The following information was obtained from the November-December 2026 issue of Consumer Reports® Magazine and from the link below:

https://www.consumerreports.org/health/food-contaminants/arsenic-in-rice-reducing-risk-a8972350937/

Key Takeaways from the report.

Inorganic arsenic is linked to many health problems, including:

Bladder, lung, and skin cancer
Type 2 diabetes
Heart, kidney, and respiratory diseases
Stillbirths
Lower IQ scores in children

Of the Brown Rice samples tested, Lundberg® scored well with 83 parts per billion of inorganic arsenic. According to Consumer reports, an adult could safely eat 4.75 weekly servings of Lundberg.

Note- A child's serving would be 1 per week.

One serving represents 1/4 cup of dry rice, prior to cooking. I estimate that would be about 3/4 cup, cooked. But I would generally consume at least one cup of cooked rice with a meal. That's 1/3 cup of dry rice. So, my weekly servings would be about 3.5.*

The good news is, the article says that arsenic can be removed by 50 to 58% by parboiling the rice for 5 minutes. That involves cooking the rice in boiling water for 5 minutes, draining the water off, adding fresh water and then cooking normally. That would double the amount of Lundberg rice to 7 servings per week.

However, I wonder if parboiling leaches arsenic from the rice, then won't it also leach vitamins and minerals from the bran layer? I've asked Consumer Reports about this. If they reply, I'll post their response here.

Consumer Reports replied on October 27, 2026:

While our team has tested how different cooking methods - including parboiling - reduce arsenic in rice, we haven't specifically measured the loss of vitamins and minerals from the bran layer during parboiling.

What we do know is that the bran layer of brown rice is where most of the nutrients - like B vitamins, magnesium, and some antioxidants - are concentrated. Parboiling (especially when rice is boiled and the water is discarded) can leach out some of these water-soluble nutrients. However, our article focuses on the arsenic reduction benefits, not the precise nutrient losses.

If you're concerned about balancing arsenic reduction with nutrient retention, consider varying your grains and including other whole grains in your diet for a broader nutrient profile.

I am concerned. I think the advice about including other grains is important. But with the findings in mind, I'll continue to include short grain brown rice in my diet, as I have since 1985. I'll be thoughtful in my approach.

More good news. They tested other grains and found no significant levels of arsenic or other heavy metals in amaranth, barley, buckwheat, bulgur, farro, millet, oats, polenta (cornmeal), quinoa, and sorghum. So, a diet Lundberg short grain brown rice combined with 50% or more other grains, millet for example, further pushes ones diet into the safe category.

* My estimates, above, are solely my own and are intended to provide an example of my personal guidelines. Yours will likely differ.