Heavy metals in Sports/Energy Drinks

Overview

This page is HMTc Category 5 row 9 from the locked beverage architecture. It exists as a wiki node so evidence, regulatory context, ingredient routing, and future field findings have a stable place to land.

Literature scope

Reported measurements from source notes are below. Sections that are still empty have not been synthesized into a population estimate. Certification thresholds for products in this row are developed under the certification program at heavymetalcertified.com, not on this public page.

Evidence summary

The table below summarizes what the peer-reviewed and government literature cited on this page reports for heavy-metal concentrations in Sports/energy drinks. Values are pulled directly from cited sources without re-aggregation. This page publishes literature evidence only, not certification thresholds.

Methodology rules for speciation, basis preservation, non-detect handling, and source pooling are stated in the Methodology section above and apply to every row below.

Federal / Regulatory Limits vs Field Findings

This is the fast comparison view for standards developers, regulators, retailers, brands, and legal teams. It shows the applicable federal or regulatory limit next to the current field-evidence state. It is not an HMTc pass/fail table; technical distributions remain in the evidence sections below.

Reported measurements

Czarnek and colleagues, nine coded energy drinks (ED1 to ED9), micro-minerals, n=27 measurements per analyte. The note reports µg L⁻¹, written here as µg/L. Aluminum 227.54 to 456.97, mean 297.32, standard deviation 67.18. Chromium 13.49 to 67.53, mean 39.70, standard deviation 18.26. Nickel 2.04 to 6.57, mean 3.36, standard deviation 1.57. Arsenic 1.57 to 23.05, mean 7.33, standard deviation 7.00. Cadmium 0.19 to 0.78, mean 0.34, standard deviation 0.18. Lead 5.00 to 32.79, mean 10.37, standard deviation 8.53. The note’s called-out medians include ED3 lead 32.670 µg/L and ED7 arsenic 23.010 µg/L. The arsenic column is labeled Arsenic (As). Speciation is not reported. Chromium is not identified as hexavalent chromium. WHO, EU, and US EPA drinking-water limits in the same table are the authors’ comparators. Hazard quotients and cancer-risk indexes in the note are not concentrations and are not repeated here. Nutritional Risks of Heavy Metals in the Human Diet—Multi-Elemental Analysis of Energy Drinks

Al-Sayyed and colleagues, ten coded energy drinks. The note reports mg kg⁻¹, which it says equals ppm, written here as mg/kg. The instrument limit of detection is 0.5 mg/kg. Lead was not detected in any of the ten samples (below 0.5 mg/kg). Nickel 1.8 to 6.5 mg/kg, all ten detected. Cadmium 0.1 mg/kg in four samples, and six not detected. Copper 0.1 to 2.8 mg/kg, all ten detected, including values below the stated 0.5 mg/kg limit of detection. This page repeats both the detected copper and cadmium values and the stated limit of detection, and does not choose one. Iron 0.2 to 4.1 mg/kg, nine detected and one not detected. Sample 6 copper is 2.8 ± 0.05 mg/kg. The note’s standard deviation on detected values is ±0.05 mg/kg. Codex and other ranges the authors cite are comparators. The note does not attach retail brand names to the ten samples. Screening for the Presence of Some Heavy Metals, Total Soluble Solids and Caffeine Contents in Some Energy Drinks Sold in Jordanian Market

Bunu and colleagues, Bayelsa, eleven energy-drink samples, mg/L. The note prints “Pd” in the lead column. The introduction identifies the metals as lead, cadmium, iron, and zinc, and the cited WHO limit is 0.01 mg/L. This page records that column as lead. Lead 0.018 to 0.332 mg/L, and the note says all eleven samples were above the WHO 0.01 mg/L limit. Cadmium was below 0.002 mg/L in all eleven samples. The note does not declare an instrument limit of detection, and it treats 0.002 mg/L as the printed floor. Iron 0.026 to 1.85 mg/L. Zinc was detected in five of eleven samples at 0.047 to 0.493 mg/L, and six samples were below 0.002 mg/L. The note reports mg L⁻¹, written here as mg/L. WHO limits in the table are the authors’ comparators. Intake and hazard-quotient tables in the note are not concentrations and are not repeated here. Heavy Metals Quantification and Correlative Carcinogenic-Risks Evaluation in Selected Energy Drinks Sold in Bayelsa State Using Atomic Absorption Spectroscopic Technique

