Consumer Reports<\/a> explained that it conducted a fresh round of heavy metal testing targeting five of the most popular reader-requested chocolate protein powders. All five were revealed to be safe for daily or near-daily consumption, with overall lower average levels of lead and arsenic than its previous tests had found in protein powders.\n<\/p>\n \u200b”I was surprised by our findings because they seemed to contradict a claim we heard again and again from some parts of the industry after our last investigation: that it was nigh on impossible to make chocolate-flavored or plant-based protein powders with very low levels of lead. These results show that’s not the case,” Paris Martineau, an investigative journalist on Consumer Reports\u2019 special projects team, shared with Food & Wine.\n<\/p>\n
For this round of follow-up testing, Consumer Reports collected five reader-requested protein powder brands: Premier Protein, Equate, Truvani, Clean Simple Eats, and Ritual. To limit the variables that could skew results, the organization focused on chocolate-flavored protein powders only \u2014 with any vegan protein powders featuring pea protein as a primary ingredient, similar to its previous testing \u2014 and analyzed multiple samples of each powder from distinct product lots.\n<\/p>\n
\u200bThe team tested each sample for the heavy metals arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury, which it noted were “the four elements of concern identified in our 2025 investigation.” It found that for all five powders the levels of heavy metals were “generally consistent across product lots,” and four of the five powders tested below its level of concern for lead, which rings in at 0.5 micrograms per daily serving.\n<\/p>\n
\u200bClean Simple Eats\u2019 whey-based protein powder yielded especially great numbers with only 0.21 micrograms of lead per serving, followed closely by another whey-based powder from Walmart\u2019s brand Equate, which had 0.27 micrograms of lead per serving. Next up was Premier Protein\u2019s dairy-based protein powder, with 0.38 micrograms, then Truvani\u2019s plant-based protein powder \u2014 made using pea protein \u2014 which contained 0.46 micrograms.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
One of the plant-based powders, Ritual\u2019s Essential Protein Daily Shake \u2014 also made with pea protein \u2014 contained 0.53 micrograms of lead per serving, putting it just above the level of concern. However, Consumer Reports outlined that the amount of lead found in this product is low enough that its experts say it\u2019s okay to have up to 6.5 servings of it per week.\n<\/p>\n
The organization emphasizes that consumers should be concerned about lead because it has the ability to “linger” in the body, and repeated exposure, even in small amounts, can accumulate over time and contribute to health risks.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cConsumers shouldn\u2019t have to guess whether their protein powder poses a risk for lead,\u201d Tunde Akinleye, the Consumer Reports food safety researcher who led both testing projects, added in the published findings. \u201cThese results show manufacturers can keep contamination low, but we know from prior investigations that lead levels in protein powders are not consistent across the industry.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\u200bThe team also noted in its statement that it believes a “lack of regulation” may be why so many protein powders have higher levels of lead. Oversight of the protein powder industry falls to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA); however, as Consumer Reports details, the FDA does not usually review, approve, or test dietary supplements before they\u2019re sold. Additionally, there are no federal limits that dictate how much lead or heavy metals are allowed in protein powders.\n<\/p>\n
\u200bThe findings come as little surprise to people like Pieter Cohen, MD, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a Cambridge Health Alliance physician, who added in Consumer Reports’ statement that these findings are\u00a0\u201cvery consistent with how the supplement industry is,\u201d explaining that \u201cthere are companies that are working hard to try to do the right thing, despite the fact that it\u2019s not required by the law, and there are other companies that are cutting corners.\u201d\u00a0\n<\/p>\n
Cohen underscores that until the FDA provides clear guidance and ensures its requirements are fulfilled, “I doubt there will be any standardization in terms of lead levels in protein powders.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Consumer Reports released new findings after testing five reader-requested chocolate protein powders for lead and other heavy metals.The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":408710,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[49,48,84,395],"class_list":{"0":"post-408709","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nutrition","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-nutrition"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=408709"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408709\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/408710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=408709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=408709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=408709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}