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Wild rice

What the research shows

Not enough

published research on this page yet

A grain harvested from grasses that grow in shallow water.

It is eaten as food and has a chewy outside with a tender inside.1

What research says

Animal and lab studies only

  • Benefit

    Fatty diet blood sugar6

    In animal studies, wild rice lowered high blood sugar caused by a fatty diet, unlike white rice.

Study type not stated

  • Benefit

    Heart and blood sugar health2

    Wild rice has antioxidants, and some studies suggest it may help with heart health and blood sugar.

  • Open question

    Heart health benefits3

    Wild rice may help your heart, but scientists do not yet know whether eating it regularly helps people.

Found in some samples or products

These come from where it was grown, how it was processed or cooked, or what it was made into. They are not about the ingredient itself, so the signal does not count them.

  • Contaminants in food4

    Wild rice from Wisconsin had high arsenic and lead, which could be a problem for people eating it.

  • Mercury in cereal flakes5

    Wild rice flakes held more mercury than typical European cereals, though still below the safe daily limit.

The signal at the top counts the findings in people and in animal and lab studies. A concern in studies of people outranks animal and lab studies, and “No concerns” needs at least one finding in people. When most findings in people point one way, the page leans that way (“Mostly”), and every finding is still shown. Findings whose study type is not stated are shown but not counted. This page is a reference, not medical advice. It describes what regulators and published research say. Talk to a doctor or dietitian about your own diet.

Products

The 6 most-scanned of 461 products on Open Food Facts that list wild rice.

  • Brown, Red & Wild Rice Merchant Gourmet · 250 0 additives
  • Special Wholegrain, Wild & Red Rice Worldwide Foods · 250 g 1 additive
  • Beetroot & Feta Nutrient Dense M&S Food 0 additives
  • Honey and Ginger Super Tuna Salad with lentils and chickpeas John West · 220 1 additive
  • wholegrain and wild rice Sainsburys 0 additives
  • Beef and Mushroom Stroganoff M&S · 380 g 0 additives

References

  1. 1Wild rice. Wikipedia. Accessed October 24, 2026. CC BY-SA 4.0.
  2. 2Yu X, Chu M, Chu C, et al. Wild rice (Zizania spp.): A review of its nutritional constituents, phytochemicals, antioxidant activities, and health-promoting effects. Food Chem. 2020;331:127293. doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2020.127293
  3. 3Surendiran G, Alsaif M, Kapourchali FR, Moghadasian MH. Nutritional constituents and health benefits of wild rice (Zizania spp.). Nutr Rev. 2014;72(4):227-36. doi:10.1111/nure.12101
  4. 4Bennett JP, Chiriboga E, Coleman J, Waller DM. Heavy metals in wild rice from northern Wisconsin. Sci Total Environ. 2000;246(2-3):261-9. doi:10.1016/s0048-9697(99)00464-7
  5. 5Sumczynski D, Koubová E, Šenkárová L, Orsavová J. Rice flakes produced from commercial wild rice: Chemical compositions, vitamin B compounds, mineral and trace element contents and their dietary intake evaluation. Food Chem. 2018;264:386-392. doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2018.05.061
  6. 6Zhao R, Wan P, Shariati-Ievari S, Aliani M, Shen GX. North American Wild Rice-Attenuated Hyperglycemia in High-Fat-Induced Obese Mice: Involvement of AMP-Activated Protein Kinase. J Agric Food Chem. 2020;68(33):8855-8862. doi:10.1021/acs.jafc.0c03776