Is washing rice before cooking good or bad? Here’s what a new study says
Should you wash rice before cooking? Experts say rinsing rice helps wash off arsenic and microplastics, though it can also remove small amounts of nutrients.
Washing rice does reduce levels of some important nutrients that naturally dissolve in water such as copper, iron, zinc, and vanadium. (File photo)
Most of us know to wash rice before cooking it, without questioning it. You pour it into a bowl, run water over it, watch it turn cloudy white, drain it, and repeat until the water runs clear, and then, we cook the rice.
However, most people have no idea that when you wash that rice and watch the cloudy water drain away, you are not just washing off dirt. You are also washing off nutrients, according to a report by LiveScience.
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Washing rice does reduce levels of some important nutrients that naturally dissolve in water, such as copper, iron, zinc, and vanadium. These are nutrients the body needs. A small amount of each is lost each time rice is rinsed, as per the report.
However, rice at best offers only a small percentage of one’s daily intake of these nutrients. Washing rice is therefore unlikely to affect you nutritionally, according to Evangeline Mantzioris, an accredited practicing dietitian at Adelaide University in Australia.
Permal Deo, a food scientist at Adelaide University with a background in molecular biology, advocated for washing rice as it may contain naturally occurring inorganic arsenic absorbed from soil and water during farming. Rinsing may help remove some of the arsenic present on the grain surface. It is less about dust and insects.
Mantzioris also pointed out that washing rice can reduce microplastic contamination. A 2021 study found that rinsing rice before cooking reduced the amount of microplastics present by 20 to 40 percent. While the full health effects of microplastics are still being studied, evidence is growing that they may be harmful.
On the other hand, Bo Wang, a food scientist at Adelaide University, argued that rice sold in supermarkets is typically cleaned, dried, dehusked, milled, graded, and packaged before it reaches consumers, making it a relatively safe product that does not require washing for food safety reasons.
Essentially, a gentle rinse once or twice before cooking rice is usually sufficient.
(This article has been curated by Paramita Datta, who is an intern with The Indian Express)
Washing rice does reduce levels of some important nutrients that naturally dissolve in water such as copper, iron, zinc, and vanadium. (File photo) 
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