Arsenic in rice and diets of children

Abstract

Levels of arsenic in Australian and imported rice (n = 36) were evaluated using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) for total arsenic and a hyphenated high-performance liquid chromatography ICP-MS system for arsenic species. The study also assessed the daily intake of total As from diets of healthy children (n = 15), collected over three consecutive days. A wide variation of total As levels (range: <0.05–0.42 mg/kg) in Australian and imported rice was found. The mean level of total As (0.24 ± 0.09 mg/kg, n = 10) in the Australian rice was relatively higher than imported rice from other countries (0.09 ± 0.04 mg/kg, n = 26). The mean level (0.25 ± 0.08 mg/kg, n = 7) of dimethylarsenic acid was considerably higher than that of inorganic As (III) (0.07 ± 0.03 mg/kg, n = 7) in the Australian rice. Children’s daily intakes of total As varied widely, ranging from 1.7 to 31.2 (11.5 ± 8.9 µg/day), which was comparable to other countries.

Keywords:

• arsenic
• rice
• diets
• arsenic intakes
• children

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Ron Sumner and Hans Yates for their assistance with sample preparation and analysis. Thanks are also extended to Professor Jack Ng for his comments and suggestions in the manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

We would like to thank the Department of Queensland Health for support for this study.