Overview

Lead In Huel Protein Products refers to memes and discussions about a 2025 Consumer Reports article that reportedly found "high levels of lead" in several protein supplements available in the U.S. The report prompted memes and jokes about Huel brand protein products in particular, with some internet users joking about the brand's popularity in the San Francisco market, and the idea that large swathes of the "tech bro" population may have been exposed to harmful levels of lead over the past few years.

Background

On October 14th, 2025, X^[1] / Twitter user @parismartineau from Consumer Reports tweeted, "my latest investigation for @ConsumerReports is based on months of reporting and 60+ lab tests of leading protein supplements. We found that most protein powders and shakes have more lead in one serving than our experts say is safe to have in a day — some by more than 10 times!" The tweet linked to a Consumer Reports^[10] post about the investigation, gathering over 4 million views and 13,000 likes in a day.

The news was shared on other internet websites on October 14th, including the subreddit^[2] /r/EverythingScience, where it gathered over 1,000 upvotes in a day.

On October 15th, 2025, Forbes reposted the news on its Instagram,^[4] writing, "Tests from Consumer Reports found more than two-thirds of 23 popular protein products contained unsafe levels of lead."

Online Reactions

On October 15th, 2025, X^[3] user @parismartineau posted a They Don't Know X meme about Consumer Reports finding high levels of protein in several commercially available protein products, gathering over 56,000 likes in a day.

Several internet users reacted to the news, including X^[5] user @maiamindel, who wrote, "protein powder has lead explains a lot," on October 15th, gathering over 42,000 likes in a day.

High Lead Levels Found In Huel Brand Products

Several internet users noted that the Consumer Reports investigation had noticed high lead levels in Huel brand products, with X^[6] user @tysonbrody writing, "Huel having 1000% more lead than recommended would actually be a bit of an Occam’s Razor to what’s been going on in SF this past decade," on October 14th, 2025, and gathering over 13,000 likes in a day.

On October 15th, X^[7] user @pli_cachete tweeted, "X user @pli_cachete tweeted, "There was an 18 month period of where Huel Black made up 50% of my diet. If these numbers are right, that means I ingested (conservatively) ingested 22,440% the safe amount of lead and it would take about 338 years to be back to normal levels," gathering over 9,000 likes in a day.

Also on October 15th, X^[9] user @plainwhiteclaw tweeted, "how much lead you think the Huel cybertruck owner has in their brain," alongside an image of a black Cybertruck with "Huel" branding on it. The post gathered over 3,000 likes in a day.

On October 16th, 2025, X^[8] user @somethings_awry tweeted, "I am going to fucking die y'all," alongside a similar graphic, gathering over 13,000 likes in a day.

Various Reactions

Search Interest

External References