Be Warned: How You Cook Rice Can Result in Hypertension, Diabetes, Cancer and Even Death

It has been revealed that the

way people cook their rice

can end up affecting their

health very seriously.



In the average home, rice is a

must-eat food on a daily

basis, especially when you

have children around. It's so easy to cook — or so

many of us assume, what with

the unceremonious ways we

pour it into the pot and cook

it in a jiffy! Yet, researchers are saying

that the way we cook rice can

lead to diseases and death! Scientists warn that rice

contains a worrying amount

of arsenic, a harmful chemical

that can cause heart disease,

diabetes and cancer.



According to a group of

researchers in Northern

Ireland, the way most people

cook rice, which is by boiling

it in a pan until it absorbs the

water, doesn't get rid of the toxin. Researchers warn that traces

of the poison arsenic – a

chemical that contaminates

rice as a result of industrial

toxins and pesticides used in

the growing process – can be found in the rice even after

cooking the way we do. The safest way to cook rice is

to soak it overnight first,

wash it with cool water the

following morning, before

finally cooking it.



The researchers found that

this reduced arsenic levels by

80 percent. Chronic exposure to arsenic

has recognised links to a

range of health problems

including heart disease,

diabetes and cancer. Thankfully, there's no reason

to panic just yet, as a series of

experiments showed that it is

possible to reduce our levels

of exposure to arsenic by

simply changing the way we cook rice.





A professor of biological

sciences at Queens University

Belfast, Andy Meharg, tested

three ways of cooking rice to

see whether it altered the

levels of arsenic. In the first method, he used a

ratio of two parts water to

one part rice, allowing the

water to 'steam out', as

identified above. In the second, he used five

parts water to one part rice,

washing off excessive water

before serving. This saw the

levels of arsenic almost

halved.





Finally, the rice was soaked in

water overnight before being

cooked the next day, resulting

in an 80 per cent reduction of

the toxin. For the safest results, the

overnight rice should be

rinsed until the water is clear,

before being drained and

boiled in a saucepan using a

ratio of five parts water to one part rice.



The punch