A new study finds that babies fed rice cereals and other rice-based snacks have higher concentrations of arsenic in their urine.
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When it comes to introducing babies to solid foods, rice cereal is often first. And rice is a staple in many baby and toddler foods.
But, as we’ve reported, multiple studies have found that rice-based foods contain traces of arsenic, and sometimes levels are surprisingly high.
Now comes a new study published in JAMA Pediatrics that finds babies who are fed rice cereals — and other rice-based snacks — have higher concentrations of arsenic in their urine compared with infants who are not fed rice.
“The highest arsenic concentrations were among those who consumed infant rice cereal,” says researcher Margaret Karagas, an epidemiologist at Dartmouth’s Geisel School of Medicine. “Among those [babies] who ate rice snacks, levels were about double [that of] non-rice eaters.”
Th…