5 Secrets The Protein Powder Industry Doesn’t Want You To Know

BY: COMPLEMENT

Key Takeaway

Even though consumers don’t lack choice in this area, the actual number of good, clean, high-quality vegan protein powders is fairly small. Certified Organic protein powders will generally contain less chemical nastiness, but unless they're Prop 65 compliant (or list their test results somewhere), heavy metals can still be an issue. A 'proprietary blend' can be a good way of masking the fact that a vegan protein powder is 98% pea-based, since there are no rules about disclosing the actual composition. Best way to make a delicious protein drink is by mixing a neutral powder with fruit or other whole-food ingredients - 'natural' flavors and sweeteners often aren't.

Supplements get a bad rap – and sometimes that’s deserved. But what about protein powders?

Full disclosure: you’re reading this article on the website of a brand that makes (among other things) a vegan protein powder. But before we ever thought of creating our own, we were protein powder users - and once we started digging into the facts and talking to manufacturers, we concluded protein powders might just be the most concerning everyday supplement out there.

First Off, That Study That You Probably Heard About…

A few years ago, The Clean Label Project™ published a study examining 134 plant-based and animal-based protein powder products from 52 different brands. The organization looked at over 130 toxins, including heavy metals, BPA, pesticides, and other contaminants. Across the board, they found a range of unsavory elements that are tied to adverse health outcomes. And some of the plant-based options ranked the worst.

1. Checking For Heavy Metals, and Why Organic Is Good, But Not Enough

By definition, heavy metals are usually metallic chemical elements with a relatively high density that are toxic or poisonous at low concentrations. On the other hand, most of these substances are found in nature and our soil - often in abundance, meaning that some will invariably pass into fruits and vegetables grown in that soil. And, unfortunately, organic products are no less at risk of contamination than conventionally grown.

"There’s no way of knowing about the heavy metal content in your protein powder, unless you look for a brand that discloses their test results and stands behind their claims with a “Proposition 65” badge."

There are, of course, limits set by the WHO and the FDA, for how much of heavy metals may be consumed daily with no adverse effects; since these are naturally-occurring substances, your body is good at dealing with them, as long as the intake is relatively small. The State of California, however, went a step further with their Proposition 65, and set the acceptable levels at 1/1000 of the No Adverse Effect Limit, on average.

2. What The List Of Ingredients Might Be Hiding

There are great consumer-protection laws on the books, but, sadly, there are smart people trying to get around them. For instance, by law, protein products have to disclose the ingredients in order of quantity. So if you look at the label, you should be able to get a sense for what makes up the bulk of your powder, even though there’s no way of knowing the actual percentages. But it’s even harder if the manufacturer uses a “Proprietary Blend”. This allows them to hide the actual amounts of the ingredients.

3. The Packaging Matters, Too

Ever purchased a huge, three pound tub of protein powder, only to find that the actual powder takes up less than 50% of it? With $14 billion spent on protein powders each year, that’s a lot of plastic - some of which will invariably miss the recycling bin and end up polluting the planet for decades (or centuries) to come. What’s the solution? Well, a start would be switching to pouches - even if they’re still plastic, the amount of material used is much less.

4. What About The Stuff Added Intentionally?

Fillers, preservatives, gums, flavors… it’s absolutely amazing that you can get a protein powder in Strawberry Mochachino flavor, or Chocolate Peanut Butter (only one of these flavors is made up). Ever stop to check what actually went into it to make it taste that way? Or make it last for years on the shelf?

"If you want to keep it really clean, the best thing to do is look for a neutral flavored powder and flavor and sweeten it by mixing it with fruit, or some agave syrup if you want it sweeter."

If you ask us, there’s no need for xantham gum, dextrose, silica, or the rest of that “stuff” we’ve started adding to food in the last 50 years. And even organic sweeteners like stevia and monk fruit tend to leave a weird aftertaste, while thickeners invariably contain five-syllable words (a.k.a. things that don’t sound like something you should eat at all).

5. Servings, Serving Sizes and Protein Quality

This last one may be a little less important, because it mostly impacts the health of your pocket book, rather than the health of your body and mind… Take a look at the serving size and the number of servings in the package. Often times, manufacturers will only put 20 servings into a package, so be sure to calculate the price per serving. When you’re comparing products, they all might be hovering around $30-50, but they could have 33% less servings.

What We Learned From All This (Besides All The Industry Tricks)

First of all, the protein powder market is huge, and still growing. But when we started searching around for potential manufacturing partners, we quickly got saturated with offers to either do a white label product (meaning we’d just be sticking our name on a ready-made formula, over which we’d have zero control), or creative ways to get around the issues outlined above (which was even more disconcerting, since these were manufacturers working with some of the biggest names out there). Finally, we came to the conclusion that even though consumers don’t lack choice in this area, the actual number of good, clean, high quality vegan protein powders is fairly small. And that we should definitely create our own formula and cut no corners.

If you agree that there should be no compromise when it comes to protein powder, we hope this article helps you make a more informed choice. And if you’re wondering what our solution to ticking all those boxes is… really glad you asked! ;)