Consumer Labs
I'm a subscriber of Consumer Labs which for the last decade has completed no strings attached independent studies of various vitamins, minerals, supplements, etc throughout the market and test to determine the accuracy of what is being advertised on the label.
They were the first to test protein powders and highlighted an update on their website regarding the Consumer Report finding. I thought this might be applicable to this discussion. See below.
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Update:
Comments on Consumer Reports July 2010 Article on Protein Powders — (7/8/10) A few weeks after ConsumerLab.com published this report, Consumer Reports (CR) similarly published a report on protein powders in its July 2010 issue. If you use protein powders, you should be aware of their findings. Below are our comments on the CR report:
- The tests in the CR report were somewhat different from our report. CR tested products for contamination with lead, arsenic, cadmium and mercury. It did not test for nutrients. We tested products for nutrients (protein, fats, carbohydrates, cholesterol and sodium) and potential contamination with lead and melamine (a potential adulterant of protein products).
- Two Muscle Milk products (Chocolate and Vanilla Crème) were found by CR to have elevated levels of lead (13.5 mcg and 12.2 mcg, respectively, in 3 servings), despite being "Certified for Sport" by NSF International. These products were not tested in our review. A letter posted by NSF International responding to the CR report indicates that the NSF Dietary Supplement Certification program permits up to 20 mcg of lead per daily serving of a product. CR chose to flag amounts over 10 mcg in its report based on a proposed USP limit (which we have petitioned to lower). We consider both limits relatively lenient and both are higher than ConsumerLab.com’s daily lead limit, which is 2.5 mcg for large-serving protein powders and just 0.5 mcg in most dietary supplements with smaller serving sizes. It is important that you know the criteria by which products are judged. (ConsumerLab.com is the only certification program that makes its criteria publicly available.)
- Both reports appear to include BSN Core Series Syntha-6 Chocolate Milkshake (although the CR report lists “Ultra Chocolate Milkshake”). The product is “Approved” in our report and did not exceed CR’s contamination limits. However, CR reported more lead (5.4 mcg) than we found (<2.5 mcg). Assuming these were the same product and flavor, the difference may be due to lot-to-lot variability or variations in testing methodology.
- One member asked us why we Approved” an EAS brand product if CR found an EAS product to be contaminated with arsenic and cadmium. To clarify, the EAS product on which we reported (below) is EAS® 100% Whey Protein Chocolate, while the product tested by CR is EAS Myoplex Original Rich Dark Chocolate Shake. These contain very different ingredients, including different types of protein (Myoplex contains a blend of proteins, not just whey protein, for example). However, based on CR's findings we will consider including arsenic and cadmium testing of protein supplements in the future.