Name: Popular protein powders, shakes contain high amounts of lead, study finds
Uploaded: 2025-10-18T21:01:20.000Z
Duration: 3 min 43 s
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If you've been to the supermarket lately, you've probably noticed there are entire aisles dedicated to protein powders in supplements.

But a study from Consumer Reports finds some widely sold protein powders and pre made protein shakes contain high levels of lead.

After testing 23 brands of protein powders and ready to drink shakes, Consumer Reports found that about 70% of the products it tested contained more lead in a single serving than its experts recommend people ingest in a single day.

CBS News reached out to the makers of some of those protein products.

A spokesperson for Huel said trace amounts of lead occur naturally and the level reported poses no health risk.

Naked Nutrition said its product does not exceed the FDA's benchmark for lead exposure and momentous.

It says the products used in the study are outdated and have been discontinued.

Finally, Garden of Life told us all of its products are safe to consume and adhere to government standards.

To talk more about all this though, Sana Mujahid joins us now.

She's the manager of food safety research and testing at Consumer Reports.

Thank you very much for joining us to talk about this because this study really has raised quite a few eyebrows.

So many people consume, whether it's protein shakes, protein powder, it's such a big part of everyone's lives.

How concerned should people be for their health if they, for their health if they use these products?

Yeah, they are so popular and that's one of the reasons we tested it.

You know, even in our article, most of the products that we tested we provide serving limits for that people can use per week or per day.

There are only two products that we say should be avoided and those two were over 1000% of our level of concern.

just be aware that you are being exposed to significant amounts of lead through, through these products.

Well, I was going to say, and also the fact is that it's repeated use too, right?

I mean, you hear some of these companies saying that lead is naturally occurring, but

what does long term lead exposure do to someone's body?

It's not only used as an occasional treat like chocolate or boba tea that we have also tested.

These products are used daily by people and sometimes multiple times a day.

And considering that you're also exposed to lead through other sources in your diet and your environment, you know, you should try to lower your exposure wherever you can.

One thing that stood out to me here is the products with the most lead, they were all vegan plant based powders, which is surprising for some people.

We did find that the plant based powders that we tested were nine times higher in lead than our dairy based products and like two times higher than our beef based ones and it may just be due to the source of the protein.

You know plants are more susceptible to uptaking lead and other contaminants from the soil that they're grown in the water that's used to irrigate them and then obviously all of these products go through a manufacturing process that can also lead to contamination.

And Sana, here we go with the last question for you.

Does the federal government monitor for lead in protein powders?

There are no enforceable standards for lead and protein powders and supplements in general are not well regulated.

So we do think that enforceable standards will hold the industry more accountable and eventually lead to less exposure for consumers.