Have you found your way to this article, as you’ve recently heard news about plant protein powders being loaded with heavy metals? It’s a reasonable thing to be concerned and want to learn more about, so we’ve put together some helpful, factual information.

Heavy metal contamination in plant-based proteins is a real issue that deserves attention, but we need to make sure the risk isn’t overblown by sensationalised news. Let’s look at what’s really going on in your protein powder.

What heavy metals should I be worried about in my protein powder?

The "Big Four" heavy metals that people are talking about are arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury. These aren't things your body needs or can use; they're just toxicants that can accumulate in your tissues over time.

The keyword here is "accumulate." There's no acute poisoning where you drink a protein shake and immediately keel over. The concern is bioaccumulation, the slow buildup over years and decades that your body struggles to efficiently eliminate.

Lead is particularly nasty because there's technically no safe level of exposure. It crosses the blood-brain barrier, messes with your nervous system, and can cause cognitive problems and cardiovascular issues over time. Cadmium and arsenic are linked to increased cancer risk and neurodegenerative diseases. Not fun stuff.

However, the dose makes the poison. Trace amounts of these metals (except for lead) aren't the same as dangerous amounts, and understanding that difference is important.

Why does plant protein have a heavy metal problem?

The contamination starts in the ground. Lead and cadmium exist naturally in soil and water from geological processes like volcanic rock erosion. Add to that decades of industrial pollution, vehicle emissions from leaded gasoline, fossil fuel combustion, and certain fertilisers, and you've got soil that's been significantly contaminated beyond its natural baseline.

Plants do what plants do. They pull water and nutrients from the soil through their roots. Unfortunately, they also pull up these heavy metals along with everything else. Some crops are particularly good at this phytoremediation process, essentially acting as natural metal extractors from contaminated soil.

Then comes the concentration effect. When you process raw crops into protein isolates and powders, you're removing the bulk plant matter while concentrating the protein. This means those heavy metals get concentrated, too. So a brown rice protein powder can end up with significantly higher metal concentrations than the whole brown rice it came from.

This is why plant proteins consistently test higher for certain metals than animal-based proteins like whey. Animals eat contaminated feed, but their metabolic systems often buffer or excrete much of the metal burden before it makes it into dairy or eggs. Plants don't have that luxury.

Does faba bean protein contain heavy metals?

This is where we get to the good news, particularly if you're using or considering Pure Plant Protein, which uses faba bean isolate.

Not all manufacturers are equal, and advanced quality control works. When you look at tested batches of high-quality faba bean protein, the numbers tell a different story than the scary headlines. Transparency is important, so be wary of brands that won't post their heavy metal test results or send them to you upon request. These tests should be performed regularly (within a close date range to today) and freely offered to anyone who would like to see them.

Our own recent batch testing showed arsenic levels below detection limits (less than 0.01 mg/kg), cadmium at 0.011 mg/kg, lead below detection limits, and mercury below detection limits.

What does that mean in practical terms? For a standard 30-gram serving, you'd be getting less than 0.30 micrograms of lead, which is well below even an ultra-conservative 0.5 microgram warning threshold, and about 33 times lower than the USP's toxicological safety limit of 10 micrograms per day.

This level of purity is due to our sourcing from regions with low soil contamination here in Victoria, using crop varieties that naturally accumulate metals in non-edible parts rather than seeds, and employing advanced purification technologies like ion exchange chelation resins during processing. These resins specifically grab and remove heavy metal ions from the protein solution. It's sophisticated chemistry, and it's expensive, which is why not every manufacturer does it.

What should you do about heavy metals in protein powder?

No diet is perfect, and as we’ve discussed, the amounts of heavy metals in most plant proteins are nominal and not a cause for concern. If you want peace of mind, look for transparency. Companies that publish batch-specific heavy metal test results are demonstrating that they've invested in the sourcing and processing infrastructure to actually manage this risk. That matters way more than whether something is organic, non-GMO, or has a minimalist label design.

Our most recent test is below to show that Pure Plant Protein is a clean, safe vegan protein powder to boost your daily protein intake. Let’s fuel your journey.