Charlotte, NC - An unexpected threat may be lurking in your child's baby formula, arsenic. That's if it's sweetened with organic brown rice syrup.

Healthy Home Market Community Programs Manager Holli Adams says, “It might be a good idea to take a look, particularly with your baby food and make some changes with that."

Adams says the sweetener has been used for years in place of high fructose corn syrup. Doctors say there needs to be more research.

Internist Dr. Marc Siegle says, “If your child has been exposed to brown rice syrup I am not concerned that they are going to have any public health risk as a result."

The syrup is also used to sweeten some cereal and energy bars.

For now, Matthews mom Angela Knight will carefully read the ingredients on the items she buys for four year old Landis, “I think until they find out more information I might be a little more cautious."

Children run a greater threat from high arsenic levels. Dartmouth researchers say many of the foods tested also contained rice flour, rice grain or rice flakes.

Arsenic is naturally absorbed from water and ground soil as rice grows.

Brown rice typically contains higher levels of arsenic because it's only partially milled and hasn't been stripped of it's nutritious brown outer layer. But even white rice contains some small level of arsenic and both play a major role in gluten free diets.

Adams says for adults the health benefits could outweigh the risks, “There's so many things that you could eat that are much worse for you than brown rice."