There’s a divided opinion as to Consumer Reports’ accuracy and / or integrity of research data …but…personally speaking, I’d rather “act” on the side of caution. I appreciate having the information to base my decisions on. I have discontinued my use of their products.
As Consumer Reports’ testing indicated, there can be considerable variations in levels of heavy metals from sample to sample of the same product, so it would not be surprising if levels NSF tests detected in any given sample differ from those we found. Moreover, the maximum acceptable limits for heavy metals that NSF uses for its testing differ from the standards relied upon by Consumer Reports, which used limits proposed by the U.S. Pharmacopeia.
So, basically they can’t control what goes into their product? And do they just keep testing their product until they find a low level sample?
I’m not convinced one way or the other on the safety of the products in question (Other than I haven’t used supplements in a long time), but again, everyone has an agenda. I do appreciate your positioning yourself well for the inevitable class action to come though. Well played.
John
****3) For those interested, the original CR article is online here:
http://www.consumerreports.org/...s/overview/index.htm
Note: The online article cited above is only a very brief abstract of the full 4 page article in the print CU magazine.
Hello Nealhe and All 
The online article overview above is indexed w/ hyperlinks to the rest of the article.
Gotta run. I have a tuna sandwich waiting for me… 
As Consumer Reports’ testing indicated, there can be considerable variations in levels of heavy metals from sample to sample of the same product, so it would not be surprising if levels NSF tests detected in any given sample differ from those we found. Moreover, the maximum acceptable limits for heavy metals that NSF uses for its testing differ from the standards relied upon by Consumer Reports, which used limits proposed by the U.S. Pharmacopeia.
**So, basically they can’t control what goes into their product? And do they just keep testing their product until they find a low level sample? **
I’m not convinced one way or the other on the safety of the products in question (Other than I haven’t used supplements in a long time), but again, everyone has an agenda. I do appreciate your positioning yourself well for the inevitable class action to come though. Well played.
John
There is variability in all manufactured goods – especially foods. I don’t know the details of the testing protocol, but your criticism about controlling their ingredients seems harsh.
either my math is way off, of that’s not really that much tuna.
4) Testing for heavy metals involves a finger-prick blood test and usually costs less than $50. Just make an appointment with your doctor if you are worried.
Again - thanks for your research and further information Mike, I do plan to get tested. (Probably a data freak, I get tested for most everything)
Though I’m not especially worried I do think this is a good idea and next time I’m planning to see my doctor I think I’ll ask to do a heavy metals test too.
Wow.
this is disturbing to me as I drink 2 chocolate muscle milks ready-serve bottles a day. They are 25 gms of protein in each bottle and one serving size per the bottle label. I have been doing this everyday for almost a year now.
Plus I eat tuna 4-5 days per week on the average.
It worries me that i could be hurting myself rather than being beneficial. What to do…
Thanks for the info.
Jana
Wow.
this is disturbing to me as I drink 2 chocolate muscle milks ready-serve bottles a day. <snip…> What to do…
Eat more real food. I would say if 680 calories per day are coming from some premixed protein drink stored in a tetrapak, you need to seriously evaluate your diet. Not to mention the amount of non-recyclable trash you are generating by eating that way…
either my math is way off, of that’s not really that much tuna.
I wanted to let people draw their own conclusions from the numbers…but, yah.
I live downstream from a superfund site, and my wife has tested thousands of children for heavy metals. Despite all the hysteria, the tests show there just isn’t a big problem.
If you are eating over 200g of protein powder (that’s six scoops!) , or eating three cans of tuna – each day, everyday, or if you’re pregnant, a child, or are sensitive from some health condition, then get tested for your peace of mind. Otherwise, I think some calm perspective is in order – a microgram is pretty darn small…
Wow.
this is disturbing to me as I drink 2 chocolate muscle milks ready-serve bottles a day. <snip…> What to do…
Eat more real food. I would say if 680 calories per day are coming from some premixed protein drink stored in a tetrapak, you need to seriously evaluate your diet. Not to mention the amount of non-recyclable trash you are generating by eating that way…
Not to mention, that’s a redonkulous amount of protein to be ingesting, period. Especially from those 2 sources.
If you were a 300lb professional bodybuilder - maybe. Endurance athlete (I assume, based on posting here an all) - nope. Way overkill.
Wow.
this is disturbing to me as I drink 2 chocolate muscle milks ready-serve bottles a day. <snip…> What to do…
Eat more real food. I would say if 680 calories per day are coming from some premixed protein drink stored in a tetrapak, you need to seriously evaluate your diet. Not to mention the amount of non-recyclable trash you are generating by eating that way…
Not to mention, that’s a redonkulous amount of protein to be ingesting, period. Especially from those 2 sources.
If you were a 300lb professional bodybuilder - maybe. Endurance athlete (I assume, based on posting here an all) - nope. Way overkill.
