Concentrations of essential and toxic elements and health risk assessment in brown rice from Qatari market

[Display omitted] •Many brown rice samples contained hazardous concentrations of arsenic and cadmium.•Concentration of toxic elements in brown rice is grain-size dependent.•Sum of non-carcinogenic risk associated with As and other elements exceeds unity.•Carcinogenic risk from As or Cr in brown rice may be as high as one in every 10,000.•Results can inform the national monitoring program for rice quality and type. Twenty-two brown rice varieties available in the Qatari market were analyzed for essential and toxic elements by ICP-MS. Found concentrations (µg/kg) were: As: 171 ± 78 (62–343), Cd: 42 ± 60 (4–253), Cr: 515 ± 69 (401–639), Pb: 6 ± 7 ( 1 from some brown rice samples.