Is a Certificate of Analysis enough to consider a supplement non-contaminated?

[tastyfood]

The question:

If I get a Certificate of Analysis from a company, and it says the lead levels conformed with the standard of ≤1ppm, does that necessarily mean the product is void of ANY lead? Or is this a situation where the product could still be slightly contaminated with ≤1ppm of lead?

The company tested 25kg of the supplement. The bag they sell is 114g. If my calculations are right, in the worst possible scenario of lead=1ppm, there could be 0.08mg of lead in each bag.

There is never a way to know for sure if the supplements don't have any contamination right? The lab testing is done with limits of detection, and they only look for being below the standards provided by all the different authorities.

More context below:

After seeing my cadmium, lead, and arsenic go up in hair tests right after spending a couple of months taking DiMagnesium Malate daily, I am starting to become more wary of supplement contamination.

I have started asking all the companies from products I own for a Certificate of Analysis. My first email went out for this product. The package says it's lab tested, and that it doesn't have aluminum.

They answered to me really quickly, already a good sign, with the Certificate of Analysis. They confirmed that aluminum contamination would be from Aluminum phosphate, and that they don't use any. The CoA shows conforming levels for cadmium, arsenic and lead.

Thank you!

 

[tastyfood]

@TurboTime any thoughts on this one, per everything you shared in the other thread? Do you think results reported as ≤1ppm could still expose you to a significant amount of metal overtime, say, after months of taking something?

 

[TurboTime]

@TurboTime any thoughts on this one, per everything you shared in the other thread? Do you think results reported as ≤1ppm could still expose you to a significant amount of metal overtime, say, after months of taking something?

In my opinion yes because any amount of lead is bad but I've done some calculations that may or may not be accurate just to take a look. Taking the worst case scenario of 1ppm (of course it could be worse if the testing is wrong or fraudulent). 1ppm of 114g is 0.114mg. Assume you want 450mg of elemental mg, that's 3g of magnesium malate at 15% elemental mg. 1ppm of 3g is 3mcg.

No level of lead is safe but to try and get an idea of what impact that might have I've looked at this (NIH) which says levels <5µg/dL have health effects. For reference the blood lead concentration in pre-industrial humans is estimated to have been 0.016 μg/dL.

The body has roughly 5L of blood so 50dL. According to this (CDC) inorganic lead absorption is 20-80% in adults. Let's pick 33%. The half life of lead in the blood is 28 days (some is eliminated and some goes into bones where it can come back to hurt you later but we're using blood levels for comparison). According to my calculations this would raise your blood lead concentration by about 0.8mcg/dL long term (after 70 days it's raised it by 0.7 and then gradually reaches a steady state around +0.8). 20% absorption would raise long term blood levels by 0.5mcg/dL. 80% by 1.9mcg/dL.

If you want to be optimistic you could divide those numbers by 10 assuming lead content is roughly where it was for my magnesium hydroxide powder. Also remember though that the other contaminants will also tax you in their small amounts as well.

Make of that what you will. In the end it's about whether the pros outweigh the cons. Is the supplement helping you overall? Do you feel better?

 

[tastyfood]

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In my opinion yes because any amount of lead is bad but I've done some calculations that may or may not be accurate just to take a look. Taking the worst case scenario of 1ppm (of course it could be worse if the testing is wrong or fraudulent). 1ppm of 114g is 0.114mg. Assume you want 450mg of elemental mg, that's 3g of magnesium malate at 15% elemental mg. 1ppm of 3g is 3mcg.

No level of lead is safe but to try and get an idea of what impact that might have I've looked at this (NIH) which says levels <5µg/dL have health effects. For reference the blood lead concentration in pre-industrial humans is estimated to have been 0.016 μg/dL.

The body has roughly 5L of blood so 50dL. According to this (CDC) inorganic lead absorption is 20-80% in adults. Let's pick 33%. The half life of lead in the blood is 28 days (some is eliminated and some goes into bones where it can come back to hurt you later but we're using blood levels for comparison). According to my calculations this would raise your blood lead concentration by about 0.8mcg/dL long term (after 70 days it's raised it by 0.7 and then gradually reaches a steady state around +0.8). 20% absorption would raise long term blood levels by 0.5mcg/dL. 80% by 1.9mcg/dL.

If you want to be optimistic you could divide those numbers by 10 assuming lead content is roughly where it was for my magnesium hydroxide powder. Also remember though that the other contaminants will also tax you in their small amounts as well.

Make of that what you will. In the end it's about whether the pros outweigh the cons. Is the supplement helping you overall? Do you feel better?

The COA I got from Bulksupplements says 0.0047 ppm for lead. That's pretty ok all things considered?

Also, thanks for your summary in your post. Really useful.