plastics have simply switched to BPS, a similar compound with similar health risks.

Sunwarrior has always avoided BPA and BPS. We’d rather our protein powder stick to the sides and to our scoops more than we like than put anyone at risk.

Always wash your hands after handling receipts and money, especially the heat printed paper receipts found everywhere.

How Much Is in Our Food?

Small amounts of heavy metals are always present in our food, water, and in the air we breathe. This is a combination of inorganic and organic forms.

Scientific modeling estimates rice accounts for only 17% of our exposure to arsenic and only about 10% is the dangerous inorganic form.

Rice was targeted in the FDA and Consumer Reports testing because it’s rather unique in how it is grown. Rice grows in pools of standing water where it is more likely to draw up arsenic and other heavy metals than other grains.

Protein powders fall into the other category with supplements, water, dairy, and foods not covered in a more specific category.

The other category comprises 13% of our exposure. Water takes 10%, which leaves 3% attributed to supplements, dairy, and miscellaneous uncategorized foods, less than meat and eggs at 5%.

Despite what some would have you believe, rice, grains, baby food, and protein powders don’t actually stand at the forefront when it comes to our exposure to heavy metals.

Vegetables actually take first place at 24%. Nearly a quarter of our exposure to arsenic comes from the healthy vegetables we eat.

Fruits and fruit juices clock in at 18%.

Plenty of seafood and sea vegetables also contain high amounts of heavy metals but in the less toxic organic forms. Tuna, shrimp, and fish often top the lists for arsenic, cadmium, and lead.

Despite all these in foods, the EPA found that exposure to heavy metals from food is incredibly low, many times below the set levels to protect us from long-term effects.

How Heavy Metals Affect Us

Very little is known about the health effects of organic heavy metals. They haven’t been a huge health problem, compared to the inorganic forms, so they have not been thoroughly tested and studied.

The few studies done show them to be neutral or so mildly toxic, they pose no concern in the doses found in food.

Inorganic heavy metals are dangerous and can easily result in death in high levels, but very low doses of inorganic metals are cleaned and removed from the body with little problem, though long-term exposure to inorganic heavy metals increases the risk of several types of cancer and can put more strain on the heart and kidneys.

The heavy metals in rice are a combination of these two forms and have not been determined to be harmful.

The FDA released the test results but deemed the levels it found safe and did not make a recommendation to avoid rice. The FDA is still analyzing and collecting data before they come to any decision.

The EPA is working to limit the amount of inorganic arsenic that makes its way into our food, and many farmers and rice companies are also striving to minimize our exposure as well, thanks in part to the bad press that erupted after the FDA and Consumer Reports shared their news.

We may expect a resurgence of activity thanks to Mike Adams and Natural News, and, hopefully, this leads farmers and food suppliers to further clean up and improve the soil and water beneath rice’s roots and any other crops that may be at risk.

Should We Change How We Eat or Supplement?

We should always be working toward eating healthier. The FDA and other health governing bodies have not recommended a change in our consumption of rice, rice products, or protein powders.

The FDA and nutritional experts recommend a balanced diet that includes a variety of grains and protein sources. Perhaps this just means we should be wise and not lean on one food source.

The truth is simple: all of our foods contain some toxins. Lead, cadmium, BPA, arsenic, tungsten, and mercury are just a few.

Some occur naturally, and some do not. The body can handle small amounts, and the more we vary our diet, the less these toxins build up enough to do us damage.

This means we can keep eating rice and using rice protein if we want to, but supplement in other grains and grain-like seeds too, like oats, barley, quinoa, amaranth, chia, and many more. If you use rice products, shuffle in other cereal grain products or take a break now and again.

If you use a rice protein, you have little to worry about from the trace amounts of heavy metals, but feel free to cycle it with protein from another vegetable source to stay safe.

Sunwarrior Classic Protein is safe, well below the guidelines found throughout the world, but if you are still concerned about rice, make the switch to Warrior Blend, which contains no rice protein and consistently tests extremely low.

When using rice, you can get rid of a large amount of arsenic in brown rice by rinsing it, soaking it, changing the water several times, and cooking it with excess water you can discard when it is done.

Infants and children may be more susceptible, so cut back on rice and rice products with them if you feel there is a reason to worry. The reports placed most products for children on the lower end of the spectrum, but it is still best to err on the side of caution.

Remember that rice came in behind veggies and fruit. If we eliminate every slightly risky food, we would be left with almost nothing to eat or only the highly refined and processed foods that are unhealthy for other reasons.

Toxins exist in everything. The trick is to help your body out by giving it what it needs to remove and lessen the risks and effects of these toxins: fiber, antioxidant-rich foods, clean water, exercise, and a variety of foods.

What are free radicals? These are unstable molecules that may damage cells within the body, often associated with cell mutation and tumors.

What About Sunwarrior?

Sunwarrior protein comes entirely from organic plants grown in mineral-rich soils.

This means we’re comparable to whole foods like brown rice, fruits, leafy greens, and other vegetables that naturally absorb trace metals. The closer to the soil and the more water-loving a plant, the more it takes in.

Thankfully, produce tests don’t get splashed across the internet as scare tactics to make money off the fears of people who just want to keep themselves and their loved ones healthy. If so, we’d all stop eating carrots, spinach, kale, rice, apples, and hundreds of other perfectly safe and beneficial foods.

We only source the finest plant-based ingredients. Our proteins are Certified Organic, Non-GMO Project Verified, and consistently test below EU, WHO, and FDA safety standards in every way.

We’re even Prop65 compliant, which is the strictest standard and nearly impossible for plant-based sources to meet. We test internally and through an independent lab for more than is required.

We then quickly refuse ingredients that don’t meet our strict levels of quality because we take immense pride in knowing, thoroughly vetting, and loving our ingredients before we pass them on to you.

We believe in food as close to nature as possible, which is why when these types of reports come to light every few years, plant-based proteins fall below whey. Whey always tests better for two reasons:

• Animal bodies, including our own, are very good at dealing with the trace amounts of heavy metals in the plants we eat. We filter and remove most before they have a chance to enter our systems.
• Whey is highly processed, stripping out nutrition, minerals, vitamins, antioxidants, enzymes, and heavy metals all at the same time. Whole or less processed foods always fall short when looking at barely detectable levels of these metals, but they excel when it comes to nutrition.

We continue to bring you the cleanest, highest quality, and best tasting plant-based proteins. We continue to test and retest.

We will continue to beat the standards. With all the steps we take to provide our customers with only the best, you can feel safe knowing our protein is not harmful to you or anyone you care about.

We drink this daily in our office and take it home to our families. It’s who we are.

And, if you are still concerned about the natural levels of metals found in unprocessed foods, look at Warrior Blend, which always tests at or near zero across the board due to its reliance on yellow peas rather than water-loving rice.

The most important thing you can do is stay informed and understand the real numbers. Do not allow fearmongers to control you or your dollars.

Be smart.