Are creatine gummies worth the hype?
Written by Erika Behrmann RD, CSSD, CDCES, LDN
Creatine is a non-essential amino acid that is naturally produced in the human body from other amino acids, primarily in the kidneys and liver. About 95% of the body’s creatine is found in muscle tissue, and it is also found in the heart, brain, and other tissues. Creatine helps supply muscles with energy, particularly for short term, maximal exercise. The food sources that contain creatine include meat, poultry, and fish. However, its metabolite creatinine offers no benefit and must be expelled by the kidneys. Proper supplement manufacturing is critical to prevent creatine instability that leads to creatinine formation. For more on creatine in general and who it's a good option for, check out this episode of the Holley Fueled Nutrition Podcast.
Consumerlab.com required that the total of creatinine pass testing by representing no more than 0.1% of the amount of creatine in a product. Manufacturers like to claim that their products are “100% pure” or “99% pure” because high quality creatine shouldn’t contain impurities. Because creatine dosages are relatively large (as much as 20 g/day or 4 rounded teaspoons of creatine powder) during loading or initial supplementation, purity has become an issue.
A 2025 evaluation by SuppCo of creatine powders and gummies found that while powders were mostly compliant with claims, gummies did not meet creatine content claims and had high creatinine levels.They tested 5 creatine powders and 6 creatine gummies. It found no problems with the powders (from Sports Research, Bulk Supplements, Nutricost, Nature Bell, and Jocko Fuel). However, four gummies were found to contain virtually no creatine (from EcoWise, Happyummmm, Vidabotan, and Divinus Labs). Suppo "passed" two gummies (from Create and Force Factor) that contained their claimed amounts of creatine despite finding that about 1% of each product was creatinine. This is 10X as much creatinine as permitted by ConsumerLab (our limit is 0.1%).
NOW foods similarly tested gummies in 2024 revealing significant discrepancies in creatine content and elevated creatinine levels. They tested 12 brands of creatine gummies and found three had no detectable creatine (Astro Labs, Greabby, and Njord), while Beast Bites contained less than 1% of its listed creatine, Con-Crete contained only 11.3%, and Create had 85.2%. Each of these products also contained significant amounts of creatinine, with the highest amounts per gummy being 25.1 mg in Beast Bites, 37.8 mg in Create, and 63.8 mg in Con-Cret. Six other brands of gummies met or exceeded their claimed amount of creatine (and subsequently, were not tested for contamination with creatinine): Peach Perfect and Zhou each contained their claimed amounts of creatine, while Bear Balance, Bod, Effective Nutra and Iron Labs Nutrition contained somewhat more (between 113% and 125%) of the creatine listed on their labels.
Creatine monohydrate is the most common form of creatine in supplements and yields the largest amount of free, usable creatine compared to other forms. However, be aware that it does not mix well in water, unless the water is warm. Although not suggested on labels, it may be best to prepare it this way (with warm water) to maximize absorption, but be sure to drink it right away, as creatine can break down in water over time.
Top Picks for Creatine Powder:
CL's Top Pick among these is BulkSupplements.com Creatine Monohydrate, which provides 5 grams of creatine monohydrate per 2 teaspoons of powder for 26 cents.
Approved creatine products:
Bulk supplements creatine monohydrate $0.26 per 5g
GNC Pro Performance $1.48
Legion post work out drink $0.95
Optimum Nutrition micronized creatine $0.36
PEScience TruCreatine $0.64
Thorne Creatine $0.39
Liquid creatine products were avoided due to instability and high creatine contamination issues found in past tests. When CL tested three different creatine liquids in 2014 each was found to provide much less creatine than expected or was contaminated with higher than acceptable amounts of creatinine.