When you have cooked as many meals as I have, it’s amazing to discover that there are still things I have yet to learn. How is it possible that I have just recently learned that there is arsenic in both brown and white rice?

Cooks have debated for years over which is healthiest: brown or white rice? I took it as gospel that brown rice was healthier. A cup of brown rice has more fiber, almost six times more, and higher levels of magnesium, potassium, iron and B vitamins, making it a healthy choice to lower the risk of heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, obesity and some cancers.

White rice is made by stripping brown rice of its bran and germ, leaving behind the starchy endosperm. Brown rice is a whole grain that contains three key components. It has a fiber-rich outer layer called the bran, as well as a core layer called the germ, which contains healthy fats, antioxidants and vitamins.

According to a recent Michigan State study, both brown and white rice contain arsenic, a heavy metal linked to cancer, neurological problems and other health issues. Brown rice on average contains more arsenic at levels around 138 parts per billion while the average levels in white rice are lower, averaging around 93 parts per billion.

Rice is typically grown in flooded rice paddies. When the soil is submerged underwater, arsenic in the ground becomes soluble and the plant’s roots can easily absorb it.

Research shows that some groups, such as infants and toddlers, may be more vulnerable to the harmful effects of arsenic. If you want to be cautious, you can limit your or your child’s exposure. If your child likes rice, you could give them a variety of other whole grains, such as oats, barley, quinoa and farro, which all have less arsenic than rice. Thankfully, the amount of arsenic can be easily reduced by using the following cooking method:

Soak the rice for 30 minutes, then rinse thoroughly. Strain, then add clean water before cooking. Or, cook the rice in a fresh pot of boiling water, in the same way you’d cook pasta, using at least a four-to-one ratio of water to rice. Once the rice is cooked, strain it and discard the water. In a hurry? Soak the rice for five minutes, then finish cooking the grain in a fresh pot of water. This cooking technique reduces the arsenic by half for brown rice and by more than two-thirds for white rice.

Health experts from the Michigan study believe that concerns about arsenic in brown rice are mostly overstated for adults. That study found that the average American adult would need to eat more than three servings of brown rice — one-and-a-half cups — “every day for years” to be at an increased risk of developing health problems from arsenic in rice. Experts contend that the nutritional benefits of brown rice outweigh any concerns about arsenic when rice is part of a wide-ranging diet.