cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/53452632
This is a long and very thorough article. If you’re using any particular brand of protein supplements, it might be worth searching the text for the name to catch all the relevant discussion (the measurements, whether the company is responding, etc.)
It’s been a long time since I read outputs from independent labs assessing supplement product purity but I was pointed towards this around a month ago:
I’m not sure who are the most trustworthy labs at this point though and maybe there’s a nutritionist or someone who can give more than my peanut gallery advice.
This is even more confusing, because some of the brands and products on that clean list are explicitly mentioned in the article to have dangerous levels of heavy metals (Optimum Nutrition, Garden of Life)
It might have to do with protein source. E.g. Garden of Life on the CR list is the plant based one, whereas on this clean list, it’s the protein one.
Plant based protein sources were generally found to have more lead
…no? Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard 100% whey is on the clean list but is still at 56% of CR’s limit. That’s not “non detect”.
I’m particularly worried about that brand because it’s typically highly regarded
yeah, same. I use optimum and I have more than one a day which CR says isn’t safe
Yay, I see my tub there. Hope it’s trustworthy.
Edit: mine’s actually different flavour. I do hope it’s lead free.
Notable that it’s plant based that have the most, while whey generally has much much less. kinda sad for vegans since your protein options are more limited.
The cows are probably acting as filters, absorbing the lead from the plant material they ingest. Makes me wonder where that goes — cow liver? brain? muscle?
The article noted that some of the plant based manufacturers talked about changing their sourcing from foreign to domestic markets. May be that whey (which is otherwise a waste product anyway) was always sufficiently cheap in western nations where tighter environmental controls would limit exposure to heavy metals.
But your explaination makes sense as well.
I read the article. Much of the plant based protein comes from China. Apparently there is much more lead in the soil than other sources.
Leading the way… to dementia.
Would explain a lot of the right wing muscle bro movement.
I hate that whole side of the fitness community.
There was a guy on YouTube giving OK workout advice that just started giving more and more incel life advice. Haven’t seen a video from him in over 10 years now because of it.
I stopped watching lifting videos on YT for all the douche incel shit and that came with it.
Of the guys I used to watch as a teenager getting into lifting, the one guy went full incel with his advice while his wife was full tradwife, then later on he went to claim marriage is slavery AND that women keep initiating divorce. Hmmmm. Doesn’t sound like an abusive relationship at all, eh…
Then there were the twins who’d give you workout advice, but always followed it up with “Do whatever the FUCK you wanna do”, to signify that there’s no one 100% correct way to do things. They then later created their third YouTube channel, “ConservativeTwins”. I’d say the only political opinion of their that I agree with is their hatred of Israel, buuuuuut… They only hate Israel because they hate Jews. Yes, they went that kind of conservative.
Needless to say, I haven’t watched any lifting related videos since I was 18 or 19. Instead, every few years when I find myself in the gym again, I do my own thing, which is mostly 3x5, compound lifts. And maybe 3x8 of some isolation exercises if I want my needlessly large guns to become rocket launchers or feel like having tree trunks for thighs isn’t enough or something. Or basically: I feel like I’m so big, there’s no point in doing anything for muscle mass, I just want to be stronger.
It’s always better to get protein from real bioavailable sources anyway
That are all full of microplastics, the chicken is pumped full of estrogen, the fish are full of mercury…
The problem with anything to do with fitness and nutrition is “How deep down the rabbit hole do you want to go.?”
holds up a bag of pinto beans
this far?
Considering that plant based powders were the highest in Lead, and there was that whole thing with Cacao last year, and before that with Spinach - I wonder if vegetables might have higher sources of heavy metals.
But then, I wonder why that would be, and how effective can washing them well be? I assume the high heavy metal sources also mean the soil is contaminated and therefore things grown in it too are.
Washing won’t help if it’s in the plant
Meh, chasing perfection will tire you out. Just go for minimal changes that have the biggest impact.
The 20/80 rule probably applies. 20% of effort for 80% result, the rest isn’t worth chasing.
Lead poisoning in kids causes drop in IQ. 🤠
Kids don’t normally take protein supplements.
Luckily for them lead is also found in other accessible products like.chocolate, cinnamon, turmeric and other spices, baby food, rice based cereals and more #nevergiveup
While I agree with you about lead content this post is about protein supplements.
So glad that when I decided to get back into lifting a year or 2 ago, I decided to say fuck protein powder and have just been eating a high protein meal or some eggs / egg whites after my workouts. I’ve grown jaded by the supplement industry so I didn’t want to support them. Also protein has gotten fucking expensive since the last time I was lifting (like 8+ years ago)
When I see the average user of those products, I’d say they are pretty save. There is not much damage the lead could still do to make them worse…
