cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ca/post/53452632
This is a long and very thorough article. If you’re using any particular brand of protein supplements, it might be worth searching the text for the name to catch all the relevant discussion (the measurements, whether the company is responding, etc.)
Notable that it’s plant based that have the most, while whey generally has much much less. kinda sad for vegans since your protein options are more limited.
The cows are probably acting as filters, absorbing the lead from the plant material they ingest. Makes me wonder where that goes — cow liver? brain? muscle?
The article noted that some of the plant based manufacturers talked about changing their sourcing from foreign to domestic markets. May be that whey (which is otherwise a waste product anyway) was always sufficiently cheap in western nations where tighter environmental controls would limit exposure to heavy metals.
But your explaination makes sense as well.
I read the article. Much of the plant based protein comes from China. Apparently there is much more lead in the soil than other sources.