Archive for the ‘Foodborne Contaminants’ Category
Consumer’s Reports published a report on health risks associated with protein powders, including a discussion of the risks associated with heavy metal contaminants found in some brands of powders. I’ve commented previously on the shortcomings in their reporting of the risks from the heavy metal contaminants, which I predict will do more to alarm and confuse people than inform them.
However, far be it for me to simply criticize CR’s work without making the attempt to try and communicate health risk issues with heavy metals in protein powders more clearly. So, I’ll take a run at talking about cadmium, because I kind of ran arsenic into the ground with the last post (Note that an expanded version of this post, providing a more detailed discussion of cadmium risks from protein powders, can be found here).
Consumer’s Reports published a report on health risks associated with protein powders, including a discussion of the risks associated with heavy metal contaminants found in some brands of powders. I’ve commented previously on the shortcomings in their reporting of the risks from the heavy metal contaminants, which I predict will do more to alarm and confuse people than inform them (Note that a condensed version of this post without all of the geeky risk assessment talk can be found here).
However, far be it for me to simply criticize CR’s work without making the attempt to try and communicate health risk issues with heavy metals in protein powders more clearly. So, I’ll take a run at talking about cadmium, because I kind of ran arsenic into the ground with the last post.
Consumer Reports seems to have stirred up some controversy over protein powders and drinks. These are staples in the fitness world, and while they’re not intended to be a substitute for real food, they are a convenient way to get some protein into you before a workout.
CR’s article is a bit of a scattershot complaint about the nutritional benefits and health risks, much of which I’m not particularly disposed to address. However, CR drew my attention by informing its readers how. . .
“[s]ome protein drinks can even pose health risks, including exposure to potentially harmful heavy metals, if consumed frequently. All drinks in our tests had at least one sample containing one or more of the following contaminants: arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury. These metals can have toxic effects on several organs in the body.”
“Harmful.” “Contaminants.” ” Heavy metals.” “Toxic effects.” These are terms that I do not sling around with abandon. And, from my perspective, people who read CR’s report about protein powders, at least the portion that discusses health risks from heavy metal contamination, will come away alarmed, confused, no better educated about this topic than when they picked up the article, and with no roadmap about what kinds of decisions they should make about using protein powders.