Yahaya and colleagues, three canned energy drinks anonymized in the note as Brand A, Brand B, and Brand C, mg/L, mean ± standard deviation, n=40 per brand. Brand A: zinc 1.005 ± 0.0012, copper 14.041 ± 0.0021, lead 0.012 ± 0.0006, iron 1.083 ± 0.0058, cadmium 0.779 ± 0.0015. Brand B: zinc 0.937 ± 0.0012, copper not detected, lead 0.012 ± 0.00, iron 1.143 ± 0.0021, cadmium 0.769 ± 0.00. Brand C: zinc 0.942 ± 0.00, copper not detected, lead 0.323 ± 0.0015, iron 1.157 ± 0.0025, cadmium 0.779 ± 0.00. The WHO 2014 drinking-water limits the note cites are zinc 5.00, copper 0.05, lead 0.01, iron 0.1, and cadmium 0.02 mg/L. Those limits are the authors’ comparators. The note does not print a limit of detection for the copper results marked not detected. The note says Brand A copper exceeds the cited WHO 0.05 mg/L limit by approximately 280-fold. That fold comparison is the note’s. The note’s average daily intake table is labeled mg/L, and the note also says the equation produces mg/kg/day. Both labels are left as printed. The note reports mg L⁻¹, written here as mg/L. Heavy Metal Content and Associated Health Risks in Selected Energy Drinks Sold in Birnin Kebbi, Nigeria

Salahel din and colleagues, energy drinks, n=2, µg/kg wet weight. Lead 21.5 ± 5.5 (16 to 27). Cadmium 8.5 ± 4.5 (4 to 13). Chromium 11 ± 5 (6 to 16). Total arsenic 1.6 ± 1.0 (not detected to 3). Carbonated soft drinks, tea, and coffee in the same table are not energy drinks and are not repeated here. Assessment of toxic heavy metals in commonly consumed foods in Egypt and their implications for public health and safety

Sports and energy drinks, and gut studies that did not use the bottle

These drinks are ready-to-drink beverages. The studies below are biomarkers, a rat gavage, rat cadmium, hexavalent chromium gavage, occupational nickel, maternal hair, an occupational yogurt trial, and experimental zinc diets. Caffeine and the bottle are not factors in those papers.

Sitarik et al. 2020 measured tooth lead and stool microbiota at 1 month and 6 months in 146 maternal-child pairs in the Detroit-area WHEALS cohort. In utero tooth lead was associated with fungal community composition at 1 month. Lead was not associated with overall bacterial community structure. Taxon-level bacterial shifts were higher Collinsella at 1 month, higher Bilophila at 6 months, and lower Bacteroides. The direction is lead exposure toward microbiota composition. Tooth lead is a biomarker, not a concentration in this product.

Eggers et al. 2023, per WikiBiome source summary, DOI 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1193919, followed 123 children in the Mexico City PROGRESS cohort. Maternal blood lead means were 33.6 µg/L in the second trimester and 34.9 µg/L in the third. Stool metagenomes at ages 9 to 11 showed lower Bacteroides caccae with lead exposure. Weighted quantile sum regression gave a negative overall mixture effect (beta = -0.17) in both trimesters. The direction is prenatal lead toward the childhood gut microbiota. The summary does not support a lead concentration in food.

Liu et al. 2023, per WikiBiome source summary, DOI 10.3389/fvets.2023.1219729, exposed Sprague-Dawley rats to cadmium chloride for 30 days. The note states lower intestinal ZO-1, higher TNF-alpha and IL-6 in intestine and blood, and Muribaculaceae in blood that was absent in the unexposed group. The note does not print the dose or the number of rats. The direction is cadmium toward gut and blood microbiota and barrier markers.

Hoen et al. 2018 related urinary total arsenic at 6 weeks to stool microbiota in 204 infants in the New Hampshire Birth Cohort Study. Urinary total arsenic had median 0.4 µg/L and mean 0.63 µg/L. Feeding-stratified means were 0.5 µg/L in exclusively breastfed infants, 0.9 µg/L in mixed-fed infants, and 1.2 µg/L in formula-only infants. Overall composition was marginally associated with natural-log urinary arsenic after adjustment for feeding and urine specific gravity (pseudo-F 1.85, p = 0.05). The clearest association was in formula-fed males (n = 33, pseudo-F 2.30, p = 0.008). Formula-fed females (n = 23) did not show that association. The direction is an early-life arsenic biomarker toward infant gut microbiota. Urinary arsenic is not a concentration in this product.

