NPR’s Elissa Nadworny talks with investigative reporter Paris Martineau a few new Client Reviews evaluation that reveals protein powders can comprise poisonous heavy metals, particularly lead.
ELISSA NADWORNY, HOST:
Individuals are obsessive about protein. What as soon as was extra of a distinct segment curiosity has gone totally mainstream. Simply test your native grocery retailer – beef jerky, protein-boosted milk and yogurts, even quickly protein Pop-Tarts and Doritos. And naturally, there are tons of protein powders. They’re generally constructed from whey, which is derived from milk, or from pea protein. And in keeping with a Client Reviews evaluation, they seemingly comprise one thing else – poisonous heavy metals, particularly lead. Investigative reporter Paris Martineau joins us now to share what they’ve realized. Welcome.
PARIS MARTINEAU: Thanks a lot for having me.
NADWORNY: OK, so, to begin with, I’ve to admit that I’m a kind of Individuals that’s obsessive about protein. I really had some protein powder in my smoothie this morning. So that is private. Do I have to throw out my protein powder? Like, how alarmed ought to shoppers be?
MARTINEAU: Yeah, there is not any purpose for anybody to panic. What we mainly discovered is we examined 23 standard protein powders and shakes, and we discovered that for greater than two-thirds of the merchandise that we analyzed, a single serving of them contained extra lead than what our meals security consultants say is protected to devour in a day. A few of the merchandise had greater than 10 occasions the extent that our consultants say is protected.
NADWORNY: That sounds unhealthy.
MARTINEAU: I imply, it is not good. I’ll say that. Provided that, among the merchandise we examined are tremendous to have sometimes, and even those with the best lead ranges are far under the focus wanted to trigger rapid hurt. The actual danger with lead is, even in case you are uncovered to sort of low ranges persistently over time, that lead may sort of construct up within the physique and finally trigger issues farther down the road. So I would say the recommendation is extra scrutinize your protein shakes and check out what you are utilizing to make an knowledgeable resolution moderately than instantly freak out.
NADWORNY: And perhaps, it sounds, lay off. I imply within the sense of, like, not having it on daily basis or not having it 3 times a day.
MARTINEAU: That is one of many issues that stunned me personally, reporting out this story, is, such as you and like many Individuals, I used to be, like, actually anxious that I wasn’t getting sufficient protein. I…
NADWORNY: Yeah.
MARTINEAU: …Completely purchased into the protein mania. However speaking to vitamin consultants and researchers in protein, the factor I heard time and again is, for the typical individual, you’ll be able to very simply get all of the protein you want from consuming entire meals, and it is – it would not make a lot sense to show in direction of protein dietary supplements.
NADWORNY: So that you stated you examined 23 powders and premade shakes. How did you determine to check these merchandise?
MARTINEAU: Yeah, so we labored with sort of a market analysis staff inside Client Reviews to establish among the best-selling protein powders and shakes out there at a wide range of completely different manufacturers, from locations like Amazon or Walmart. But in addition, sort of, we additionally purchased among the shakes in individual at well being meals shops or supermarkets. After which we took these, made positive that we bought a pair completely different samples of every product that represented a minimum of two – I suppose two to a few completely different a lot of the product, after which despatched them off to the lab to be analyzed.
NADWORNY: So folks can go and test your reporting to see if their merchandise have been examined, however broadly, are there sure forms of protein merchandise which are extra prone to have lead and different poisonous metals in them?
MARTINEAU: Yeah. So, usually talking, plant-based protein merchandise emerged as some extent of concern. Like, practically the entire plant-based merchandise we had – we examined had elevated lead ranges. The lead ranges we present in plant-based protein merchandise have been, on common, 9 occasions the quantity present in these product of, like, dairy proteins like whey and twice as nice as beef-based proteins. When it got here to, I suppose, the protein powders and shakes made with whey or dairy-based proteins, these usually had the bottom quantities of lead.
NADWORNY: OK.
MARTINEAU: However nonetheless, half the merchandise we examined had excessive sufficient ranges of contamination that our consultants advise in opposition to taking them each day.
NADWORNY: Paris Martineau, investigative reporter for Client Reviews, thanks a lot.
MARTINEAU: Thanks a lot.
Copyright © 2025 NPR. All rights reserved. Go to our web site phrases of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for additional info.
Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts might fluctuate. Transcript textual content could also be revised to appropriate errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org could also be edited after its authentic broadcast or publication. The authoritative report of NPR’s programming is the audio report.
