Is your protein powder safe? Report reveals high heavy metal levels (Plant protein)

Medical Xpress / HealthDay / ^ | Jan. 20, 2025 | India Edwards /

[ConservativeMind]

It turns out, your protein powder might not be as healthy as you think.

A new report from the Clean Label Project reveals that popular protein powders—especially plant-based, organic and chocolate-flavored varieties—may contain high levels of lead and cadmium.

The report highlights an alarming finding: Nearly half (47%) of the 160 products tested exceeded California's Proposition 65 regulatory limits for lead, with 21% containing levels more than twice as high as those allowed under the law.

The investigation revealed that:

—Plant-based powders, like those made from soy, rice and peas, contained three times more lead than products based on whey, a byproduct of cheesemaking.

—Organic powders had three times more lead and twice as much cadmium compared to non-organic powders.

—Chocolate-flavored powders had four times more lead and up to 110 times more cadmium than vanilla-flavored powders.

For the report, Clean Label Project researchers purchased protein powders from 70 popular brands and ran nearly 36,000 tests for contaminants, including heavy metals and hormone disruptors like bisphenol A (BPA). Specific brands were not named.

The Council for Responsible Nutrition, which represents many supplement manufacturers, said the new study lacked transparency about how contamination thresholds were set and which products were tested.

"Modern analytical techniques can detect even trace levels of naturally occurring elements, such as heavy metals, which are present in soil, air, and water," Andrea Wong, a senior vice president for the council, told CNN.

"These trace levels are often well below established safety thresholds set by federal agencies like the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)."

[ConservativeMind]

It happens from pollution that lands on the food and fields, along with processing equipment that may have those heavy metals.

[DannyTN]

The chip that was in the vaccine needs those metals to work with. You can’t build a Borg out of just rna.

[mass55th]

My youngest son was taking whey protein for a time, until he got a kidney stone, which he then found out was a known side-effect of using whey protein.