Xiong et al. 2025, per WikiBiome source summary, DOI 10.1038/s41467-025-60508-8, followed 146 mother-infant pairs, with maternal hair trace elements measured in 119 mothers. Shannon diversity of the infant gut at 3 months correlated positively with selenium and negatively with copper. Bifidobacterium relative abundance increased under high aluminum and high manganese together, so the note does not separate aluminum from manganese. The note states that high copper and arsenic may enrich antibiotic resistance genes. Hair concentrations are not printed. The direction is prenatal trace-element biomarkers toward the infant gut. Hair is not a food sample.

Mu et al. 2023 gavaged mice with potassium dichromate at 75 mg/kg for 29 days (n = 60 across three groups). Hexavalent chromium lowered Chao1 diversity from 170.75 ± 15.79 to 87.00 ± 9.55 (p = 0.00029) and Shannon diversity from 4.64 ± 0.68 to 2.64 ± 0.64 (p = 0.0055). Escherichia_Shigella rose from 10.71 percent to 57.75 percent. Seaweed polysaccharide at 200 mg/kg partly reversed the shift. The direction is hexavalent chromium toward gut microbiota. The dose is a gavage dose. It is not a total-chromium concentration in food.

Richardson et al. 2018, per WikiBiome source summary, DOI 10.1038/s41598-018-24931-w, gavaged Sprague-Dawley rats for 5 days with sodium arsenite, cadmium chloride, sodium dichromate, cobalt chloride, or nickel chloride, 5 rats per cohort. The note does not print the milligram doses. Observed OTUs and Shannon diversity were lower for arsenic, chromium, and nickel (p < 0.05). Differential genera numbered 37 for nickel, 17 for arsenic, 5 for cadmium, and 10 for chromium. Sodium dichromate is a hexavalent chromium salt, so the chromium arm is not a total-chromium result. The direction is short oral exposure toward the rat gut microbiota.

Yang et al. 2023 compared 109 occupationally nickel-exposed workers with matched controls. Serum nickel in the exposed group was 5.70 ± 3.21 µg/L, serum uric acid was 355.95 ± 67.87 µmol/L, and uric-acid-lowering bacteria, including Lactobacillus and related taxa, were lower. The direction is occupational nickel toward gut microbiota and then toward a host metabolite. Serum nickel is not a concentration in this product.

Chen et al. 2021, per WikiBiome source summary, DOI 10.1128/Spectrum.00483-21, fed C57BL/6 mice diets with 0, 30, 150, or 600 mg/kg zinc for 4 weeks and for 8 weeks. A 4-week diet with no added zinc increased Proteobacteria and Desulfovibrio. An 8-week diet with 150 mg/kg zinc suppressed total short-chain fatty acids, butyric acid, acetic acid, and short-chain-fatty-acid-producing genera. A 600 mg/kg diet decreased Shannon diversity. The mouse count is not in the note. The direction is dietary zinc status toward cecal microbiota. The diets are experimental, not this product.

Feng et al. 2022, per WikiBiome source summary, DOI 10.1038/s41522-022-00326-8, randomized 152 occupationally exposed workers in Pakistan, 76 in each arm, to yogurt with Pediococcus acidilactici GR-1 or to conventional yogurt for 12 weeks. In the probiotic arm, blood copper fell 34.45 percent, from 1,246 ± 20.7 to 817 ± 145.1 µg/L (p < 0.0001), and fecal copper rose. The direction is a microbiota intervention toward copper body burden. The workers were occupationally exposed. The trial is not a test of copper in this product.

Study table

What remains uncertain

No study cited here fed a sports or energy drink. Hexavalent chromium gavage is not total chromium in the beverage. The rat chromium salt is also hexavalent. Hair aluminum is not separated from manganese. The yogurt trial is occupational. Liu and colleagues do not print the cadmium dose.

Decision Snapshot

Evidence Handling

Finished-product findings belong on this product page. Ingredient-only findings belong on ingredient pages before they are used for product inference.

References

Works cited in this page’s text, in first-appearance order. See Sources for this page’s source inventory. Each title links to a source record with bibliographic details, reported findings, and document provenance.

