Protein Powders and Shakes Contain High Levels of Lead

[fatbegone]

"For more than two-thirds of the products we analyzed, a single serving contained more lead than CR’s food safety experts say is safe to consume in a day—some by more than 10 times."

We're gonna have to start sending our protein powder to Jano 🤣

Protein Powders and Shakes Contain High Levels of Lead - Consumer Reports

CR tests of 23 popular protein powders and shakes found that most contain high levels of lead.

www.consumerreports.org

 

[BooneDonk]

"For more than two-thirds of the products we analyzed, a single serving contained more lead than CR’s food safety experts say is safe to consume in a day—some by more than 10 times."

We're gonna have to start sending our protein powder to Jano 🤣

Protein Powders and Shakes Contain High Levels of Lead - Consumer Reports

CR tests of 23 popular protein powders and shakes found that most contain high levels of lead.

www.consumerreports.org

Maybe it’s lead and not gout in my foot!

 

[Mr. Blonde]

Does lead include the added benefits of bigger and harder muscles? If so, I'm stocking up on protein powder.

 

[fetefille]

That was a crazy read. I especially loved Quest's answer, "A spokesperson for Quest says that the levels of lead CR detected in its products are “evidence that our robust food safety programs are working effectively.'"

 

[HappyQuokka]

Lead was even found in some bubble tea samples. Makes me wonder what other products might have it too.

 

[rsmith]

Does lead include the added benefits of bigger and harder muscles? If so, I'm stocking up on protein powder.

Not if those muscles are in your a$$ in which case you need to get the lead out, not in.

 

[skeptick]

"For more than two-thirds of the products we analyzed, a single serving contained more lead than CR’s food safety experts say is safe to consume in a day—some by more than 10 times."

We're gonna have to start sending our protein powder to Jano 🤣

Protein Powders and Shakes Contain High Levels of Lead - Consumer Reports

CR tests of 23 popular protein powders and shakes found that most contain high levels of lead.

www.consumerreports.org

Amazon.com Shopping Cart

 

[Rim Job Randy]

so basically don't buy plant based protein powders and vanilla flavors are always cleaner than chocolate flavors.

Looked into other tests and glad to see my go to, Dymatize ISO test pretty clean across the board.

thanks for the heads up

 

[hexagonal]

Glad CR is doing the testing. They're not the first to call out plant protein as being particularly bad here - clean labels found a nearly 3x increase in being over the lead limit in plant based products https://cleanlabelproject.org/protein-study-2-0/ - and stuff labeled as "organic" was particularly bad. Also matched chocolate being particularly bad.

Rest of the article is weird and kind of anti-protein. Mentions one meta-analysis but not all of the other meta-analysis with larger data sets, longer average study times, etc. that show basically the opposite. Pulls out the 25-30g per meal number that is explicit to being able to utilize protein for anabolic purposes, but it's not like your body stops being able to use protein after that for energy purposes, and research has shown that the amount you can use per meal is dependent on a variety of factors and is more like .4g to .6g per kg per meal. Also weird that it's like "health guidelines really only recommend more protein if you're doing resistance training" while not also mentioning that health guidelines also say that literally everyone should be doing resistance training. It's the highest satiety macronutrient and it has to go through two conversion processes that require energy to do before it can be stored as fat.

Also weird that it doesn't mention fiber as being something that Americans need a fuckton more of, either. If I was them my takeaway message would be "Be careful about protein supplements, try to get as much as you can from whole foods, eat more if you lift weights (and you should lift weights), also eat more fiber. A lot more fiber."

 

[Mr. Blonde]

How many protein shakes til I look like this?

 

[LeadFitz]

Concerning. But what's more concerning is how these companies bypass health specific recommendations. They should be held accountable, products removed until they can address their issues. To me the company is basically saying "buy my stuff, don't care what's in it".

 

[conzopiriani]

How many protein shakes til I look like this?View attachment 9214

I hear Portland is loaning out inflatables.

 

[brownb56]

Lead was even found in some bubble tea samples. Makes me wonder what other products might have it too.

Everything that comes out of the ground. The lead is from the plants pulling nutrients from the soil.

 

[brownb56]

Glad CR is doing the testing. They're not the first to call out plant protein as being particularly bad here - clean labels found a nearly 3x increase in being over the lead limit in plant based products https://cleanlabelproject.org/protein-study-2-0/ - and stuff labeled as "organic" was particularly bad. Also matched chocolate being particularly bad.

Rest of the article is weird and kind of anti-protein. Mentions one meta-analysis but not all of the other meta-analysis with larger data sets, longer average study times, etc. that show basically the opposite. Pulls out the 25-30g per meal number that is explicit to being able to utilize protein for anabolic purposes, but it's not like your body stops being able to use protein after that for energy purposes, and research has shown that the amount you can use per meal is dependent on a variety of factors and is more like .4g to .6g per kg per meal. Also weird that it's like "health guidelines really only recommend more protein if you're doing resistance training" while not also mentioning that health guidelines also say that literally everyone should be doing resistance training. It's the highest satiety macronutrient and it has to go through two conversion processes that require energy to do before it can be stored as fat.

Also weird that it doesn't mention fiber as being something that Americans need a fuckton more of, either. If I was them my takeaway message would be "Be careful about protein supplements, try to get as much as you can from whole foods, eat more if you lift weights (and you should lift weights), also eat more fiber. A lot more fiber."

If you go by recommended levels, whole foods would have a concerning amount of lead in them too.

 

[hexagonal]

If you go by recommended levels, whole foods would have a concerning amount of lead in them too.

I guess I'm assuming people would be getting most of their protein from meat sources, which I suppose is not a fair assumption since a lot of the concern is specifically with plant protein - they probably were opting for it due to dietary restrictions that would preclude them eating a bunch of chicken or steak instead.

