3 ms·

Study of lead levels in rice under scrutiny

31 points by ern 13y ago

ern 13y ago
The original story previously made the front page of HN at: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5529202 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5529202 I put a (stupidly unnecessary it seems) moratorium on my children eating rice because of this scare story, others may have done the same. It also speaks volumes about the quality of popular health reporting in general.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- uvdiv 13y ago
  Wow, me and tomsaffell practically called it: "I'm beginning to suspect someone confused a mg/mcg/μg somewhere; that seems like the Occam's razor explanation..." "But something doesn't quite add up... which if true would contradict the FDA's results... What are we (or I) missing?" "It doesn't make sense to me either. If the FDA found n.d. levels of lead in all their samples, you would expect some of the new study's samples to have low levels as well." "Right, the low end of the range should be much lower. Right now, my money is on a units error."
- fnordfnordfnord 13y ago
  >I put a (stupidly unnecessary it seems) moratorium on my children eating rice because of this scare story Meh, it's hard to undo heavy metal poisoning. You can lift the embargo against the rice with no permanent harm done. I'm surprised this guy didn't catch his error. He should have known something was up when his control sample also tested too high, or changed.
  - ern 13y ago
    >Meh, it's hard to undo heavy metal poisoning. You can lift the embargo against the rice with no permanent harm done. I think I made the logical choice at the time, based on the info available, by stopping rice. For my wife, the inconvenience of replacing our primary form of starch outweighed the long-term risks of brain damage to the children (most people do seem to be short-term thinkers), and it was a hard sell. I am now regarded as The Boy Who Cried Wolf. Even if, say, arsenic was found to be a problem in rice, it will be difficult convincing anyone else. The harm done is the loss of credibility.
    - seanmcdirmid 13y ago
      I don't eat rice from mainland china if I can avoid it; I prefer Thai or Taiwanese rice when available. Of course, this can be very hard considering that 99% of the restaurants don't have anything else.
gregwebs 13y ago
Rather than lead, we should be very concerned about arsenic: http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2012/11/arsenic-in-your-food/index.htm http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2012/11/arsenic-... secondary commentary on the article: http://chriskresser.com/arsenic-in-rice-how-concerned-should-you-be http://chriskresser.com/arsenic-in-rice-how-concerned-should...
- throwmeaway33 13y ago
  My understanding of arsenic poisoning is that it binds to some proteins that inhibit some processes in cells. This means it eventually gets cleared from the system. So as long as you don't get a lethal dose it shouldn't cause long term damage. There is arsenic in apples seeds and I've never heard of long term issues from eating a few of those. Lead on the other hand builds up in your system and causes permanent damage.
  - ars 13y ago
    > There is arsenic in apples seeds and I've never heard of long term issues from eating a few of those. That's for two reasons: 1: Because almost no one eats apple seeds - even if you swallow them, they probably pass through unchanged. And, 2: There is no arsenic in apple seeds! It has cyanide - which is a totally different thing.

31 points by ern 13y ago

ern 13y ago

The original story previously made the front page of HN at: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5529202 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5529202 I put a (stupidly unnecessary it seems) moratorium on my children eating rice because of this scare story, others may have done the same. It also speaks volumes about the quality of popular health reporting in general.

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
uvdiv 13y ago
Wow, me and tomsaffell practically called it: "I'm beginning to suspect someone confused a mg/mcg/μg somewhere; that seems like the Occam's razor explanation..." "But something doesn't quite add up... which if true would contradict the FDA's results... What are we (or I) missing?" "It doesn't make sense to me either. If the FDA found n.d. levels of lead in all their samples, you would expect some of the new study's samples to have low levels as well." "Right, the low end of the range should be much lower. Right now, my money is on a units error."
fnordfnordfnord 13y ago
>I put a (stupidly unnecessary it seems) moratorium on my children eating rice because of this scare story Meh, it's hard to undo heavy metal poisoning. You can lift the embargo against the rice with no permanent harm done. I'm surprised this guy didn't catch his error. He should have known something was up when his control sample also tested too high, or changed.
- ern 13y ago
  >Meh, it's hard to undo heavy metal poisoning. You can lift the embargo against the rice with no permanent harm done. I think I made the logical choice at the time, based on the info available, by stopping rice. For my wife, the inconvenience of replacing our primary form of starch outweighed the long-term risks of brain damage to the children (most people do seem to be short-term thinkers), and it was a hard sell. I am now regarded as The Boy Who Cried Wolf. Even if, say, arsenic was found to be a problem in rice, it will be difficult convincing anyone else. The harm done is the loss of credibility.
  - seanmcdirmid 13y ago
    I don't eat rice from mainland china if I can avoid it; I prefer Thai or Taiwanese rice when available. Of course, this can be very hard considering that 99% of the restaurants don't have anything else.

gregwebs 13y ago

Rather than lead, we should be very concerned about arsenic: http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2012/11/arsenic-in-your-food/index.htm http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine/2012/11/arsenic-... secondary commentary on the article: http://chriskresser.com/arsenic-in-rice-how-concerned-should-you-be http://chriskresser.com/arsenic-in-rice-how-concerned-should...

throwmeaway33 13y ago
My understanding of arsenic poisoning is that it binds to some proteins that inhibit some processes in cells. This means it eventually gets cleared from the system. So as long as you don't get a lethal dose it shouldn't cause long term damage. There is arsenic in apples seeds and I've never heard of long term issues from eating a few of those. Lead on the other hand builds up in your system and causes permanent damage.
- ars 13y ago
  > There is arsenic in apples seeds and I've never heard of long term issues from eating a few of those. That's for two reasons: 1: Because almost no one eats apple seeds - even if you swallow them, they probably pass through unchanged. And, 2: There is no arsenic in apple seeds! It has cyanide - which is a totally different thing.