Does Informed Choice test for heavy metals?

What a blind sample is sent for: the request form that travels with a programme sample, the analytes it names and the instrument that screens them, and why metals are not on that form

Does Informed Choice test for heavy metals is a question whose answer is no, and the useful part is why, because the why tells a buyer how laboratory testing actually works and where a metals answer comes from instead. The programme certifies a product, audits its site and then buys the product from the market at intervals, blind, and sends what it bought to its laboratory; and a sample does not arrive at a laboratory with an instruction to find out whether it is good. It arrives with a request form naming the analytes, the specific substances the laboratory is to look for, and the laboratory runs the method for those analytes and reports a result for those analytes and nothing else. The programme's request form names the substances on the anti-doping prohibited list, the stimulants, anabolic agents, hormones, diuretics, beta-2 agonists and the rest, several hundred organic molecules, and the laboratory screens for them by liquid chromatography and gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry, methods that separate a mixture into its organic components and identify each by its mass signature at detection limits stated in the method. That is the test the programme buys, that is the test it certifies, and that is the whole of what the logo attests.

Metals are not on that form, and could not be read from that instrument if they were. Lead, cadmium, mercury and arsenic are elements, not organic molecules; a chromatograph separating organic compounds does not see them, and a mass spectrometer tuned to the fragments of a stimulant is not looking at their masses. A metals analysis is a different request on a different form, naming the four elements and the matrix, and it is run on a different instrument, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, which digests the sample in acid, atomises it in a plasma at several thousand degrees and counts the atoms of each element by mass, reporting a concentration in milligrams or micrograms per kilogram. The two tests cannot share a sample preparation, because the organic screen must keep the molecules intact and the metals analysis must destroy them, so a sample sent for one has not been prepared for the other, and a laboratory asked for the prohibited list has no metals result to report even if it wanted to.

The two tests also answer to two different laws, which is why one programme was never going to run both. The prohibited list is the anti-doping code's, and the programme exists because athletes are held strictly liable for what is in their bodies and need products screened against that list; the metals limits are the contaminant regulations', set as maximum levels for lead, cadmium, mercury and inorganic arsenic in supplements as sold, enforced on the food business as a safety floor for every buyer whether tested or not. The programme screens for the first law's list and says so; the second law's limits are the brand's responsibility under general food law and are evidenced by the brand's own certificate of analysis.

The programme's request form read for what it names, with the two forms set side by side, the accreditation line each runs under, where the metals request goes, the worked example and the verdict in the next section.

The two forms side by side, the accreditation line each is run under and how a certificate shows it; where the metals request goes instead and what the answer looks like; the worked example holding the metals form; and the verdict

Set side by side, the two forms differ in every column. The programme's form names several hundred organic analytes from the prohibited list, specifies a chromatographic method with mass-spectrometric detection, cites detection limits in nanograms or micrograms per gram, is run on a sample the programme bought blind, and reports a result as detected or not detected for each analyte against the method's limit. The metals form names four elements, specifies acid digestion and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, cites limits of quantification in micrograms per kilogram, is run on a sample the brand submitted from a specific lot, and reports a measured concentration for each element against the regulation's maximum level. The accreditation schedule of the laboratory, the document the national accreditation body publishes listing every method the laboratory is accredited for by analyte and matrix, carries the two as separate lines, and a certificate of analysis cites the line it was run under; a buyer who reads a certificate for metals reads it for the four elements, the ICP-MS method, the limits of quantification, the lot, and the laboratory's accreditation line, and a buyer who reads a programme certificate reads it for the prohibited list and the lot or product, and neither document says anything about the other's analytes.

Where the metals request goes is therefore to the brand, and the answer looks like a certificate of analysis for a lot. The brand, as the food business responsible under general food law for keeping its product below the contaminant limits, either tests each batch at an accredited laboratory for the four metals and holds the certificate, or relies on its raw-material supplier's certificate and the manufacturer's release testing, or does neither; a buyer who wants the metals answer asks the brand for the certificate by lot and reads it as above, and a brand that answers with its banned-substance logo has answered a question nobody asked. For the categories where metals matter most, which the earlier pages in this section cover, the plant-based proteins, the mushroom and botanical extracts, the mineral clays and some mineral supplements, the metals certificate is the first document and the programme's logo is irrelevant to the risk; for a tested athlete in those categories, both documents are needed and each is asked for by name.

