Creatine Monohydrate

Yes, in healthy adults. It has been studied in trials running as long as five years. One thing worth knowing: creatine nudges serum creatinine up slightly, a breakdown product that can make a routine kidney panel look off without anything being wrong. Tell your physician you supplement so they read the number in context. If you already have kidney disease, talk to them first.

Not in the way most people mean. The early water gain is real: the ISSN's review attributes it primarily to intracellular volume, meaning water drawn into the muscle cell as your stores saturate rather than into the subcutaneous tissue that reads as puffiness. That accounts for the 1 to 2 kg some people see in the first couple of weeks. Over longer periods the picture is quieter, since several studies find no change in total body water relative to muscle mass, so the extra intracellular water simply tracks the muscle you're carrying. It's part of how creatine works, not a side effect.

Yes, and it is a very strong pairing. A 2026 meta-analysis of 20 trials found that a quarter to nearly 40% of the weight lost on GLP-1s is lean mass, and that resistance training cuts that to 17.5% when protein is adequate. Creatine is the most studied supplement in sport, with consistent gains in strength and lean mass in people who train, and there is no known interaction with your medication. A trial in GLP-1 users is now underway and reads out in 2027. Until then, it is a well-evidenced, low-risk addition. One note: creatine slightly raises serum creatinine, so mention it before a kidney panel.

Monohydrate. Head-to-head, HCl came out equivalent: across eight weeks of resistance training it matched monohydrate on strength, hypertrophy, and hormonal response, with no advantage over it. Ethyl ester did worse: it was less effective at raising serum and muscle creatine than monohydrate. Equivalent at best, then, and the premium forms mostly exist to justify a bigger margin. We use creatine monohydrate, the form nearly every major clinical trial has actually run on.

No. A 2025 randomized trial measured hair-follicle density and DHT across 12 weeks on creatine and found no difference from placebo. The whole worry traces to a single 2009 study of twenty rugby players that saw a temporary rise in DHT, not hair loss, and even that has never been replicated.

In three layers. First, manufacturing: our products are made in an FDA-registered, NSF-certified facility operating under cGMP, with verification steps throughout production. Second, independent testing: every finished lot is tested by an ISO 17025 accredited third-party laboratory for identity, purity, heavy metals, and microbial safety. Third, transparency: we publish the full results for every batch on our testing page, so you can look up the lot number printed on your pouch and read the measured values yourself.

Yes. Every finished lot is tested by an ISO 17025 accredited third-party laboratory, and we publish the full result for each one on its own page, so you can read the measured values for the exact lot in your bag before you buy it. Our current batch is lot 60497, where you can see the identity, heavy-metal and microbiological results next to the specification each one had to clear. Every published batch is listed on the testing page.

No. A 2025 systematic review of 21 studies, 12 of them pooled for meta-analysis, found no significant change in GFR or renal function markers from creatine supplementation. Long-term safety has been examined in controlled trials extending to five years. The original concern traces to two late-1990s case reports that have not been substantiated in subsequent prospective trials.

Serum creatinine rises 10 to 20% from supplementation itself, a metabolic byproduct of creatine breakdown, not a damage marker. BUN, cystatin C, and the BUN:creatinine ratio remain unchanged, distinguishing supplementation-driven elevation from renal injury. For patients where renal monitoring is clinically important, cystatin-C-based eGFR avoids the creatinine confound.

We do not hold the NSF Certified for Sport certification, a program built for competitive athletes that certifies with a logo rather than published results. Our products are made in an NSF-certified, FDA-registered, cGMP facility, with identity and quality checks at multiple steps of production, and every finished lot is independently tested by an ISO 17025 accredited laboratory for identity, heavy metals, and microbials. We publish the complete numerical results for each batch, so you can look up the exact lot in your hands. If you compete under a governing body that requires Certified for Sport products, check its rules before supplementing.

We default to deferring: discuss with the patient's nephrologist before initiating. The literature in healthy populations doesn't extrapolate cleanly to compromised renal function, and serum creatinine elevations from supplementation can confound monitoring. For stage 1 with stable function and no other risk factors, baseline + 12-week eGFR and cystatin C are reasonable.

We source micronized creatine monohydrate at >99.9% purity by HPLC. Manufacturing-byproduct specifications include dicyandiamide ≤50 mg/kg, dihydrotriazine <3 mg/kg, and residual creatinine <100 mg/kg. Heavy metals (As, Cd, Pb, Hg) each at <0.1 mg/kg. Every incoming lot is re-verified via third-party ISO 17025 lab, with numerical results published on the lot registry.

Every order is covered by a 60-day guarantee. If you're not satisfied, return it within 60 days of delivery for a refund or replacement, for any reason. Full details are in our Refund Policy.

We ship within the United States. Orders ship from our US fulfillment center within 1 business day.

Yes. Every batch is third-party tested, and you can look up the results by lot.

In an NSF- and UL-registered, SQF-certified GMP facility in the US.

We review ingredients rigorously and publish our reasoning in the Formulary. We only sell what we'd take ourselves. Of the ingredients we've reviewed, we've rejected 95%.