Feel terrible about children having rice cakes when young

[chocolatelimesaredelicious]

Hello,

Not sure this is the right thread necessarily, but I just wanted to offload about a subject I'm really worried about.
My children are now 12, 10 and 7 (twins).
When they were young, baby rice cakes were the "trendy" healthy snack, suggested by health visitors and seen as a good substitute for biscuits.

I used to feed my children them quite often - we always had a bag of baby rice cakes on the go. I think they probably had about 8 a week. When they went to pre-school, they were often given big rice cakes as a snack with fruit-maybe once or twice a week or so.

Fast forward to 2020....last week, I came across an article saying that rice cakes have dangerous levels of arsenic in , and that children under 5 should not have them, particularly not infants as they raise the risk of getting certain cancers later in life. Looking around more, I saw that Sweden have banned rice cakes for under 6s.

I actually emailed the Professor in charge of this project, and he said that individual risk of getting cancer from rice/rice cakes was relatively low, and that also stopping after 5 years would have helped as cancer risks were calculated on a lifetime's worth of exposure.

This made me a feel a bit better at the time, but since then I have become increasingly worried about what I might have done all those years ago to jeopardise my children's health. And I keep on remembering all those rice cakes I fed my children...

Any tips on how to not be consumed by guilt about this?

Also..do spread the word not to feed infants rice cakes...

And thank you 123-yes, I have become unusually anxious about this topic, and, yes, there are other reasons for me being anxious the moment and it probably has been displaced.
Actually, this thread has helped me to realise that I am abnormally anxious - as so many of you have shrugged off the rice cake issue, which I guess is the "normal" reaction to these kinds of stories.

I love the nutmeg-LSD connection. That made me laugh!

Have just found this on a Swedish website (Sweden have banned rice cakes for under 6s but still say the following:)

My child has eaten many rice cakes regularly for several years – should I be concerned?
No, the effects of arsenic are mostly notable when a person is exposed to high levels of arsenic over a long period of time. But it's always a good idea to vary the diet and not eat too much of a particular product. Young children are more sensitive than older children are, because they weigh less and therefore ingest more arsenic per kilo of body weight.

Makes me feel a little better..though the Professor's words should have also done that

If it is of any reassurance my 4 aged 18 to 22 were brought up on rice cakes from weaning to 10 or 11. All perfecrlyly ok and doing well in life.

Makes me feel a bit better about all the wotsits mine consumed

Yes, wish I'd give mine Wotsits instead!

Did you also feed them bacon, sausages, ham? Also linked to cancer (especially if they’re cremated which is the only way I eat my bacon.) The air we breathe is probably more cancer causing than some rice cakes.

Have you children been outside OP?

If so, then you’ve exposed them to car fumes.

Tut tut. Worse than rice cakes

Yes, the air probably is...
I suppose it's that I now know rice cakes pose a risk (albeit very small) whereas I'm in blissful ignorance about the many other carcinogens I expose my children to every day! And I think, if the rice cakes are anything to go by, probably better I remain in ignorance...

Another scaremonger thread

Where do you live OP? Because if you live in a city, I suspect your children have been exposed to way more toxins in the Sue than they will be through rice cakes

Sue? Air!

Also understand that the media represents risk - it could say 'X raises the risk of such and such a cancer by 25%!' but the amount you'd have to actually consume to raise that risk is way beyond what anyone would eat. Do you remember the scare a few years ago that salmon would give everyone cancer? Turned out you'd basically had to eat it for every meal for years for the risk to be raised by the level screamed about in the headlines.

And for some light relief, see this list of everything the Daily Mail has said 'causes cancer (basically everything):

thetownend.com/index.php?topic=38270.0;wap2

I wouldn't even give this a second thought. The fact you are genuinely worried about this makes me think you have literally no real worries in life and you need to get a grip fast.. or.. you are obsessing about this to distract you from some very real trauma that has happened. I hope it's the first one, but if its the second you might be better speaking to some MH professionals

My mum used to drink alcohol and then breast feed me on purpose, because I slept better! You can only make the best decisions at the time with the information that you have everything else you need to let go.

A lot of the world eats rice at least once a day - and arsenic poisoning isn’t a thing they bother about. Don’t worry.

I liked the apple organic ones too!

There are high levels of arsenic in all rice I think. We sometimes eat rice 3 times a day and I am not concerned.

@TenDays

You were following the best advice at the time, as we all do. Don't worry about it. There is very little real risk.

(Reminds me of the 1970s rumour about nutmeg containing traces of chemicals close to LSD.

People actually swallowed tablespoons of grated nutmeg, or bought whole ones to grate and eat at home. Lots of vomiting but nil hallucinations reported.)

Ah, I was told nutmeg was helpful and calming if someone was coming down from a trip.

Evening primrose seeds toasted and the scrapings from banana skins, also toasted, were supposed to induce a mellow high. They didn't.

I grew up in a country where we eat rice twice a day every day. My kids are fed Organic flavoured rice cakes almost daily. I did not know I was killing them with arsenic

Op, I understand - I also fed my kids packs and packs of the Kallo rice cakes, from Waitrose.

The thing is that you will also have been doing things that reduced their risk. So eg eating lots of ham also increases background risk by a bit. And it sounds like you didn’t give them that.

My point is that risks balance out. I used to do a job where actuarial calculations of lifespan were involved. I had to calculate a smoker’s likely life expectancy and the medical expert told me to remember that average life expectancy includes average smoking levels at the population wide level. Eg despite the fact that it raised individuals’ risks and one could die young of a smoking related disease the odds were this man would live to mid 70s, even with the smoking

My toddler loves the Organix apple ones!

So me giving mine biscuits and farleys rusks wasn't such a bad idea then?
I know what you mean OP, but you'd never eat anything.
All this sugar free stuff is full of chemicals too.

In the 70s loads of mums have kids bran supplements - my dm used to put spoons and spoons of it in cakes etc. Now bran supplements in large quantities are thought to be counter productive but individual risks are still very low.

You should not worry . I had young children was unemployed and had to buy meat at markets .......afterwards found it was at the time of mad cow disease. Luckily all ok .

Thanks everyone for the comments. I am not trying to scaremonger, just offload and ask for people's reactions.
My understanding is that cooked white rice has a third of the arsenic of wholegrain rice cakes, so is less of an issue.
However, let me reiterate that the Professor researching rice and arsenic , who I contacted, said the individual risk from eating rice and/or rice cakes is LOW, in the ten thousands.

That should be reassuring..and I should be reassured. But I'm a worrier when it comes to children and health.