There’s been a wave of concern recently about “unsafe” levels of lead in protein powders.
It stems from a Consumer Reports investigation that tested 23 popular protein supplements and found that two-thirds of them had more lead per serving than some guidelines say is safe to consume in a day.
The detail that got lost, however, is how Consumer Reports defined “unsafe.” They used California’s Prop 65 threshold of 0.5 micrograms of lead per day—a threshold that’s almost 18 times stricter than the FDA’s daily limit of 8.8 micrograms, which already includes a built-in 10× safety factor.
In other words, the FDA took the level at which negative effects might begin to appear and divided it by ten to ensure their limit stays far below anything that could cause harm.
Now, the actual numbers.
The highest level of lead Consumer Reports found was 7.7 micrograms per serving in a 315-gram mass-gainer shake (basically a full meal). Most other products ranged between 1 and 6 micrograms per serving.
Compare that to the lowest level associated with increased health risk in adults: about 0.63 micrograms per kilogram of body weight per day, which is roughly 49 micrograms per day for a 170-lb adult.
Put another way, even the “worst-offending” protein powder contained between 6 and 49 times less lead than the level at which risk begins to increase.
Should you toss your protein powder in the trash based on this?
No.
You can’t avoid trace lead—it’s present in the air, water, soil and therefore in the foods we eat every day. The question is not whether lead is detectable, but whether the amount is high enough to matter.
Based on toxicology data, the amounts in protein powders are not.
The only reason the headline seemed scary was the standard they used.
California’s Prop 65 limit is absurdly conservative. To set it, regulators take the “no observable effect level” (the highest exposure shown to cause no harm) and then divide it by 1,000 to create an enormous safety margin.
This is why even a healthy meal of chicken, potatoes, and greens could exceed it by several-fold.
Of course, that nuance doesn’t make for a dramatic headline.
Still, lead is a toxin, so keeping your exposure low is wise. When it comes to protein powder, the smartest move is to choose brands that:
- Independently lab-test every batch for purity and label accuracy
- Hold third-party certifications verifying they meet or exceed strict safety standards
- Publish their test results so you can verify them yourself
This ensures that the trace lead you can’t avoid stays at a level that’s safe.
And if you want a protein powder that checks all these boxes, try Whey+, Casein+, or Plant+.
Scientific References +
- EFSA. “Scientific Opinion on Lead in Food.” EFSA Journal, vol. 8, no. 4, Apr. 2010, p. 1570, https://doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2010.1570.
- Bandara, Suren B., et al. “A Human Health Risk Assessment of Heavy Metal Ingestion among Consumers of Protein Powder Supplements.” Toxicology Reports, vol. 7, 2020, pp. 1255–1262, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.toxrep.2020.08.001. Accessed 9 Dec. 2021.
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