WTF Rice

If anyone keeps up with nutrition studies and the like, you should know by now that rice contains higher amounts of Inorganic Arsenic, you know the stuff that is actually toxic. This is due to many factors, but biggest seems to be our shitty farming practices in the past, and somewhat now a days, depending on growing locations and their regulations, or lack there of. Sadly this does not only effect rice, so I still eat rice. For me, it is just something to keep in mind. For others, they freak out and avoid the stuff. The same people seem to not know that many fruits and veggies, because you know, the whole agricultural practices issue, contain it as well. Not in the same quantity, but still, if you consume a lot of fruits and veggies, you aren't avoiding Inorganic Arsenic. Same with ground water, if you aren't filtering the shit out of your water, you are still consuming it, so either way you are fucked. So yay! The wtf comes from a post I saw today on reasons why not to give your child rice cereal. It completely ignored the actual issue and instead went with pseudoscience nonsense.

First point it made was that rice cereal is nutritionally void. For simplicity sake I went with white rice Gerber nutritional values. The info can be found here.
https://medical.gerber.com/products/cereal

Let's start from the top shall we? Besides calories, which is 60 per serving, it contains 0.5 grams of fat. While this seems like a small amount, lets remember this is for at least 4 months of age or older. Not for adults, unless you are into that, which I won't judge if you are. Generally you start a little older than 4 months, unless directed by a pediatrician, but 4-6 is the general age range. The fat is good for absorbing fat vitamins and minerals. They are vitamin A, E, D and K. The most common fat soluble minerals are iron, zinc, magnesium, calcium and potassium. There is more, but that is what most people should be able to identify. So, that is one nutrient that is in the rice cereal that helps your baby.

Since we are on fat soluble minerals and vitamins, rice cereal has A, E, Calcium, Iron and zinc. So what do these do in the body? To keep it simple, A helps with the immune system, your eyes, skin and reproduction. If there isn't enough in the diet then it should be obvious what the end result is. Crappy immune system, trouble with vision, skin issues and reproductive issues. Vitamin E is actually very rare to be deficient in, but it plays a role in maintaining red blood cells. A very important role actually, so having it in your diet is a good idea, even if it is rare to be lacking it. Next in line is Calcium. Every one has heard about calcium and strong bones, but that isn't all it is good for. If you don't have enough calcium it can actually increase your LDL levels, cause insomnia, because we all know a cranky baby at 1 in the morning is so wonderful, irregular heart beats and more. Iron is well known for the condition Anemia. When you lack iron you develop anemia, which I can assure you, is no fun. It is a very important mineral since it aids in the transport of oxygen. Along with anemia, low iron levels contribute to digestive issues, which also includes intestinal bleeding. Seeing blood in your own stool is scary, seeing it in your babies is even more scary. Zinc is the last on the nutrition list, but it still plays an important role in the body. It also plays a role in the immune system, as well as cell division, growth and wound healing. Lack means poor wound healing, delayed growth and symptoms include diarrhea and skin issues. Rice cereal has more vitamins, minerals and other nutrients for the body, however, just from the fat soluble examples, it should be apparent that rice cereal is not nutritionally void.

Speaking of which, the post contradicts itself stating that rice cereal contains artificial iron which blocks the iron from breast milk from being absorbed.....So if rice cereal is nutritionally void, it would not be fortified with iron. I can not emphasize the face palm with this contradiction. Another relevant 'fact' *cough*, bull shit point, is that the added vitamins is harder for baby to absorb.  Now if you don't understand the different types of iron this could be confusing because the body does absorb a certain type more readily. Heme iron is absorbed by the body more quickly, but a supplemental iron won't block the absorption of heme. That is just stupid. Let me elaborate. The body will use what is easier to absorb, aka what is in breast milk, and the fat soluble vitamins and minerals not used will be stored in the body for later when it is needed. So again, no it won't be blocked. While there are better sources that our body can absorb more easily, that doesn't mean that it can't absorb the nutrients. It just means that if there is an easier absorbed source in the body, it will use that before the other.

Another point of the post was that the baby doesn't produce amylase, which is needed for grain digestion. So let's address amylase first. It is for carbohydrate digestion. So if you don't produce enough, you are fucked with vegetables and fruits too, not just grains. So, now comes babies. While yes, babies don't produce a lot of amylase, until about one year of age, like adults do, it is present in their saliva in enough quantity to break down less complex carbs. Aka white rice. Another source that babies get to help with carb digestion, is from mamas milk. So yet again, the whole 'blocks nutrient absorption in breast milk' is debunked. So while they aren't as good as as adults are at digesting complex carbohydrates, they can still digest them. It is why pediatricians suggest certain foods to start off with, and not say barley.

'Rice cereal fills the babies belly and the baby misses out on much needed nutrients' is another absurd claim, which given the above, it has now become painfully obvious how stupid this thought process is. Now if that is all you are feeding baby, that isn't healthy, because stated above it is higher in inorganic arsenic. The fun thing about the human body though is that it can get rid of arsenic, pretty easily actually. It can be stored in nails and hair when exposed for a long period of time, which most of us are, but that isn't harmful and as long as baby, or parents, are not eating only rice in high quantities every day, aka at breakfast, lunch and dinner. There is really no concern that has been studied, so far, when it comes to inorganic arsenic consumption in a balanced diet, which does include rice.

When it comes to sleep, some babies have a hard time with it. One cause is GERD. It is actually a very common cause and the number one recommended food for it is rice. Yet this post claims that rice cereal won't help a baby sleep. It really doesn't give a reason why, well most of the post doesn't give any reasoning, it just states things without giving the reasoning behind the statement. Rice is bland, heavy, and it stays in the stomach easier since it is so easy to digest. When acid comes back up into the esophagus when you lay down, what babies do when they sleep, it causes a very unpleasant feeling that the baby doesn't understand nor wants to ignore, hence the crying at 1 am. So when you feed something that is more bland and doesn't aggravate GERD symptoms, you have a happy baby that will sleep better.

 While I enjoy facebook posts as much as the next person, some of the things posted really make me go wtf, and this was one of them. It isn't a stressful wtf, but more of a humerus one due to lack of actual understanding or even research. A simple google search could have debunked the post right off the bat.