Anonymous wrote:I'd worry more about diabetes than arsenic in rice.

White rice is pure carbs. Granted, in Asia, people eat a lot of vegetables with the rice (usually people eat a fistful of rice per meal).

It makes me wonder if Asians have some gene that let them eat rice that doesn't affect blood sugar.

I mean, I hear that most were not fat until western food was introduced. Probably rice isn't a major factor (high fat and even higher sugar content of western diet), but it does make me wonder.

Yes, in fact Asians do have a larger pancreas that allows the body to deal with a rice based diet better. I'm American and lived in Japan for 4 years. I like white rice but no way could I eat it three times a day. Need to mix it up a little. Married to East Asian now and cooking a lot of Japanese and Korean dishes. For everyone's sake I alternate white rice, brown rice, basmati rice, bread, pasta, potatoes, etc. (DH complains if I serve potatoes because he associates them with poverty - I'm descended from Germans and Irish so potatoes are pretty much comfort food and he will just have to put up with it)

My kids love white rice, we get the medium grain from California and eat it several times a week. So far no problems...

"I'd worry more about diabetes than arsenic in rice. "

there are credible studies that suggest that higher arsenic exposure increases risk for diabetes. check them out via your favorite search engine.

It's plausible that a double whammy of rice-based arsenic + high carbs >>> higher chances of rice.

something to consider if you eat rice on a regular basis.