FYI: Consumer Reports Issues Protein Drink Alert

an example of the battle of claims....hemp protein see www.alive.com/4490a12a2.php, where it says Cannabis sativa used to make hemp protein has no THC but then do a search for Cannabis sativa, eg en.wikipedia.org/.../Cannabis_(drug), and find that it does contain THC....no doubt it has lots of protein too sounds like hemp protein products and Alice B. Tokeless brownies share a palatability problem. Re Metagenics products....they do not have a 'dietary supplement' label because they are marketed by the company as medical foods for use under physician supervision (the Mayo Clinic pharmacy may not realize this distinction...in my work with the Mayo Clinic since the 1970s, it would be highly unlikely they do). FDA approves neither dietary supplement nor medical foods...ingredients or labels (even though there may be an occasional story, FDA does virtually nothing with supplements or medical foods...FDA was killed during the 1990s by Clinton and is only slowly coming back now that Congress is realizing it is best for FDA not to be on the back burner, which resulted in an explosion of unsafe and useless food and drug products to flood the market). I have been unable to find any research on any of the company products. There is research for some of the claimed ingredients, though there is no assurance from anyone that these ingredients are reliably in the products they sell. One thing is certain, neither the Mayo Clinic nor FDA have reviewed any testing or conducted testing of Metagenics products. This is not to say they are dangerous, but there is no available research about their safety or effectiveness. For most healthy folks 'eating' a little from time to time, little problem may be assumed.

interesting the 'google' ad on the top of this page for me points to whey protein supplement

If you had worn a tech suit, it wouldn't have mattered; the two would have canceled each other out! :bump: :bolt:

Anything in excess has potential to be harmfull. That's a good deal, 78 servings for $30

an example of the battle of claims....hemp protein see www.alive.com/4490a12a2.php, where it says Cannabis sativa used to make hemp protein has no THC but then do a search for Cannabis sativa, eg en.wikipedia.org/.../Cannabis_(drug), and find that it does contain THC....no doubt it has lots of protein too sounds like hemp protein products and Alice B. Tokeless brownies share a palatability problem. Re Metagenics products....they do not have a 'dietary supplement' label because they are marketed by the company as medical foods for use under physician supervision (the Mayo Clinic pharmacy may not realize this distinction...in my work with the Mayo Clinic since the 1970s, it would be highly unlikely they do). FDA approves neither dietary supplement nor medical foods...ingredients or labels (even though there may be an occasional story, FDA does virtually nothing with supplements or medical foods...FDA was killed during the 1990s by Clinton and is only slowly coming back now that Congress is realizing it is best for FDA not to be on the back burner, which resulted in an explosion of unsafe and useless food and drug products to flood the market). I have been unable to find any research on any of the company products. There is research for some of the claimed ingredients, though there is no assurance from anyone that these ingredients are reliably in the products they sell. One thing is certain, neither the Mayo Clinic nor FDA have reviewed any testing or conducted testing of Metagenics products. This is not to say they are dangerous, but there is no available research about their safety or effectiveness. For most healthy folks 'eating' a little from time to time, little problem may be assumed. Thanks for the informative posts! So in your extensive research, have you found any of these supplements to be beneficial. It seems most of the products are nonsense (and I've tried many of them ... Musclemilk is now definitely OFF my list!)

I have seen the inside of these kind of companies and have reviewed the credentials of their operators and 'science' behind their products in their files. Probably over 10 million pages worth and dozens of depositions of company operators. Mostly, they sell junk filled with hype. They add drugs and toxins seemingly out of spite for their consumers. Their hype is sometimes rational in some esoteric textbook ways, but rarely delivered. I assure you. If you knew the facts of these companies, you would be shocked, very shocked. They operate virtually free of regulation and inspection (like deep water oil operators). Yes, they advertise pharmaceutical grade and that they are heavily policed, but try getting the support for these claims. Certainly, since 1994, FDA has rarely been inside these companies (they have only after hundreds of civil lawsuits forced FDA to at least do something for political show). It will take months to years and several court orders powerfully resisted by the companies to get relevant company documentation. If you do, you will see that I am understating the problems. (Muscletech, on the list, is particularly egregious. Its products have harmed many severely. I spent hundreds of hours reviewing this company's files and operators, and have supplied substantial sworn testimony about them in federal, state and government litigation against them.) All this said, mostly these products are innocuous for most healthy folks (eating and exercising optimally). Problem is...we don't always know if we are healthy. For example, Prez Clinton obviously gets the best health care in the world, but his severe coronary artery disease was not found until near catastrophe several years ago, requiring bypass surgery for several arteries. Involved long ago myself with the study of arteries of Viet Nam soldiers autopsied revealed almost everyone even around 20 years old has some coronary artery disease. Swimming, however, helps most.

If supplements are under more scrutiny in Canada, would it make sense to choose supplements that are on sale in Canada as a prescreen? As for Consumer Reports, I think they tend to do a half assed job in their research. A good example is their choice of "3 servings" as the normalizer that results in protein variations from 27 grams to 180 grams. If my concern is increasing protein by taking protein supplements, wouldn't I care about how much protein I was consuming? Am I really going to drink 1.5 liters of EAS milkshake at a price of $15/day? Elaine's EAS powder would cost $1.15/day in comparison. Consumer Reports usually is on the right track with the ideas behind their articles, but rarely can the results they publish be taken at face value. Product contamination shouldn't be news. How many products coming out of China for human consumption have been recalled recently because they contained unacceptable levels of contaminates? Where would you expect an unregulated industry to having the majority of their manufacturing done? Knowing that supplements pose a risk, where do we look for information on what is safe? I have no idea. If I claim that my product isn't sourced in China, am I in any way liable if that claim isn't true? I don't think so, especially since I can just redefine "sourced" since the industry isn't regulated, neither are the terms. FDA regulation would not make much difference. A single serving of any of the tested proteins would be under the daily max for heavy metals. Would the FDA impose stricter restrictions on the supplement industry, or would the supplement industry lobby that their products are meant to be used as a single serving a day, and are thus safe for consumption? Even under stricter regulations, most of the supplements don't pose a risk high enough to draw attention, and based on the list of products that was included in the chart, I believe Consumer Reports only published the worst offenders. If it was a well balanced test, why was there only one EAS product but 3 Muscle Milk products, two of which are just different flavors of the same product? The safest thing we can do is just stop eating, drinking and breathing. Today is no more dangerous than yesterday, anything done in excess is going to increase the likelihood of problems.

This is a bit scary as I usually take 1-2 scoops of protein power a day as I don't eat a lot of meat. I saw a thread on another forum that got me to look up the allowable quantities of these metals in drinking water where I live. In BC, Canada these are the allowable levels: Arsenic (proposed) 5µg/L Cadmium 5µg/L Lead 10µg/L Mercury 1µg/L. If you drink a couple liters of water a day you could get more heavy metals then from most of the products tested. Drinking water is however usually much lower then the acceptable limits. It is a good idea to avoid products high in heavy metals as much as possible as they can stay in your body forever.

I just drink skim milk. It has a surprising large amount of protein, and I believe it is all whey protein to boot. And it's cheap. Stick to the basics!

I have three protein shakes a day (casein+whey blend in the am, whey protein isolate post-workout and casein before bed). I must be heading for disaster!