Key Takeaways
- Some foods, including seafood, rice, and chocolate, can contain elevated levels of heavy metals, but strategic choices can help reduce your exposure.
- Rice—particularly brown rice—has the highest overall heavy metal content due to its high levels of arsenic.
- Buying organic, varying your diet, and choosing specific brands known for lower contamination can significantly decrease heavy metal intake.
- Detoxing from heavy metals is a gradual process—your body has natural detox pathways, but you can support them with smart nutrition and lifestyle habits.
Recent studies have found that some popular foods—including dark chocolate, rice, and seafood—contain measurable levels of heavy metals. While this sounds alarming, heavy metals are naturally present in soil and water, meaning small amounts end up in food.
The problem arises when these metals accumulate in the body over time, potentially leading to neurological damage, kidney problems, and reduced immune function.
The good news? You don’t need to overhaul your diet completely. By making a few informed choices, you can significantly reduce your intake while still enjoying the foods you love. Here’s where heavy metals hide in food and how to minimise exposure without unnecessary stress.
Which Food Has the Highest Heavy Metal Content?
If you’re wondering which food has the highest overall heavy metal content, the answer is rice—particularly brown rice.
Rice absorbs arsenic more efficiently than most crops due to its waterlogged growing conditions, where arsenic in the soil dissolves and becomes highly bioavailable. Brown rice contains even higher levels than white rice since the outer bran layer retains arsenic, which is removed during milling (R).
Other High-Heavy-Metal Foods
While rice isn’t the only food that contains heavy metals, it stands out because: ✔ It’s widely consumed daily in many diets worldwide. ✔ It has consistently high arsenic levels compared to other foods. ✔ Brown rice, often considered healthier, actually retains more arsenic than white rice.
Other foods high in specific heavy metals include:
- Large predatory fish (e.g., tuna, swordfish, shark) → High in mercury
- Dark chocolate → High in cadmium
- Leafy greens and root vegetables → Can accumulate lead and cadmium from soil
- Shellfish → Can contain multiple heavy metals, including arsenic, cadmium, and mercury
While completely avoiding rice isn’t necessary, making smarter choices can significantly reduce your arsenic intake—which brings us to the practical steps you can take.
How to Reduce Heavy Metal Exposure from Food
1. Choose Safer Sources of Grains and Legumes
Since rice is the highest dietary source of arsenic, reducing exposure is key.
Here’s how:
✔ Rinse rice thoroughly before cooking.
✔ Use the parboil method—cooking rice in extra water (6:1 water-to-rice ratio) and draining the excess can remove up to 60% of arsenic.
✔ Choose Basmati rice from India or Pakistan, which has lower arsenic levels than other varieties.
✔ Swap rice for quinoa, millet, or buckwheat, which naturally have lower arsenic levels.
✔ Buy organic lentils and beans and soak them before cooking to help lower the metal content.
2. Be Selective with Chocolate, Coffee, and Tea
Cocoa trees naturally absorb cadmium from the soil, which is why some dark chocolates have higher levels of this heavy metal. Similarly, tea plants can accumulate lead and aluminum, particularly in lower-quality blends.
To Minimise Exposure:
✔ Opt for chocolate from regions with lower cadmium levels, such as Ecuador.
✔ Choose high-quality organic tea and coffee brands that conduct heavy metal testing.
✔ Avoid excessive daily intake—moderation is key.
3. Eat Seafood Wisely
Mercury accumulates in large fish over time, meaning that bigger, longer-living species tend to have the highest levels.
Best choices for low-mercury seafood:
✔ Smaller fish like sardines, anchovies, and mackerel—rich in omega-3s but low in mercury.
✔ Wild-caught salmon, which generally has lower contamination.
✔ Shellfish like shrimp and scallops, which tend to have lower heavy metal content than most fish.
If you eat a lot of canned tuna, switch to skipjack tuna instead of albacore to reduce mercury exposure by nearly 50%.
4. Increase Detox-Supporting Foods
Your body has natural detox pathways—primarily through the liver, kidneys, and gut—but you can support them with foods that aid heavy metal elimination (R):
✔ Cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts) contain sulforaphane, which enhances detoxification enzymes.
✔ Coriander (cilantro) may help remove heavy metals from tissues.
✔ Garlic and onions contain sulfur, which binds to metals and helps eliminate them.
✔ Chlorella and spirulina, two nutrient-dense algae, have been studied for their ability to bind to heavy metals and support detox.
5. Use a High-Quality Water Filter
Lead and other heavy metals can leach into drinking water from old pipes.
How to reduce exposure:
✔ Use a reverse osmosis filter or activated carbon filter, which effectively removes heavy metals.
✔ If drinking tap water, let it run for a few seconds before use, as heavy metals accumulate in stagnant water.
6. Choose Organic and Local Produce When Possible
Organic food isn’t completely free of heavy metals, but organically grown crops contain 48% less cadmium than conventionally grown ones (R). This is because organic farms avoid synthetic phosphate fertilisers, a major source of cadmium.
✔ Buying local produce also reduces contamination risks from long-distance transport and industrial pollution.
7. Reduce Heavy Metals in Cooking and Food Storage
Even the way you cook and store food can influence heavy metal exposure.
Safe cooking and storage tips:
✔ Avoid aluminium cookware, as it can leach metals into food. Choose stainless steel or cast iron instead.
✔ Don’t use cheap ceramic dishes with lead-based glazes.
✔ Store acidic foods (like tomato sauce) in glass or stainless steel, rather than plastic or aluminium.
8. Be Mindful with Baby Foods and Children’s Diets
Children are particularly vulnerable to heavy metals due to their developing brains and organs. Some baby foods have been found to contain high levels of arsenic, lead, and cadmium, particularly rice-based snacks and cereals (R).
Better choices for children:
✔ Swap rice-based cereals for oatmeal or quinoa-based cereals.
✔ Limit fruit juices, as some brands contain lead contamination from processing.
✔ Offer a variety of whole foods rather than relying on processed baby snacks.
Do You Need to Worry?
The reality is, you can’t completely avoid heavy metals—they’re part of our environment. However, reducing exposure is achievable through smart food choices, proper preparation methods, and supporting your body’s natural detoxification.
Instead of cutting out entire food groups, focus on small, sustainable changes like rinsing rice, choosing safer seafood, and varying your diet.
Want to learn more about how to optimise your diet to improve your health. Check out our blog: Best Diets for Gut Health.