I’m not so sure about that. 1g/kg of bodyweight is a more than reasonable amount, especially for someone who is breaking down muscle tissue. But still, that’s an absurd amount of THAT kind of protein for an endurance athlete.
well, my conclusion is to stay the f*ck away from canned tuna AND muscle milk.
although, to be honest, I would avoid both even if they didn’t have heavy metals in them. just out of generally yuckiness.
i work out twice a week with a personal trainer and she has me on a high protein diet because I am trying to build more muscle. for my height 5’9 and wt 120 and body fat 14.9% now ( down from 28 % 10 months ago) she calculated I should be taking in 120 gms of protein per day.
so i eat scrambled egg whites every morning, work out, drink muscle milk for recovery, fruit snack mid morning, lunch ( usually tuna) afternoon snack is protein bar, another muscle milk, then dinner ( chicken or fish, NO red meat in many many years). i do not like peanute butter, yogurt, or other things that might have protein in them. so I have had a hard time eating stuff with enough protein.
i do recycle all my trash, every water bottle, muscle milk bottle, tuna pack, newspaper, magazine.
I fill 2 bins every tuesday! -
jana
Hello Local Star and All,
Thanks for posting the CytoSport reference.
Contained in that reference is the NSF International Statement which is the best defense for CytoSport I have seen so far.
http://www.cytosport.com/…_protein_drinks1.pdf
While NSF does not state how much heavy metal they actually found in Muscle Milk they do state their qualifications as a lab, how they arrived at the amount of maximum heavy metal they allow, and what those maximums are, and that Muscle Milk tested below the limits that they established.
A couple of comments:
The NSF rebuttal to Consumer Reports - it appears to be a ‘he said’ vs. ‘she said’ … ‘NSF lab tests and max limits’ vs ‘Consumer Reports lab tests and max limits’.
Muscle Milk has been found to have some heavy metals (and part of their defense is that a little won’t hurt you) and there are other brands that Consumer Report tested that have ‘zero to below measurable levels of cadmium, lead, and mercury’ with only a small percentage of the amount of arsenic of Muscle Milk.
Those brands listed were Optimum Nutrition Platinum Hydro Whey Velocity Vanilla, Six Star Muscle Professional Strength, and Sulgar Whey to go Whey Protein Powder Natural Vanilla Bean.
It would be interesting to see what the Canadian limits are for heavy metal contamination since CU stated that:
“In Canada, supplements undergo pre-market testing.”
Cheers,
Neal
Then get a new trainer. Smelling like a public urinal (as you probably do) might be only the least of the problems you are giving yourself.
Rappster’s advice could be better put as: eat only real food. Convenience might be a factor in consuming pseudo-food powders and the like but your body’s need isn’t.
With an adequate diet protein deficiency is virtually unheard of. Certainly with the diet you describe you are getting more than adequate protein without the artificial additives.
You won’t build more muscle by taking in more protein. You’ll build more muscle with a proper program of workouts and rest provided you have enough protein. More than enough isn’t better.
The fad for protein supplements for endurance athletes is almost always baseless. While heavy exercise might increase protein needs by 15-25% over ‘normal’, maybe even a little more, heavy training will also lift total calorie needs by at least as much. My ‘peak week’ training calorie needs are 100% higher than a sedentary person. Thus, if a balanced diet is maintained the likelihood of needing food-like supplements is less, not more.
Interesting. My specialty is measuring metals in the environment at nanogram / gram of material levels. I have some time on my ICPMS this week and may have to do a little side project for myself and for the betterment of ST.
I have not taken CR seriously since the whole Isuzu nonsense started.
More recently CR “wholeheartedly” recommended the iPhone 4. Oh except for the small problem that they never actually tested it. So they finally tested it and due to the reception problems that have been widely reported - now they cant recommend it. What a joke.
If anything ever comes out that starts with “Consumer Reports says…” I immediately stop reading.
Hello jana and All,
Here is a note from Davisco Corp - reportedly the largest seller of whey protein in the US - and they wholesale to many other companies that rebrand.
They will have a report out in a week or two concerning the Consumer Report heavy metal findings. They stated on the phone that they do not have any heavy metals in their protein.
You can note Davisco/BiPro recommend only 22 grams of protein supplement per day - which varies of course by body size, activity level, and amount of other ‘real’ food protein you are ingesting.
Besides the Consumer Reports comments about heavy metals found in protein powder - it also discussed how many people were taking far more protein supplement than was deemed healthy.
BiPro has a neat little daily protein calculator on this URL:
http://biprousa.com/calculator/
Davisco Foods International, Inc.
11000 West 78th Street
Suite 210
Eden Prairie, MN 55344
United States
800-757-7611
952-914-0400
Results for Certified for Sport™
Certified To: NSF/ANSI Standard 306 - Finished Products
**Product Type: **Other
**Product Name: **BiPro® Whey Protein Isolate Supplement
**Product Form: **Powder
**Manufacturer’s Recommended Daily Serving Size: **22 g
Cheers,
Neal
neal;
thanks for the info. the calculator says I should be taking in up to 110 gms per day for my weight and activity. my trainer had said 120 so i am not far off. most days i was under the 120 anyway because i was not able to get that much in even with my supplemental protein intake.
I think i will cut back on the TWO muscle milk per day and drink only one plus my afternoon protein bar and try to get more protein from meals. I am just such a picky eater that it is hard to get protein that way for me.
i never would have questioned the safety of the drink and was very surprised to read these posts. i had always worried that i eat too much tuna but never worried that the sports drink i use on a daily basis might have harmful ingrediants.
Jana