 

[brownb56]

I guess I'm assuming people would be getting most of their protein from meat sources, which I suppose is not a fair assumption since a lot of the concern is specifically with plant protein - they probably were opting for it due to dietary restrictions that would preclude them eating a bunch of chicken or steak instead.

I do find it ironic that people tell us to eat less meat because it is healthier for the planet. But then you see reports like this for heavy metals in plant based foods. Always something bad wherever you look.

 

[LeadFitz]

Momentus was mentioned in the report, and the founder just sent out an email citing the CR article.

To summarize:

Consumer Reports article about protein powders has caused a lot of noise, confusion, and understandably concern about the safety of protein powders

Every single batch of our protein goes through three layers of testing and verification. NSF Certified for Sport®, Additional Testing For Higher Transparency, Public Certificates of Analysis.

Plants naturally absorb minerals from the soil: the good ones like magnesium and zinc, and the trace ones like lead and cadmium. It’s biology, not contamination.

the article used California’s Prop 65 standard — a legal warning threshold, not a scientific safety limit. Prop 65 is hundreds of times stricter than global scientific standards set by the World Health Organization (WHO), the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), and the FDA.

So yes, our Plant Protein contains trace amounts of soil-derived heavy metals, but in quantities far lower than those found in many common fruits and vegetables you eat every day.

 

[hexagonal]

Momentus appears to be lying their ass off based on everything I can find.

the article used California’s Prop 65 standard — a legal warning threshold, not a scientific safety limit. Prop 65 is hundreds of times stricter than global scientific standards set by the World Health Organization (WHO), the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), and the FDA.

It is not hundreds of times stricter than the WHO/FDA/EFSA. The WHO withdrew their limits and now emphasizes there is no known safe level of exposure, as does the FDA and EFSA (though they still have some limits).

The entire way this is phrased is dishonest - the threshold is set based on scientific safety values. The numbers are based on increased risk of cancer and reproductive harm specifically, same as the FDA limits. The FDA limits on individual food items is based on expected daily values and comparing it against the portion of their overall reference levels.

Prop 65 MADL/NSRL: 0.5 µg/day for reproductive harm, 15 µg/day cancer
FDA IRL: 8.8 µg/day for women of reproductive age (No specific level set for men)

Lead in Food and Foodwares

Lead may be present in food from the environment where foods are grown, raised, or processed.

www.fda.gov

EFSA: .5 µg/kg/day point where brain development is impacted

https://efsa.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.2903/j.efsa.2010.1570

So 1/18th the FDA limit on reproductive harm and higher than the FDA limit for cancer. EFSA values are based on weight so depends on the weight of the person, but for most, still not hundreds of times.


All of them are in agreement that there is no known safe value of lead exposure.

 

[brownb56]

Momentus appears to be lying their ass off based on everything I can find.


It is not hundreds of times stricter than the WHO/FDA./EFSA The WHO withdrew their limits and now emphasizes there is no known safe level of exposure, as does the FDA and EFSA (though they still have some limits).

The entire way this is phrased is dishonest - the threshold is set based on scientific safety values. The numbers are based on increased risk of cancer and reproductive harm specifically, same as the FDA limits. The FDA limits on individual food items is based on expected daily values and comparing it against the portion of their overall reference levels.

Prop 65 MADL/NSRL: 0.5 µg/day for reproductive harm, 15 µg/day cancer
FDA IRL: 8.8 µg/day for women of reproductive age (No specific level set for men)

Lead in Food and Foodwares

Lead may be present in food from the environment where foods are grown, raised, or processed.

www.fda.gov

EFSA: .5 µg/kg/day point where brain development is impacted

https://efsa.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.2903/j.efsa.2010.1570

So 1/18th the FDA limit on reproductive harm and higher than the FDA limit for cancer. EFSA values are based on weight so depends on the weight of the person, but for most, still not hundreds of times.


All of them are in agreement that there is no known safe value of lead exposure.

Cool, context still matters in terms of levels we see in raw fruits and vegetables vs a plant based protein powder. If we were talking about protein powders contaminated with non organic sources of lead i could understand the issue. But if we are going to worry about organic sources then it needs to be a discussion covering all plant based foods. Otherwise it just makes for clickbait headlines that people will repeat with zero actual knowledge.

 

[hexagonal]

Cool, context still matters in terms of levels we see in raw fruits and vegetables vs a plant based protein powder. If we were talking about protein powders contaminated with non organic sources of lead i could understand the issue. But if we are going to worry about organic sources then it needs to be a discussion covering all plant based foods. Otherwise it just makes for clickbait headlines that people will repeat with zero actual knowledge.

I don't disagree that we should care about lead exposure from other areas - of course we should.

But if that's the takeaway message, the protein powder manufacturers should just make that the message instead of lying about things like Momentus is doing.

I ingest a lot of extra protein - I drink 4 Fairlife 30g bottles a day - that are also chocolate, so I wouldn't be surprised if I'm getting lead there, so I'm not exactly out here wanting to burn the world down on this stuff. But I'm gonna call out outright lies when someone is making outright lies like we're seeing here.

 

[brownb56]

I don't disagree that we should care about lead exposure from other areas - of course we should.

But if that's the takeaway message, the protein powder manufacturers should just make that the message instead of lying about things like Momentus is doing.

I ingest a lot of extra protein - I drink 4 Fairlife 30g bottles a day - that are also chocolate, so I wouldn't be surprised if I'm getting lead there, so I'm not exactly out here wanting to burn the world down on this stuff. But I'm gonna call out outright lies when someone is making outright lies like we're seeing here.

Problem is we are getting lead everywhere. Even switching to whole food alternatives are likely to expose you to similar amounts.