Rice, flushing the toilet and tap water ‘could be slowly poisoning you’, scientists warn
If you're not rinsing your rice, you could be slowly poisoning yourself with arsenic
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WE all know that we should avoid eating out-of-date meat and raw eggs if we want to avoid getting food poisoning.
But experts believe that we might be exposing ourselves to potentially harmful bacteria regularly, thanks to seemingly innocent food items and household objects.
The research, which is being presented today at the Society for Risk Analysis is calling for government bodies to educate the public on the health risks that certain foods pose - as well as plumbing systems.
Two most ubiquitous but dangerous things? Rice and toilets.
Rice contains poison
We regularly read how important it is to reheat rice properly to avoid coming down with tummy trouble.
"Rice cakes supply close to a child's weekly limit in one serving. Rice drinks can also be high in arsenic, and children younger than 5 shouldn’t drink them instead of milk."
Regular exposure to small amounts of arsenic has been linked to an increased risk of bladder, lung and skin cancer, as well as heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
It's also thought to have a detrimental effect on the immune systems of babies if exposed to the substance in the womb.
Lead exposure is still an issue for lots of people - meaning that you could be drinking tap water laced with the metal.
Abhishek Komandur, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has been looking into the relationship between water lead and blood lead in kids under the age of seven.
A direct link was found between the two and although government organisations have done a lot to try to replace lead piping in public drinking systems, lead exposure does still happen.
In 2014, the drinking water source for the city of Flint, Michigan, USA, was changed to come from the Flint River. Due to insufficient water treatment, lead leached from the lead piping into the drinking water - exposing over 100,000 residents.
Lead poisoning can cause belly pain, constipation, headaches, memory problems and infertility. It's especially dangerous for children and unborn babies who can develop learning difficulties as a result.
Your loo is full of toxins
Whenever it's discovered that a restaurant is filthy, it's often compared to a toilet seat - which is supposed ot be surprisingly clean.
But inside the loo itself is another matter altogether.
Michigan State expert, Ryan Julien, looked at the age of water in people's homes.
He found that while lots of us waste less water because we've got more advanced flush systems, that also means that we've got more stale water hanging around.
Less water means we're not pushing the old sludge out - and that means older, dirtier, more toxic water is hanging around in our loos.
That, he claims, is creating fertile ground for all kinds of nasty bugs and bacteria to fester and grow - increasing our chances of developing things like Legionnaire's, tuberculosis and drug-resistant infections like Strep.
BBQ meat is cancerous
Not a new thing really but fresh findings from the International Agency for Research on Cancer has confirmed that grilling meat on BBQ really isnt' a good idea, healthwise.
Although you won't get cancer from the odd grill, barbecued meat does contain high concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons - a group 1 carcinogen.
While you won't suddenly develop cancer from having the odd grilled sausage, you could be upping your risk over a long period of time.
And that because of the risk from dietary exposure, health organisations may start advising us to limit the amount of barbecued meats that we eat.
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