Heavy Metals in Protein Powder: What the Lab Tests Found

By Erin Rose · Published September 18, 2026 · Reviewed against primary sources · Methodology · About Us

Not medical advice. This reports two published laboratory programs, the FDA and California reference levels they are judged against, and the labels manufacturers file with the NIH. We did not test any product ourselves; a product not named in a program has no number here.

The results: 23 products, lead per serving

Consumer Reports bought multiple lots of each of 23 protein powders and ready-to-drink shakes over three months from November 2024 and sent them to an independent laboratory for lead, arsenic, cadmium and other elements. It judged each against a level of concern of 0.5 mcg of lead a day, California’s Proposition 65 maximum allowable dose level, and reported the result as a percentage of that level per serving. The table is the published result for each product, highest first; the “CR guidance” column is how often its food-safety team said each could be used.

16 of 23 products exceeded the level in a single serving. The 4 highest were all plant-based; the 6 lowest were all dairy. In January 2026 CR tested five more powders that readers asked about, Clean Simple Eats, Equate, Premier Protein, Ritual and Truvani, and reported all five low enough for daily or near-daily use; the per-product figures are behind its paywall and are not reproduced here (Consumer Reports, 2025-10-14).

The Clean Label Project’s study, published 2025-01-09, tested 160 powders from 70 brands (35,862 data points) and does not name products. Its category figures: 47% of products over the Prop 65 lead level and 21% over twice it; by type, 79% of organic powders, 77% of plant-based, 65% of chocolate, 28% of whey and 26% of collagen; organic powders carried 3× the lead of non-organic, plant powders 5× the cadmium of whey (Clean Label Project, 2025-01-09).

What the levels mean: 0.5, 2.2, 8.8 and 5.3 micrograms

Four numbers decide how alarming the table looks. CR’s 0.5 mcg a day is California’s Proposition 65 warning threshold for lead as a reproductive toxin, set at one thousandth of the dose with an observed effect; it is the most protective standard in use and the reason a chocolate bar can carry a Prop 65 label (OEHHA). The FDA’s interim reference levels, the intake it uses to judge lead in food, are 2.2 mcg a day for children and 8.8 mcg for women of childbearing age (FDA); CR’s level is 6% of the adult figure. And the average American diet already delivers about 5.3 mcg a day. Against those, the worst product in the table adds 88% of the FDA adult level, or 145% of a day’s ordinary intake, per scoop; a product at the CR median adds a fraction of that. A 2020 risk assessment that took the published protein-powder metal data through EPA reference doses and the adult blood-lead model found no hazard index above 1 at three servings a day, with mass gainers closest to the line (Bandara 2020, PMID 33005567). None of this makes lead safe; there is no threshold below which it is harmless. It means the useful response is to choose lower, not to stop eating protein.

Why plant powders, organic powders and chocolate carry more

Lead and cadmium are in soil, and plants take them up through the root; a pea, rice or hemp protein is the ground plant, concentrated, while whey is a filtered fraction of milk that never touched soil. That is the whole plant-versus-dairy gap: 5.0× on mean lead in CR’s test, 77% versus 28% over the threshold in the Clean Label Project’s. Organic certification governs pesticides and fertiliser, not soil metals, and organic crops are more often grown in the soils that carry them, which is why organic powders came out worse, not better. Cocoa accumulates cadmium, so chocolate flavors add a second source on top of the protein; CR found chocolate and vanilla close on lead (17.3 vs 15.4 ppb) but the Clean Label Project found chocolate far higher on cadmium. Mass gainers are the extreme case because a serving is 200 to 300 g of powder, so the same concentration becomes several times the dose.

What the labels claim: we read 710 whey protein powder labels

Original research899 on-market labels from the NIH Dietary Supplement Label Database’s “whey protein” search, read in full on 2026-09-18; 710 are powders with protein in the product name (693 name whey), from 134 brands. This is the whey shelf, not the plant shelf. A statement counts when the label text filed with the NIH says it; it is a claim, not a test result.

9 labels (1.3%) state that the product is tested for heavy metals, and 20.7% state any third-party testing at all. 5.1% name NSF and 8.5% name Informed Sport or Informed Choice, the two programs that test finished product for contaminants against published limits. 29.2% are named chocolate. The gap between what the shelf claims and what the two programs measured is the point of this page: even on the whey shelf, the safer category, the Clean Label Project found 28% of whey powders over the Prop 65 lead level, and a tub that says nothing about testing cannot tell you which side it falls on.

Which protein powder to buy

Product links go to Amazon and we may earn a commission if you buy. It never changes which product we pick or what we say about it. How we choose.

We print a lead figure only where the exact product was tested. The rest of the powders we track are marked untested; the category rule (whey over plant, vanilla or unflavored over chocolate, a tub over a mass gainer) is the best available guide for them.

Lowest published lead, whey

Momentous Grass-Fed Whey Protein Isolate $3.12 per 25 g protein

0.15 mcg of lead per serving in CR’s test (30% of its level; CR’s guidance, 3 servings a day), NSF Certified for Sport, 20 g protein a scoop. The dear option, and the only whey we track with a published number this low.

Check price →

Plant powder, retested low

Truvani Organic Plant-Based Protein, Chocolate $2.78 per 25 g protein

One of the five powders CR retested in 2026 and reported low enough for daily use; 20 g pea protein a scoop, USDA Organic. A chocolate plant powder with a published low result is rare, which is the reason to pay for this one.

Check price →

Untested, but the right category

Dymatize ISO100 Hydrolyzed Whey Protein Isolate $1.41 per 25 g protein

A whey isolate with Informed Sport Certified, which screens finished product for contaminants; this exact SKU was not in either program (CR tested the brand’s mass gainer, 0.125 mcg). Whey isolate, unflavored or vanilla, from a certified line is the category with the lowest published results.

Check price →

Frequently asked questions

Related guides

• Protein powder: what to buy and how much
• Best protein powder, ranked
• Protein dosage guide
• Best protein for GLP-1 users
• Best protein for weight loss
• Shilajit purity and heavy metals

Sources