Food & recipes

Have You Been Cooking Rice Wrong All These Years?

By Lauren Godfrey

The seemingly innocent way of boiling rice may be a risk to your health

Did you know there was a right and wrong way to cook rice? If you answered no then odds are you’ve been making a fatal error for all these years. According to scientists, the way the majority of us cook rice may be harmful to our health. Why? According to research from Channel 4’s Dispatches and the Institute for Global Food Security, around 58 percent of rice-based products in the UK contain high levels of arsenic.

Recent experiments have found that by simply boiling rice in a pan until the water has steamed out can be insufficient in killing traces of the poison arsenic which contaminates rice when it is growing as a result of pesticides and industrial toxins. Arsenic has been linked to a range of health problems including cancer, heart disease and diabetes.

So what is the correct way to cook rice?

Professional Andy Meharg of Queen’s University Belfast, tested three ways of cooking rice for Channel 4’s Trust Me, I’m A Doctor to see whether different methods altered the levels of arsenic. First, he simply boiled the rice in two parts water until it ‘steamed out’ which proved the most dangerous and left the most amount of arsenic on the food once cooked.

The second method involved cooking the rice in five parts water and then rinsing the rice in water once cooked. In this instance, the arsenic levels were halved. Finally Professor Meharg left the rice to soak overnight which reduced the arsenic levels by 80 percent.

For the safest way to cook rice, you should soak it overnight and then boil it in five parts water. Once cooked, rinse under the tap until the water runs clear. Who knew?

Article by

Lauren Godfrey

Content Writer

Article by

Lauren Godfrey

Content Writer