Comparative Chart of Lab Test Results For Collagens & Protein Powders

Published: May 5, 2026
A Quick Note From Tamara Rubin

The chart below compares test results for independent, third-party laboratory testing of various products classified as protein powders — specifically testing for the heavy metals Lead, Cadmium, Mercury and Arsenic — testing coordinated through the Lead Safe Mama, LLC Community Collaborative Laboratory Testing Initiative. For those new to our work, Lead Safe Mama, LLC is a woman-owned small business for childhood Lead-poisoning prevention and consumer goods safety, based in Portland, Oregon.

Lead Safe Mama, LLC was founded in 2018 and our work has been featured in Consumer Reports Magazine, The Guardian and in video interviews and printed articles with countless other news outlets. We collaborated with Consumer Reports Magazine on two pieces they did following up on our investigation into cassava contamination (this one from June of 2024, and this one from May of 2025).  In April of 2025 The Guardian did a feature on our work identifying pervasive Lead-contamination in popular toothpaste products – link here. Please check out our Press page here on this link if you are new to our work.

Through our lab testing initiative (which began in March of 2024) Lead Safe Mama, LLC has tested and reported on approximately 700 products that were nominated for testing by the greater online Lead Safe Mama community. Funding for testing and reporting of these products is also provided by the Lead Safe Mama community — either through crowd-funding campaigns set up to cover the costs to test and report on specific products OR through sponsorships provided by generous individuals looking to identify safer choices for their families (or looking to identify sources of toxicant exposure for their children or other members of their family). To see some of our open / pending campaigns for testing and reporting of community nominated products, click here.

• To see our landing page listing and linking nearly all of our published lab reports to date, click here (this page is updated periodically with new reports and is a good page to bookmark).
• To see our most current list of lab-tested safer choices identified through the Lead Safe Mama, LLC Community Collaborative Laboratory Testing Initiative, click here (also a good page to bookmark and check back on periodically!)
• To see our budget for testing and reporting on products, click here.
• To nominate a product for testing and reporting, click here.
• To be among the first to see all of our new lab reports as soon as they are published, please join us on Patreon (you can join for FREE or with a small monthly contribution in support of the work). Patreon Link.

Key Relevant Points Related To The Collagen and Protein Powder Chart Below

• The chart is sorted in order of Cadmium level – ascending.
• 58.33 % of the products (7/12) tested positive for Lead (a neurotoxin and carcinogen)
• 58.33% of the products (7/12) also tested positive for Arsenic (a known carcinogen)
  • NOTE: the lab testing we coordinate does not speciate the Arsenic testing
• 41.67% of the products(5/12) tested positive for Cadmium (a known carcinogen)
• 8.33% of the products (1/12) tested positive for Mercury (a potent neurotoxin)
• The one product that tested positive for Mercury contamination (as well as Lead, Cadmium, and Arsenic contamination) is expressly marketed and sold as a product intended for consumption by young children (by a company that also serves the function of being an “influencer” that heavily promotes other contaminated products via their Instagram channel – link here and here.)
• 16.67% of the products (2/12) had “non-detect” results for toxicants across the board (non-detect for Lead, non-detect for Cadmium, non-detect for Mercury, non-detect for Arsenic). The lab testing results for these two products demonstrate that non-detect results for heavy metals contamination in protein powders is an achievable goal. Those two products are:
  1. https://amzn.to/4f3yrmw
  2. https://amzn.to/4wjDfKX
• Two of the Lead-contaminated products included in the chart (Product #8 and #9) are made by a company (Just Ingredients) that manufactures and sells several other heavy metals contaminated products — including a Lead-contaminated prenatal vitamin, and a heavily contaminated tooth powder marketed and sold as safe for use by children. This company also had their attorneys send us a cease and desist letter in an effort to get us to retract our published (independent, third-party, scientifically replicable) lab reports (link here – read comments section too!). Related articles with lab reports for contaminated products that we have tested from this company are linked below:
  1. Just Ingredients Prenatal Choline Supplement
  2. Just Ingredients Remineralizing Tooth Powder — Fresh Citrus Flavor
  3. Just Ingredients Remineralizing Tooth Powder — Cool Mint Flavor
  4. Just Ingredients Mango Lemonade Electrolyte Powder
• The most toxic product (the product with the highest Cadmium level in the chart below, product #12) is manufactured and sold by a company (Truvani) that also manufactures and sells other Lead-contaminated products, including a heavily contaminated toothpaste called “Clean Toothpaste” that tested positive for Lead, Cadmium, Arsenic, and Mercury. The owner of this company also works in the capacity as a health and nutrition influencer with millions of followers (Instagram link here). Article with lab report linked below:
  • Truvani Clean Toothpaste

NOTE: All of the levels shown for these Collagen Products and Protein Powder Products are (at the time of publishing this article) 100% legal (by any and all Federal or State Standards). The problem is that there are no laws with truly health-protective limits for toxicants (specifically heavy metals) that one might find in protein powders and collagen powders (sold for use by / consumption by adults or  expressly sold for consumption by children). Any relevant laws that do exist are “industry-protective”, not “human-health-protective”.

Additionally — while the toxicant profile of several of these protein powder products are definitely quite concerning — and while contamination of protein powder products specifically (and supplements more generally) is an issue that needs to be addressed with better / more effective, truly health-protective regulatory standards, I do want to take a moment to point out that there are several other classes of products with significantly more profound / pervasive levels of toxicant contamination (classes of products that are also relatively unregulated and for which we have not yet found any clean examples through the Lead Safe Mama, LLC Community Collaborative Laboratory Testing Initiative). These classes of products include potatoes, cocoa, peanuts / peanut butter, and seaweed. You can read more about that here.

Products are listed below in the order they are presented in the chart below.
The numbers in the list below correspond with the numbers in the graph.

Each product name below is linked to the article with the full original lab report for that product. The full original lab report can always be found at the very bottom of each product-specific article (in that article, below the sharable social media graphic and below the list of lab-tested safer choices).

1. Ancient Nutrition Bone Broth Protein Powder (Vanilla Flavor)
2. ORGANIC — Simply Tera’s Organic Whey Protein (Plain, Unsweetened)
3. withinUS TruMarine Collagen (“Proudly Canadian)
4. Vital Proteins Collagen Peptides Dietary Supplement (Unflavored)
5. Ancient Nutrition Multi Collagen Protein Dietary Supplement 
6. Grass-Fed Perfect Bovine Gelatin Collagen Protein (Brazil)
7. Great Lakes Wellness Bovine Collagen Peptides (Unflavored)
8. Just Ingredients Vanilla Bean Protein Powder
9. Just Ingredients Chocolate Protein Powder
10. Kachava Superblend Plant-Based Protein Shake (Matcha Flavor)
11. Flavcity Chocolate Galactic Brownie All-in-One Kids Protein Smoothie
12. ORGANIC — Truvani Certified Organic Plant Based Protein Powder (Chocolate Flavor)

Amazon links are affiliate links. If you purchase something after clicking on a Lead Safe Mama, LLC Amazon affiliate link we may receive a percentage of what you spend at no extra cost to you. Funds earned from Amazon purchases help support the costs related to our lab testing initiative.