Overview
A narrative review, labelled “Review Article”, on sources, health effects and regulation of lead and cadmium in protein powders, with emphasis on plant-based products. It reports no measurements of its own and quotes third-party testing such as a 2018 survey in which 70% of 134 powders contained lead and 74% cadmium.
Key numbers
- No primary concentration data. Quoted reference values: lead 12.5 µg/day for adults and 3 µg/day for children (FDA), cadmium 2.5 µg/kg body weight per week (EFSA 2009) (Regulatory Guidelines section, p. 6).
Methods (brief)
Literature review; search method not described.
Evidence Fitness
Context only. The printed DOI (10.62057/ESJ.2025.V2.I5) reads as issue-level and was not checked against a registry. It gives no numbers for meal-replacement drinks, non-soy protein sources or soy protein isolate and should not be cited as occurrence data.