First things first – What are heavy metals and why are they in our food?

First, we’d like to be clear that we genuinely dislike fear mongering.  We believe in complete transparency and disclosure – well beyond the limited information you see on social media, hear on podcasts, and even what the FDA requires on product labels.  We believe information should be complete, accurate, made easily accessible and simple to share; especially information around heavy metals and other contaminants that affect the food we eat, and in turn, our health.

Heavy metals are found in a long list of common food items like leafy greens, nuts, seeds, and many fruits.  These food items are noted for their ability to extract nutrients from the soil.  Root systems absorb impressive amounts of beneficial minerals from the soil—like iron, magnesium, manganese and copper—and store them in the developing seeds, fruit, vegetables or beans that we eat.  When you enjoy these foods, you consume these valuable nutrients.

However, heavy metals like lead, cadmium, arsenic, and mercury are also found in the soil. While we tend to associate these metals with human pollution, that’s not always the case; these metals are geological substances that occur naturally around the globe. Plants, fruits, vegetables and beans do not require them for growth and development so their uptake is minimal, when compared to other minerals.  However, these heavy metals are still present, albeit at trace levels, naturally.

“The levels of heavy metals found in such foods varies based on the growing region, soil quality, environmental conditions of each growing season, and more.”

Are any amounts of Heavy Metals considered safe?

Now that you know Heavy Metals, in trace amounts, are naturally present in our food supply, you’re probably wondering how much is considered safe and at what consumption levels are Heavy Metals considered unhealthy.

At John’s Killer Protein®, we established our internal quality control guidelines based on California’s established Maximum Allowable Dose Levels (MADLs) and No Significant Risk Levels (NSRLs) under California’s Proposition 65 law.  We did this because it is widely acknowledged that California’s Proposition 65 Law is the strictest interpretation of MADLs and NSRLs.

Under Proposition 65, the following levels are considered safe with no significant risk level expected:

To see the complete list of Proposition 65 No Significant Risk Levels (NSRLs) and Maximum Allowable Dose Levels (MADLs), click Here.

“The healthy body is adept at removing these metals through a complex and highly evolved detoxification system that sorts, tags, and eliminates heavy metals through our body’s waste pathways. We can support these processes by eating a diet rich in micronutrients and fiber, and by maintaining an active lifestyle.”

If you have specific questions about how heavy metals might interact with your personal health state, we recommend discussing them with your health practitioner. And if you have any further questions about any of our products, please reach out to us Here.

The John’s Killer Protein® Difference:

All of our products are tested for heavy metals using third party, independent labs. We monitor these levels carefully, by batch and lot number, to ensure compliance with our strict quality control standards.  Our latest reports for each of our products are published below.

Consumer Reports and The Clean Label Project:

It amazes us that even today, with how connected we all are, we often fall short on finding, researching, reading and sharing important and accurate information.  We decided to publish this page because we came across articles by Consumer Reports and The Clean Label Project that talked about Arsenic, Lead and other harmful Heavy Metals and Carcinogenic found in mass-market Protein Brands – you know the brands that appeared out of nowhere and are all over your social media feeds, and the ones you can easily find at COSTCO, your local Big Box stores or a supplements retail store!

Reporting on heavy metals in food isn’t new… actually, you can read a Consumer Report article that dates back to 2018 Here.  Although we aren’t overly surprised, the article was eye opening because in its report, Consumer Reports ranked some of the largest and most established protein brands as the worst! with vegan and plant-based protein brands – brands that consumers would intuitively associate as “healthy options” – ranking as the most dangerous to your health.

Furthermore, it was noted that protein powders with added flavors, emulsifiers, artificial sweeteners and other additives and gumming agents inherently contained a higher level of heavy metals.

“John’s Killer Protein® is free from added flavor compounds, contains zero added sugars or sweeteners, lecithins, seed oils or any other additive that would inherently increase the levels of heavy metals.”

Before we go any further, we want to say that this post isn’t about Vegan vs. Whey protein, it’s about what information Protein brands readily share with their customers, and what information is kept secret or made extremely difficult to access.  We believe Protein brands should be responsible and share accurate and complete information with their customers and we will further explain below.  The Consumer Reports article and the reporting by the Clean Label Project assigned each product a score for four individual elements: heavy metals, pesticides, contaminants like BPA, and nutrition. Then it calculated an overall score. The heavy metal levels accounted for 60 percent of the overall score because their effects have been shown in studies to pose greater harm to health.