Popular protein powders filled with lead
Key Takeaways
Industry Insights
Lead is ubiquitous in our environment and can therefore end up in our foods and beverages. - Ryan Marino, MD
A scientific report found that various organic protein powders contain concerning amounts of lead.[] The paper, published by the Clean Label Project, also discovered that the organic powders have showed three times more lead than non-organic products.
Ryan Marino, MD, a medical toxicologist and associate professor in the Departments of Emergency Medicine and Psychiatry at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, says that lead is ubiquitous in our environment and can therefore end up in our foods and beverages.
FDA's response to lead in food
According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), some foods may become contaminated with higher amounts of lead if they are processed in a way that exposes them to the heavy metal, such as when a crop is grown in a field where leaded pesticides were once used.[] The heavy metal may also enter our foods during manufacturing.
Maintaining perspective
It’s unclear exactly how much lead was in the affected protein powders. As a result, the findings do not necessarily mean that protein powder consumption causes heavy metal poisoning in humans, says Kelly Johnson-Arbor, MD, a medical toxicologist and the medical director of Hyperbaric Medicine in the Center for Wound Healing and Hyperbaric Medicine at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital.
Remind patients that there is no need to panic if they have consumed any of the affected protein powders. “Since lead is found naturally in the environment, humans are exposed to it and other heavy metals on a daily basis, but this type of exposure does not always result in unwanted health effects,” she says.