1. Nutritional Risks of Heavy Metals in the Human Diet—Multi-Elemental Analysis of Energy DrinksCzarnek K, Tatarczak-Michalewska M, Wójcik G, Szopa A, Majerek D, Fila K, et al. · Nutrients · 2024 · doi.org/10.3390/nu16244306Peer-reviewed
2. Screening for the Presence of Some Heavy Metals, Total Soluble Solids and Caffeine Contents in Some Energy Drinks Sold in Jordanian MarketAl-Sayyed H, Altwaiq AM, Ali LN, and Khouri S · Methods and Objects of Chemical Analysis · 2024 · doi.org/10.17721/moca.2024.20-24Peer-reviewed
3. Heavy Metals Quantification and Correlative Carcinogenic-Risks Evaluation in Selected Energy Drinks Sold in Bayelsa State Using Atomic Absorption Spectroscopic TechniqueBunu SJ, George D, Alfred-Ugbenbo D, and Ebeshi BU · International Journal of Chemistry Research · 2023 · doi.org/10.22159/ijcr.2023v7i4.224Peer-reviewed
4. Heavy Metal Content and Associated Health Risks in Selected Energy Drinks Sold in Birnin Kebbi, NigeriaYahaya TO, Gulumbe BH, Umar AK, Yusuf A, Mohammed AZ, Izuafa A, et al. · African Journal of Health, Safety and Environment · 2022 · doi.org/10.52417/ajhse.v3i1.197Peer-reviewed
5. Assessment of toxic heavy metals in commonly consumed foods in Egypt and their implications for public health and safetySalahel din K, Abdalbasit Y, Abbady A, and Saad N · Scientific Reports · 2025 · doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-27798-wPeer-reviewed
6. Fetal and early postnatal lead exposure measured in teeth associates with infant gut microbiotaSitarik AR, Arora M, Austin C, Bielak LF, Eggers S, Johnson CC, et al. · Environment International · 2020 · doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2020.106062Peer-reviewed
7. Prenatal lead exposure is negatively associated with the gut microbiome in childhoodEggers S, Midya V, Bixby M, Gennings C, Torres-Olascoaga LA, Walker RW, et al. · Frontiers in Microbiology · 2023 · doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2023.1193919Peer-reviewed
8. Environmental cadmium exposure alters the internal microbiota and metabolome of Sprague-Dawley ratsLiu S, Deng X, Li Z, Zhou W, Wang G, Zhan J, et al. · Frontiers in Veterinary Science · 2023 · doi.org/10.3389/fvets.2023.1219729Peer-reviewed
9. Sex-specific associations of infants’ gut microbiome with arsenic exposureAnne G. Hoen, Juliette C. Madan, Zhigang Li, Modupe Coker, Sara N. Lundgren, Hilary G. Morrison, et al. · Scientific Reports · 2018 · doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-30581-9Peer-reviewed
10. Prenatal exposure to trace elements impacts mother-infant gut microbiome, metabolome and resistome during the first year of lifeXiong S, Xie B, Yin N, Zhu H, Gao H, Xu X, et al. · Nature Communications · 2025 · doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-60508-8Peer-reviewed
11. Seaweed polysaccharide relieves hexavalent chromium-induced gut microbial homeostasisMu J, Guo Z, Wang X, Wang X, Fu Y, Li X, et al. · Frontiers in Microbiology · 2023 · doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2022.1100988Peer-reviewed
12. Exposure to toxic metals triggers unique responses from the rat gut microbiotaRichardson JB, Dancy BCR, Horton CL, Lee YS, Madejczyk MS, Xu Z, et al. · Scientific Reports · 2018 · doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-24931-wPeer-reviewed
13. Nickel exposure induces gut microbiome disorder and serum uric acid elevationJinfeng Yang, Pengya Feng, Zhenmin Ling, Aman Khan, Xing Wang, Yanli Chen, et al. · Environmental Pollution, Vol. 324, 121349 · 2023 · doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2023.121349Peer-reviewed
14. Effect of long-term and short-term imbalanced zinc manipulation on gut microbiota and screening for microbial markers sensitive to zinc statusChen L, Wang Z, Wang P, Yu X, Ding H, Wang Z, et al. · Microbiology Spectrum · 2021 · doi.org/10.1128/Spectrum.00483-21Peer-reviewed
15. Human supplementation with Pediococcus acidilactici GR-1 decreases heavy metal levels through modifying the gut microbiota and metabolomeFeng P, Yang J, Zhao S, Ling Z, Han R, Wu Y, et al. · npj Biofilms and Microbiomes · 2022 · doi.org/10.1038/s41522-022-00326-8Peer-reviewed

Sources

Source records associated with this topic. Inclusion does not establish that every finding applies to this product or ingredient. References above identify works cited in the text.

Page history

The five most recent substantive edits to this page. The full version history lives in git; when DOI minting comes online (see schema docs), each entry below will also link to a version-pinned DataCite DOI.

Update history

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