The 3 Best Protein Powders On The Market

You reach for a protein powder because breakfast has to happen between meetings. The front of the bag says “clean,” but that word tells you almost nothing about what ended up in the scoop.

In 2025, Consumer Reports tested 23 protein powders and ready-to-drink shakes for heavy metals. Its findings give us a good reason to ask better questions about sourcing and finished-product testing, especially if a shake is part of your daily routine. They don't give us a defensible ranking of the three brands in this article.^[1][2]

Start with the protein you need, then ask the company for the current flavor’s heavy-metal results per serving.

This is general wellness information based on current research, not medical advice. If you have specific health concerns, please consult with a healthcare provider.

What Consumer Reports actually found

In its 2025 testing, Consumer Reports bought two or three samples of each of 23 products and reported averages. The plant-based products in that sample had nine times as much lead on average as the dairy-based products. CR also found cadmium and inorganic arsenic in some products. Its lead “level of concern” is 0.5 micrograms per day, a conservative comparison benchmark based on California’s Proposition 65 standard, not an FDA limit for protein powder or a diagnosis of harm from one serving.^[1][2] Lead exposure is cumulative: repeated exposure can add up, and minimizing avoidable exposure is especially important during pregnancy and childhood.^[1][3]

Why might a plant powder run higher? Crops can take up metals from soil and water. Growing conditions, ingredients, processing, and the amount of concentrated plant material in a serving can all matter. But CR could not isolate how much of its result came from the pea protein itself. Every plant powder it tested used pea protein, so its sample cannot tell us that all plants, all farms, or all current plant-protein formulas are contaminated.^[1]

There’s a useful counterexample: in CR’s later five-product follow-up, one pea-based powder measured 0.46 micrograms of lead per serving and another measured 0.53 micrograms. The first was below CR’s benchmark and the second just above it. The practical lesson is to compare the actual product and serving, not declare an entire protein category safe or unsafe.^[3]

Paleovalley: read the protein type before you buy

Paleovalley sells a grass-fed whey protein with colostrum and a separate grass-fed bone broth protein. They’re different tools. Its whey provides 13 grams of complete protein per scoop, according to the product page. Its bone broth powder provides 13 to 15 grams per scoop and is collagen-rich.^[4][5] Collagen lacks the essential amino acid tryptophan and is classified as an incomplete protein, so it isn’t nutritionally interchangeable with whey.^[13]

If you’re using a scoop to help you reach a meaningful protein target at breakfast, check how many scoops and how much powder you’d actually use. If you want collagen for a recipe, don’t count it as nutritionally interchangeable with whey.

Paleovalley advertises third-party testing of its bone broth powder for more than 40 pesticides and herbicides. That's a different panel from a quantitative test for lead, cadmium, arsenic, and mercury. I couldn’t verify a public lot-specific heavy-metal result for these products, so I can’t rank Paleovalley as one of the least contaminated powders.^[5]

Momentous: the old formula and the current formula matter

This brand deserves an honest distinction. CR measured 2.33 micrograms of lead per serving in Momentous 100% Plant Protein Chocolate and 0.15 micrograms in Momentous Whey Protein Isolate Vanilla, based on the samples in its 2025 report. Momentous says both tested products were discontinued, and identifies the tested plant powder as its older V1 formula, no longer sold since March 2025. Those numbers cannot be assigned to a current tub.^[2][6]

Momentous says its newer plant formulation uses different sourcing and reports lead results of 0.29 micrograms per serving for Cappuccino, 0.54 for Chocolate, and 0.48 for Vanilla Spice. Those are company-reported values, not new CR measurements. The Chocolate figure sits just above CR’s 0.5-microgram comparison benchmark. That difference is exactly why flavor and formula version belong in the conversation.^[7]

Current Momentous plant products appear in NSF’s official Certified for Sport listing.^[11] NSF certification is a meaningful independent quality screen covering contaminants, label accuracy, prohibited substances, and ongoing oversight. It doesn’t make the powder “lead-free,” and a public certification listing won’t tell you that specific batch’s numerical heavy-metal results.^[8]

Sports Research: strong screening signal, different question

Sports Research Whey Protein Isolate lists 25 grams of protein per serving. The company says it independently tests ingredients and finished products, and its current whey product page displays the Informed Sport mark.^[9][12]

Informed Sport screens every batch of certified products for banned substances before release. That’s useful if you compete in a tested sport. It isn't, by itself, a published four-metal panel showing the precise lead, cadmium, arsenic, and mercury amount in the scoop on your counter. I couldn’t verify a public numerical heavy-metal panel for this Sports Research whey or a CR result for it. I also couldn’t independently inspect its current entries in Informed Sport’s batch directory.^[10]

My buying filter

Pick the protein form that fits the job: a complete whey protein when you want to add meaningful protein to a meal, or a plant powder if dairy doesn’t work for you and the brand can show you credible test results. Bone broth or collagen powder serves a different nutritional role.

Then ask for a recent certificate of analysis for the exact flavor and lot you’re buying. Look for lead, cadmium, total and inorganic arsenic, and mercury reported per serving, plus the lab, test date, and detection limits. Ingredient testing, pesticide screening, banned-substance screening, and finished-product heavy-metal results answer different questions. If a brand can’t show the numbers, that uncertainty belongs in your buying decision.

A scoop can be convenient. It doesn’t have to become an automatic daily habit just because the label sounds reassuring. Start by seeing whether ordinary food already covers your protein needs; use a powder where it genuinely makes your day easier.

Sources

1. Consumer Reports: protein powder and shake investigation
2. Consumer Reports: methodology and test results (PDF)
3. Consumer Reports: five-product follow-up
4. Paleovalley: whey protein product details
5. Paleovalley: bone broth protein product details
6. Momentous: response and discontinued-formula clarification
7. Momentous: company-reported plant protein test results
8. NSF: Certified for Sport program scope
9. Sports Research: whey protein isolate product details
10. Informed Sport: certification and batch-testing FAQ
11. NSF: official Momentous product certification listing
12. Sports Research: company testing statement
13. Collagen protein quality and amino-acid completeness