We live in an era obsessed with protein. It’s not just about eating steak and eggs for breakfast anymore; they’re selling ludicrous snacks like protein potato chips and protein cereal, stuff that has you wondering what was wrong with an old fashioned bar. Your gym probably has a little kiosk selling them in the hopes you snag a protein goodie before you head out the door.
And of course, you’re slamming down protein shakes — a longtime staple of many athletes’ diets that have skyrocketed in popularity with ordinary consumers in recent years amid shifting health fads.
But these dietary supplements have an extraordinarily dirty secret. A new analysis from the watchdog group Consumer Reports found many popular protein powders contain unsafe levels of lead — with over two-thirds of the 23 products tested containing more of the toxic metal in a single serving than the daily safe level for consumption, based on the group’s own safety’s standards.
One of the worst offenders? The Black Edition powder from Huel, a plant-based nutrition company that made a name for itself by selling “meal replacements” — protein slushes, basically, that are meant to be a healthy replacement for eating actual food. CR’s testing found that it was loaded with 6.3 micrograms of lead per serving, which is 1,290 percent of CR’s safe level.
The absolute worst, though, was Naked Nutrition’s Vegan Mass Gainer, a high calorie product often consumed by weightlifters to quickly gain weight. This had 7.7 micrograms of lead per serving, which is an even more bewildering 1,570 percent of the safe level. Pump iron in the gym, load up on lead in the kitchen.
The findings underscore how the US Food and Drug and Administration leaves dietary supplements, which include protein powders, virtually unregulated. It does not review, approve, or test these products before they’re sold, and the industry is largely left to police itself. Some brands submit their products to third-party testing, but most don’t. Consumers, then, basically have no idea of the kinds of toxins they’re potentially exposing themselves to by eating these.
They also show how some of the health craze around protein intake is leading to companies recklessly cashing in on a trend. The average level of lead found in the products was even worse than it was when CR first conducted similar tests fifteen years ago.
Lead exposure is especially pernicious because even tiny amounts of it can survive and accumulate in your body over time, CR notes. That it’s being found in protein powder is even more cause for concern, because people often take these as a daily supplement. Some, like Huel’s Black Edition powder, are marketed as outright meal replacements. These aren’t being framed like the odd treat, but a cornerstone of your diet.
Most of the products weren’t as extremely lead-laden as Naked Nutrition’s or Huel’s, but were contaminated enough to warrant caution. Two others had between 400 and 600 percent of the level of concern per daily serving, which CR experts caution you shouldn’t consume more than once a week.
Generally, it’s not looking good for vegans, or anyone who avoids milk. On average, plant based products had nine times the amount of lead found in dairy proteins like whey. While dairy products tested the best, half still had enough lead contamination to caution against daily use.
CR based its safety level on a California standard that puts the maximum allowable dose level of lead at 0.5 micrograms per day. “We use this value because it is the most protective lead standard available,” Sana Mujahid, who oversees food safety research and testing at CR, said in a statement.
The FDA’s estimated limit for exposure — which is just an estimate, and not a hard regulation — is much higher at 2.2 micrograms per day for children and 8.8 micrograms per day for adults. But there’s no known safe level of consumption for lead, so “we think your exposure to it in the food and water supply should be as low as possible,” Mujahid added.
Still, CR says that you shouldn’t panic if you’ve been taking these products. Even the ones with the highest lead levels are “far below the concentration needed to cause immediate harm.” But experts told the watchdog group it’s worth reconsidering how much protein you really need in your diet.
“Protein mania is rampant,” Nicholas Burd, a professor of health kinesiology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, told CR. “If you [have] a healthy eating pattern, there’s certainly no reason you need an isolated food protein.”