Arsenic, Lead Found in Popular Protein Supplements

#1

Before going keto, I used one of the heavily contaminated vegan powders every day because, as an athlete, I was having a hard time rounding out my diet when it was so carb heavy.

Ugh.

(Candy Lind) #2

Wow, it says virtually all products tested had at least one contaminant! And this was an attention-grabber:

“Overall, the products made from sources of plant protein such as soy or hemp fared worse than those made from whey (milk) or egg, containing on average twice as much lead and measurably higher amounts of other contaminants.”

My two takes? Thank the poor chickens & cows taking a heavy metal “hit” for us (at least protein powder-wise), and this is yet another example in support of eating whole foods.

#3

Yes! One of the (unintentional, for me) side benefits of keto has been the inclusion of more animal protein in place of supposed “healthy” proteins from legumes and vegan protein powders. Makes me cringe when I read these reports.

(Karen) #4

I stopped my protein powder when started counting carbs. They had changed the formula from a sweetener to fructose. And I had never noticed. Grrrrr and now this report!

K

(Ethan) #5

I really don’t think we need protein powder on a keto diet. I had a lot quest products when I was only low carb (high protein, not always fat). Now that I really understand this woe better, I know that it’s easy to eat too much protein. I have no trouble hitting my daily requirement there, so why add more with a protein powder? I still have quest powder to use up, but I only use it as an emergency morning shake when I have no time for anything and don’t want to skip breakfast. I also then add in lots of fat from MCT and coconut oils: I don’t want a 5:1 protein:fat ratio!

(Bunny) #6

I think our bodies can remove most toxins but not as efficiently or fast as it should!

Resources:

  1. Chelation: Harnessing and Enhancing Heavy Metal Detoxification—A Review This is really comprehensive and nice read!

  2. Why Fermented Foods May Help Reduce the Toxic Mercury in Your Body

  3. Top 18 Proven Heavy Metals Detoxes For Safe Chelation

  4. Detox with Chelation Therapy — Help Your Heart & Brain

  5. Dangers of Heavy Metals & How to Do a Heavy Metal Detox

  6. Black Sesame Seeds on Heavy Metal Cleanup “…The ability of black sesame seeds to bind to toxic heavy metals may be attributed to lignans, a type of phytochemical commonly found in plants and a major component of sesame seeds. …”

Note: “…Many planktonic blue-green algae produce metal chelating substances active at pH’s above 7…” (I think you can ferment algae too?)