Creatine Chocolate Bar

Creatine is one of the few supplements where the research is genuinely deep, and it still is not for everybody. So here is the triage our naturopaths run at the counter, in the order they run it.

A good fit if

• You are a healthy adult doing resistance training, sprint work or team sport, where short repeated efforts are the point
• You eat little or no meat and fish, so your dietary creatine intake is low or nil
• You are training for strength or muscle maintenance in your fifties or beyond, alongside the training itself
• You would rather take the cheapest form with the deepest evidence than the newest one with the loudest marketing
• You are happy to take it daily for a few weeks and judge it on training records, not on how you feel on day three

Check with us first if

• You take any prescription medicine, particularly diuretics, regular anti-inflammatories, or anything your doctor monitors kidney function for.
• You have diabetes, high blood pressure or another condition where kidney function is checked routinely. Creatine nudges serum creatinine up, and your doctor needs to know before interpreting a result.
• You have a blood test coming up, especially an eGFR or kidney panel. Tell the requesting doctor you take creatine.
• You are under 18. One position stand describes limited evidence suggesting creatine is safe in children and adolescents, but that is a decision to make with a health professional, not off a shelf.
• You compete in a weight-category sport. The most consistent effect is weight gain from increased body water, which matters at weigh-in.
• You are a tested athlete. Batch contamination of any sports supplement is the risk to manage, so follow Sport Integrity Australia's current guidance and choose batch-tested products.
• You have had stomach upset on creatine before. Usually a large-single-dose problem that splitting the serve settles.

• Creatine monohydrate (standard powder). Best known for: The reference form. Used in almost every published trial, and the cheapest per gram. Absorption: 88 per cent creatine by weight; raises muscle creatine reliably on the standard protocol. Typical use: 3–5 g daily in water, juice or a shake, with or without a loading week.
• Micronised creatine monohydrate. Best known for: The same molecule milled finer so it disperses without grit. Absorption: No absorption advantage is established. The difference is how it mixes, not what it does. Typical use: 3–5 g daily; the usual choice for anyone who dislikes the texture.
• Creapure (branded monohydrate). Best known for: German-made monohydrate supplied with batch purity documentation. Absorption: Chemically identical to any other monohydrate; the claim is manufacturing control, not bioavailability. Typical use: 3–5 g daily; chosen where documented raw-material purity is the priority.
• Creatine hydrochloride (HCl). Best known for: Marketed on higher water solubility and smaller serve sizes. Absorption: Dissolves more readily, but solubility in a glass is not the same as more creatine reaching muscle, and head-to-head loading data is thin. Typical use: Often labelled at 750 mg to 2 g daily. Well below the researched monohydrate dose.
• Buffered creatine (Kre-Alkalyn). Best known for: Marketed as pH-buffered so no loading phase is needed. Absorption: Over 28 days in 36 resistance-trained men it did not raise muscle creatine, body composition, strength or anaerobic capacity more than monohydrate. Typical use: 1.5 g daily on the label; the trial found no advantage over 5 g of monohydrate.
• Creatine ethyl ester. Best known for: An older form marketed on better cell uptake. Absorption: Over 7 weeks it was less effective than monohydrate at raising serum creatine, with roughly three-fold higher serum creatinine. Typical use: Largely superseded and rarely stocked in Australia.
• Chewable tablets, capsules and gummies. Best known for: Format convenience. No scoop, no shaker, easy to travel with. Absorption: Same monohydrate inside; the practical issue is reaching a full 3–5 g. Typical use: Read grams per serve rather than units per serve, and check how many pieces that takes.

Reference values. None. Creatine is not an essential nutrient, the body synthesises it, so the NHMRC Nutrient Reference Values set no RDI, EAR or Adequate Intake.

Typical supplemental range. Australian labels almost always give 3–5 g a day of monohydrate, usually one level scoop. An optional loading phase of about 20 g a day, split into four 5 g serves for five to seven days, fills muscle stores faster; going straight to 3–5 g daily reaches a similar point over three to four weeks. The weight-based equivalents are 0.3 g per kg while loading and 0.03–0.1 g per kg afterwards.

Upper level. No NHMRC Upper Level of Intake exists, because there is no Nutrient Reference Value to set one against. Schedule 1 of the Determination imposes no maximum daily dose either.

Worth knowing. Timing has not been shown to matter much; consistency does, because the effect depends on keeping stores topped up rather than on any single serve. Large single doses are the usual cause of stomach upset, so splitting a loading dose across the day is standard. Your needs depend on your age, diet and health circumstances. Talk to one of our naturopaths.

Food first, where the diet allows it.

• Beef: about 2 g per pound (roughly 0.45 g per 100 g), raw weight
• Pork: about 2.3 g per pound, raw weight
• Salmon: about 2 g per pound, raw weight
• Plant foods (grains, legumes, vegetables, nuts): essentially none: dietary creatine comes from animal muscle tissue

This list is the part of the page we will not shorten. If any of it applies to you, talk to one of our naturopaths or your doctor before starting.

• Diagnosed kidney disease or reduced kidney function. Avoid; the safety meta-analyses did not analyse people with pre-existing kidney disease.
• Pregnancy and breastfeeding. Avoid; safety has not been established.
• Any prescription medicine, especially diuretics or regular anti-inflammatories. Check with your doctor or pharmacist first.
• Diabetes, high blood pressure or any condition where kidney function is monitored. Tell the treating doctor you take creatine.
• Upcoming blood tests. Creatine raises serum creatinine and can be misread as impaired kidney function.
• Under 18. Professional supervision only; the evidence base in adolescents is limited.
• Weight-category athletes. Weight gain from increased body water is the most consistently reported effect.
• Tested athletes. Supplement batch contamination is a real anti-doping risk; follow Sport Integrity Australia guidance.
• Gastrointestinal upset. Nausea, cramping and diarrhoea are reported, usually with large single doses.
• Unexplained or persistent fatigue. Get it investigated rather than self-treating with a performance ingredient.
• If you take prescription medicines, check with your doctor, pharmacist or our naturopaths before starting.