Health Warning: Protein Drinks May Harm You
A Consumer Reports study found that protein drinks may contain arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury. Worse yet, the levels may be high enough that if you consume three servings per day, you could be putting your health at risk.
Here is what Consumer Reports found (we're quoting directly from them)
- Three daily servings of the ready-to-drink liquid EAS Myoplex Original Rich Dark Chocolate Shake provide an average of 16.9 micrograms (µg) of arsenic, exceeding the proposed USP limit of 15 µg per day and an average of 5.1 µg of cadmium, which is just above the USP limit of 5 µg per day.
- The samples of Muscle Milk Chocolate powder contained all four heavy metals, and levels of three metals in the product were among the highest of all products tested by Consumer Reports. Average cadmium levels of 5.6 µg in three daily servings exceeded the USP limit of 5 µg per day, and the average lead level of 13.5 µg also topped the USP limit of 10 µg per day. The average arsenic level of 12.2 µg was approaching the USP limit of 15 µg per day.
- Muscle Milk Vanilla Crème contained 12.2 µg of lead in three daily servings, exceeding the lead limits, and 11.2 µg of arsenic.
Greg Pickett, founder of CytoSport, the maker of Muscle Milk, responded by saying independent lab tests show his products to be safe. CytoSport and Consumer Reports used different labs with different standards, however.
The bigger question is should you be drinking protein drinks in the first place. The answer for most people is no. A good, balanced diet, consisting of real food and not nutritional supplements, will typically give you the protein you need. Plus, too much protein can cause health issues, such as kidney problems.
posted by Netsweat.com @ 6/09/2010
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2 Comments:
Great article, and it's good to know about this.
However, the part at the end about excess protein causing kidney problems is false. That's a myth; it only causes problems for people who ALREADY have kidney problems (check pubmed, etc.)
excessive protein can be compensated by heavy work out and increasing water intake...
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