With Coenzyme Q10
Complementary evidenceLv3
A small randomized trial found improved peak oxygen uptake after a CoQ10 and creatine mixture in people with stable systolic heart failure.
Interaction evidence source All research profiles
Performance / recovery supplement
Creatine monohydrate
Prepared by the ezGLP team. Sources last checked . Profile reviewed .
Also known as Creatine
Routes represented in the knowledgebase: Oral.
Educational overview
Dietary supplement with evidence for repeated short-burst, high-intensity performance; this does not establish broad anti-aging benefit.
Creatine is a nitrogenous compound synthesized in the liver, kidneys, and pancreas from the amino acids arginine, glycine, and methionine, and obtained from meat and fish in the diet. Roughly 95 percent of the body's creatine is stored in skeletal muscle, largely as phosphocreatine, where it regenerates adenosine triphosphate during brief, high-intensity effort through the creatine kinase reaction. Creatine monohydrate is the crystalline form used in nearly all research and most commercial products; other salts and esters such as creatine hydrochloride and creatine ethyl ester have less supporting data. It is classified as a dietary supplement and ergogenic aid rather than a vitamin, hormone, or peptide.
Creatine monohydrate is among the most extensively studied supplements in sports science, with hundreds of randomized controlled trials since the early 1990s. The International Society of Sports Nutrition's 2017 position stand concluded that it reliably increases muscle phosphocreatine stores, high-intensity exercise capacity, and lean mass gains during resistance training. The NIH Office of Dietary Supplements summarizes the evidence as supporting improvements in performance of repeated short bursts of activity, with little effect on endurance. Newer systematic reviews and meta-analyses report modest improvements in memory measures, particularly in older adults, and small trials have examined depression, traumatic brain injury, and sarcopenia. Findings outside strength and power performance remain preliminary and are produced mainly by academic groups rather than industry.
In the United States creatine monohydrate is regulated as a dietary supplement under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act; it is not an FDA-approved drug, and no injectable creatine product exists. Prescription creatine is used in some countries to treat rare inborn errors of creatine synthesis such as GAMT deficiency. In the European Union, creatine is a permitted food supplement ingredient with an authorized health claim regarding physical performance in successive bursts of short-term, high-intensity exercise. Creatine appears on no prohibited list: the World Anti-Doping Agency does not ban it, and the United States Anti-Doping Agency confirms that it is permitted, while cautioning that supplement contamination rather than creatine itself creates doping risk.
Creatine monohydrate powder is chemically stable for years when kept dry at room temperature in a closed container. Once dissolved in water it slowly converts to creatinine, a process that accelerates with heat and low pH, so manufacturers advise against storing prepared solutions. For a dose log or inventory record, useful details include the chemical form (monohydrate versus other salts), grams per scoop or capsule, whether the product carries third-party certification such as NSF Certified for Sport or Informed Sport, lot number, and body weight over time, since early water retention is common. Because supplementation raises serum creatinine independently of kidney function, noting creatine intake helps a clinician interpret routine metabolic panels.
- Category
- Performance / recovery supplement
- Routes represented
- Oral
- Storage context
- Follow the product label; store in the original container away from excess heat and moisture.
Published literature
No verified PubMed or DOI link is available for this entry.
Safety evidence
Common or reported: water-retention weight gain, nausea, diarrhea, cramping.
Long-term or disease-specific safety is not fully represented by short healthy-adult studies.
Safety evidence sourceInteraction evidence
These are general, pairwise evidence notes. Green identifies the potential-synergy category, while Lv3/Lv2/Lv1 communicates evidence strength; it does not guarantee benefit or cancel a safety warning.
Common questions
Is creatine a banned substance in sports?
No. Creatine is not on the World Anti-Doping Agency Prohibited List and is not banned by the United States Anti-Doping Agency, the International Olympic Committee, or major professional leagues. It is a naturally occurring dietary constituent, and anti-doping agencies treat it as a legal supplement. The risk they highlight is contamination: because supplements are not tested by FDA before sale, a creatine product could contain undeclared prohibited substances, which is why third-party certification programs exist.
Does creatine damage the kidneys?
Controlled trials in healthy adults, including studies lasting several years, have not shown harm to kidney function, and the International Society of Sports Nutrition considers creatine monohydrate safe in healthy populations. Creatine does raise serum creatinine, the marker most often used to estimate kidney function, which can mimic reduced filtration on a routine blood test. People with existing kidney disease have been excluded from most trials, so evidence in that group is limited and clinician oversight is generally described as appropriate.
Does creatine improve memory or brain function?
Systematic reviews and meta-analyses published between 2018 and 2024 report small improvements in memory and some reasoning tasks with creatine supplementation, with the clearest signal in older adults, vegetarians, and people under sleep deprivation or other metabolic stress. The trials are mostly short and small, outcomes are heterogeneous, and effects in young, well-nourished adults are inconsistent. The evidence is described as promising but preliminary rather than established.
What is the difference between creatine monohydrate and creatine HCl?
Creatine monohydrate is creatine bound to one water molecule and is the form used in the vast majority of published trials. Creatine hydrochloride is a salt with greater water solubility, marketed as needing smaller servings or causing less bloating. Head-to-head trials are few and small, and no form has been shown to raise muscle creatine more effectively than monohydrate. Position statements from sports nutrition societies continue to identify monohydrate as the reference form.
Further reading
- Kreider et al., ISSN position stand on creatine, J Int Soc Sports Nutr 2017
- Antonio et al., common questions about creatine supplementation, J Int Soc Sports Nutr 2021
- NIH Office of Dietary Supplements, Dietary Supplements for Exercise and Athletic Performance
- World Anti-Doping Agency, Prohibited List
- USADA, What do athletes need to know about creatine?
- Prokopidis et al., creatine and memory meta-analysis, Nutr Rev 2023
Summarised from published literature for reference only, with citations to the source. Evidence is graded as reported and is not a recommendation to combine, dose, or use any compound.
For personal tracking and education only. Not medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment, and not a medical device. Peptides may be prescription-only or unapproved where you live. Consult a licensed healthcare professional.