Can rice cereal and rice puffs expose babies to arsenic and cadmium?

What's actually in it

Rice soaks up heavy metals from soil and water better than almost any other crop. The inorganic arsenic in rice is the form that causes cancer and brain problems in kids. Rice also picks up cadmium (which damages kidneys) and lead (which lowers IQ). All three show up in rice cereal, rice puffs, rice teething crackers, and rice-based formulas.

Baby foods are a bigger problem than adult foods for two reasons. Babies eat a lot of the same thing every day. And their small bodies absorb more of each metal per pound of weight.

What the research says

A 2025 study in Food Chem Toxicol tested rice-based products sold for infants and toddlers. Researchers found measurable arsenic, cadmium, and lead in most samples. For kids who eat rice cereal or rice puffs daily, the calculated intake crossed safety limits set by European food safety authorities.

Whole-grain and brown rice products had more arsenic than white rice because the metal concentrates in the outer layer. "Organic" did not help. The metal comes from the soil and water, not from pesticides.

The U.S. FDA set an action level of 100 parts per billion inorganic arsenic for infant rice cereal in 2020. Some products on the market still test near that ceiling, and nothing stops a parent from serving several rice products in one day, which stacks the total.