How Products were Selected:
Products were selected to represent those popular among readers of ConsumerLab.com and commonly sold and/or available in the U.S. ConsumerLab.com purchased products on the open market through retail stores, on-line retailers, or direct sales companies. Products were not accepted directly from manufacturers.Testing Methods:
Products were analyzed in one or more independent laboratories for the following:- Quantitative analysis for total arsenic, lead, cadmium, and mercury by Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectroscopy (ICP/MS). Products found to contain 10 mcg or more of total arsenic per daily serving were analyzed for inorganic arsenic (reported as the sum of Arsenite (As III) and Arsenate (As V)) using the same method.
ConsumerLab.com may modify or use other appropriate test methods if necessary to test special product formulations.
Identities of products were not disclosed to laboratories performing the testing.
Passing Score:*
To be "Approved" by ConsumerLab.com, a product had to meet the following requirements:- Heavy Metals:
Arsenic:- Contain less than 0.15 mcg/g of inorganic arsenic (EFSA) based on the amount of inorganic arsenic found or estimated (based on 72.7% of total arsenic found -- (Rajkowska-Myśliwiec, Foods. 2024). Cautionary notation will be added to listings of products with inorganic arsenic concentrations close to, but less than, 0.15 mcg/g and those exceeding 0.1 mcg/g (a limit applied to rice-based products for infants (FDA, Health Canada, EFSA).
- Products marketed for use by children under 12 years of age or by pregnant or nursing women may not exceed the State of California's Prop 65 limits for lead contamination in dietary supplements: 0.5 mcg of lead per daily serving with an additional allowance of 0.8 mcg for supplements containing more than 1,000 mg/day of calcium.
- Products with a single serving weight of less than 5 grams which are not marketed for use by children under 12 years of age or by pregnant or nursing women, may not exceed the State of California's Prop 65 limits for lead in dietary supplements of 0.5 mcg per recommended daily serving (above which a warning regarding reproductive harm, birth defects, or cancer risks is required in California) with an additional allowance of 0.4 mcg if containing 250 to 999 mg/day of elemental calcium, potassium and magnesium, 0.8 mcg if containing1000 mg/day of any combination of these minerals. An additional 0.5 mcg is provided if containing 250-999 mg/day of whole herb (not extract) ingredient or 1.0 mcg for products containing1000 mg/day or more of whole herb (not extract). However, total lead allowance will not exceed 2 mcg per daily serving.
- Products with single serving weights of 5 grams or more which are not marketed for children under 12 years of age or by pregnant or nursing women may not exceed 2.5 mcg per serving nor 4.0 mcg per daily serving.
- If marketed for use by children under 12 years of age, may not exceed 3.0 micrograms of cadmium per recommended daily serving (based on Canada's limit for a child weighing 75lbs). If not marketed for use by children under 12 years of age, may not exceed 4.1 micrograms of cadmium per recommended daily serving (above which California's Prop 65 law requires a "reproductive harm" warning due to developmental toxicity and male reproductive harm.
- May not exceed 2 micrograms of inorganic mercury per daily serving (based on EPA limit for mercury in 1 liter of water).
* Passing scores allow for specific margins of technical error associated with each analysis. ConsumerLab.com reserves the right to disqualify a product at any time from passing its testing if it considers such product to display unacceptable variation in quality, present a safety risk or to provide misleading or inaccurate information in its labeling.