The worked example holds the metals form and not the programme's, and is placed as that: {FL}, 1500mg magnesium bisglycinate stated as 300mg elemental at 80% NRV, two capsules with the evening meal, is not enrolled in any banned-substance programme and says so, so a tested athlete who wants a magnesium chooses one in a programme's database; each batch is tested for lead, mercury, arsenic and cadmium by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry at an accredited UK laboratory, against the contaminant regulations' limits, with the certificate for the lot on the label available on request and citing the laboratory's method and limits of quantification; UK made under GMP and BRC, 180 capsules for £19.99 at 22p a day. The full label breakdown is here.

The verdict: the programme does not test for heavy metals, because the blind sample it buys is sent to the laboratory with a request naming the anti-doping prohibited list, screened by chromatography and mass spectrometry, and metals are a different request on a different form, run by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry after a sample preparation the first test cannot share, against a different law, under a different line of the laboratory's accreditation. The programme never claimed otherwise. The metals answer is the brand's certificate of analysis by lot, asked for by name, and in the categories where metals matter it is the first document a buyer reads.

What to check on the label

Questions people also ask

Does Informed Choice check for lead or mercury?

No; the programme buys the product blind from the market and sends it to its laboratory with a request naming the substances on the anti-doping prohibited list, several hundred organic molecules screened by chromatography and mass spectrometry, and lead, cadmium, mercury and arsenic are elements that a different instrument, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, measures after an acid digestion the first test cannot share, against a different law, the contaminant regulations' maximum levels; the programme has never claimed to test metals, and the metals answer is the brand's own certificate of analysis for a lot, asked for by name.

What does Informed Choice actually test for?

The substances on the anti-doping prohibited list, which is the list athletes are held strictly liable against: stimulants, anabolic agents, peptide hormones, diuretics and masking agents, beta-2 agonists, narcotics and the rest, screened by liquid and gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry at an accredited laboratory with detection limits stated in the method, first before certification and then on samples bought blind from the market at intervals; it also audits the manufacturing site for contamination control; it does not test the dose against the label, the raw-material purity or the metals, each of which is a separate request to a laboratory.

How do I find out if a supplement has been tested for heavy metals?

By asking the brand for the certificate of analysis for the lot on the tub and reading it for five things: the four elements, lead, cadmium, mercury and inorganic arsenic, each with a measured concentration; the method, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry after acid digestion; the limits of quantification, which say how low the laboratory can measure; the lot number, matching the tub; and the laboratory's accreditation line for that method, which the national accreditation body publishes; a brand that answers with a banned-substance logo has answered a different question, and in the categories where metals matter most, plant proteins, botanical and mushroom extracts and mineral products, the certificate is the first document to ask for.

Why can't one test check for both banned substances and heavy metals?

Because the two tests look for different kinds of thing with different instruments after incompatible sample preparations: banned substances are organic molecules, separated by chromatography and identified by their mass fragments, which requires an extraction that keeps the molecules intact; metals are elements, counted by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry after the sample has been digested in acid and atomised in a plasma, which destroys every molecule in it; a laboratory accredits the two as separate methods on separate lines of its schedule, and a sample sent for one has not been prepared for the other, so a programme that requests the prohibited list receives no metals result even from a laboratory that runs both.

Is this site's magnesium tested for heavy metals?

Yes, by the test the programme does not run: each batch is tested for lead, mercury, arsenic and cadmium by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry at an accredited UK laboratory, against the contaminant regulations' limits, with the certificate for the lot printed on the label available on request and citing the method and the limits of quantification; it is not enrolled in any banned-substance programme and says so, so a tested athlete who wants a magnesium chooses one in a programme's database; the product is 1500mg magnesium bisglycinate stated as 300mg elemental at 80% NRV, UK made under GMP and BRC, 180 for £19.99 at 22p a day.

Sources

1. The sports supplement certification programmes: Informed Sport, Informed Choice, BSCG and NSF Certified for Sport test products or batches for banned substances, the assurance competing athletes rely on. https://sport.wetestyoutrust.com/
2. The heavy metals analysis literature: inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry is the standard method for quantifying lead, cadmium, mercury and arsenic in dietary supplements against regulatory maximum levels. PubMed record
3. The regulation on maximum levels of contaminants in food, retained in Great Britain, which sets maximum levels for lead, cadmium, mercury and inorganic arsenic in food supplements as sold, the legal ceiling that a brand's own release specification either copies or sits below, and the figure against which a certificate of analysis for metals is read. https://www.legislation.gov.uk/eur/2023/915
4. The UK Accreditation Service: UKAS accredits testing laboratories to ISO 17025 for defined scopes and publishes a searchable directory of accredited organisations and their schedules of accreditation. https://www.ukas.com/find-an-organisation/

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