Americans’ love affair with protein powders may slowly be poisoning them with the known neurotoxin lead.

That, at least, is the implied conclusion of a viral investigation published last week by Consumer Reports on levels of lead and other heavy metals in popular protein supplements. Many brands, the article reported, “carry troubling levels of toxic heavy metals” including lead: “For more than two-thirds of the products we analyzed, a single serving contained more lead than CR’s food safety experts say is safe to consume in a day — some by more than 10 times.”

It is a finding that, in a country in the grips of “protein mania,” has spread like wildfire across both traditional and social media. The problem is that it’s more scaremongering than science — not because there isn’t some lead found in these protein powders, but because Consumer Reports uses an almost impossibly low level of lead exposure as its baseline, which makes its findings seem much scarier than they really are.

For its investigation, Consumer Reports, which has long performed independent tests of lead levels in different foods, baby foods, and spices, tested 23 protein powders and pre-made protein shakes for heavy metals, and then compared their findings to lead levels that “CR’s food safety experts say is safe to consume in a day.” That level is the so-called maximum allowable dose level (MADL) of 0.5 micrograms per day that was established by California’s Prop 65, a 1986 law designed to inform consumers about exposure to harmful chemicals in everyday products.

The results were damning for many of the products. Sixteen were found to contain unsafe levels of lead, with plant-based supplements faring particularly badly, including Huel’s Black Edition protein powder, which was found to exceed safe levels by a shocking 1,288 percent, and deemed by the magazine as unsafe to consume.

Lead exposure, to be clear, is a very serious health threat. It can stunt brain development in children, leading to lifelong disability. It can also damage the nervous system and kidneys, and increase the risk of heart disease and stroke in adults. It is considered such a dangerous substance that the general expert opinion........

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