Is It Bad to Eat Uncooked Rice?

Rice is a nutritious, easy food to consume. Many people keep it on their shelves because of its versatility and health benefits. Typically, it is eaten after being cooked. 

Rice should not be consumed uncooked. Doing this could pose adverse health effects like gastrointestinal issues and food poisoning.

What Happens if You Eat Uncooked Rice?

It has become a trend to consume raw, uncooked foods, under the idea that they are more healthy that way. This is not true when it comes to rice, and consuming cooked rice has many health benefits, such as helping build immunity and control weight.

There are no benefits to eating rice that has not been cooked. If you eat undercooked or uncooked rice, your chances of getting food poisoning are increased. Often, if you eat undercooked rice, it is not intentional. 

You can tell if rice is undercooked by its texture. Fully cooked rice should be somewhat squishy, undercooked rice will be crunchy. The bacteria in rice is killed when the rice is cooked at high temperatures, so uncooked, harmful bacteria are still in the rice.

Eating raw rice in small portions is most likely to cause digestive troubles. Craving raw rice suddenly can be a sign of a psychological disorder called pica. Pica is a mental illness where one gains an appetite for things that are not nutritious. 

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Eating large amounts of raw rice creates a new list of possible ailments. These include fatigue, damage to teeth, hair loss, and anemia. Eating uncooked rice in any quantity is not good for you and your body.

What to Do With Uncooked Rice

Though it is not considered safe to eat raw rice, it can still be repurposed. If you don’t want your raw rice to go to waste, take a look at some of these tricks.

Use Uncooked Rice for a Homemade Ice Pack

If you have raw rice laying around, you can make a heating pad or ice pack with it. To do this, grab an old sock and fill it with raw rice. Then tie a knot at the end, and store it in the freezer until you need it. For a heating pad, do the same but put the rice-filled sock in the microwave for about thirty seconds.

Cleaning Out Hard-to-Reach Places

If you enjoy making coffee, you have probably experienced the frustration of tiny bits of coffee beans getting stuck in your coffee machine. The blades in coffee makers are effective, but make them especially hard to clean. You can clean out a coffee maker with uncooked rice.

To do this, pour some raw rice into the coffee maker and turn it on. The particles of the rice will get out those stubborn coffee grounds. You can use this same method for blenders and spice grinders.

Uncooked rice can also be used to clean out a vase. The narrow bottom part of many vases makes them difficult to thoroughly clean. Pour some soap and raw rice into a vase, add water, and swirl it around a few times. This should clean out any dust and dirt in the vase.

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Preventing Rust

Rust is formed because moisture gets on metal. Rice is known to be a drying agent, you have probably heard the trick of putting your soaked phone in rice to salvage it. If you have a toolbox full of metal tools and want to keep them from rusting, try using rice.

Placing just a small quantity of uncooked rice into a toolbox can make a world of difference. By doing this, the rice will absorb the moisture instead of your tools. So, your tools are much less likely to rust.

The same trick can be used for silverware. To keep silverware from tarnishing using rice, keep some uncooked rice in the same place you store your silverware. Again, the rice will absorb moisture and hold off the rusting process.

Unsticking Salt

If you have tried to use a salt shaker during some humid months, you’ve likely experienced the salt clumping together. Often, the clumps of salt will block the holes in your salt shaker and you won’t be able to use it functionally. Adding a few grains of rice to your salt shaker can prevent this, as they absorb the moisture they can protect the salt from doing the same.

Conclusion

Eating uncooked rice is definitely not good for you. There are no benefits to doing so, and it increases your risk of getting food poisoning. Make sure your rice is always fully cooked before you consume it.

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