The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) advises parents to offer infant cereal grains like oatmeal, barley and multigrain. There’s enough arsenic in infant rice cereal that experts are now advising parents to choose other foods for babies’ first solids. Arsenic levels were highest in babies who ate rice cereal, often given several times a day to introduce babies to solids. ... Only providing infant rice cereal is not recommended by the Food and Drug Administration because there is a risk for children to be exposed to arsenic. Every child is different. Small amounts of arsenic are normally found in water, soil, and air. Why rice cereal contains arsenic: Rice readily absorbs arsenic from the environment, about 10 times more of it than other grains. Levels of inorganic arsenic can vary widely by brand in both baby foods and products for adults. Greer, who also is the former chair of the AAP committee on nutrition and a member of the AAP arsenic in rice expert work group, points to other options for parents to introduce as first foods, including oat, barley, and multigrain cereals, all of which have lower arsenic levels than rice cereal. 2,3,9,11,20,21,36,37 Rice (Oryza sativa L.) appears to accumulate As more than other cereal crops, 38,39 especially when grown in flooded paddies. However, high amounts of arsenic is linked to certain cancers. If you notice that your baby is becoming constipated, you may want to try to blend some fruit or vegetable purees in with their rice cereal. However, these limits haven't been legally enforced yet. This limit was welcomed by the American Academy of Pediatrics . While there is still no clear-cut answer, or even “official” guidelines, we can use the information available to … Additionally, the AAP recently changed their stance from recommending rice cereal to thicken feeds when medically necessary to using oatmeal instead, since rice cereal was found to have arsenic. Increased arsenic intake has been linked to cancer later in life and with learning difficulties. A few years ago the discovery of arsenic in our food supply made us all question whether we should continue the tradition of feeding infants rice cereal as a first food. Introduction. As a result, the FDA proposed a limit for the amount of arsenic present in infant rice cereal (100 parts per billion), which is the same limit that the European Union has adopted. A new study found arsenic in all brands of infant rice cereal tested, and lower levels in all brands of non-rice … Of the 759 infants studied, 80% were introduced rice cereal within the first year of life. Commercial rice cereals tested high for arsenic levels across all brands; the arsenic levels were 10 times higher than the limit allowed in drinking water. Rice contains the highest level of inorganic arsenic and arsenic concentrations ranging from 0.05 to 0.4 mcg/g of rice. I have been recommending over the last few years avoiding rice cereal as the first food/cereal introduction in infant’s diets. Proof that how babies eat rice products really changes risk. FDA's new action limit on inorganic arsenic calls the safety of baby rice cereal into question. When you feed your baby rice cereal, follow the American Academy of Pediatrics’ advice: Don’t feed rice cereal every day and don’t make it the only food in the meal. Most started at 4 to 6 months. Introducing babies to … The researchers noted that increased attention to the issue of arsenic contamination has led to decreasing levels of the heavy metal in rice cereal and juice over the last decade. Constipation can also be an issue with rice cereal.