The supplement industry is big business. According to Consumer Reports magazine sports-nutrition sales are at $2.7 billion. That’s BILLION. The July issue of Consumer Reports Magazine investigates 15 different protein drinks and their findings are misleading. They claim, “Some protein drinks can even pose health risks, including exposure to potentially harmful heavy metals, if consumed frequently. All drinks in our tests had at least one sample containing one or more of the following contaminants: arsenic, cadmium, lead, and mercury. Those metals can have toxic effects on several organs in the body.”
You read that and you think holy crap I shouldn’t drink protein drinks. Well, not so fast. Cytosport, the maker of Muscle Milk, conducted their own third party tests and dispelled the magazine’s findings. Read their full report here.
One of the leading lawyers in the supplement industry, Rick Collins also comments about the report on his web site. Once you read these two articles you can see how results and stories can be skewed to fit the publisher’s agenda.
Optimum Nutrition responded to the findings as well. Check out their take on the story here.
Props to Cytosport & Optimum for meeting the report head on. I’d like to see other supplement companies step up and combat stories like this when they are published. Hiding and not addressing the issue only helps fuel the agenda of others against the sport-supplement industry.
