Creatine Supplementation and the Kidneys: The Creatinine Connection
Updated: 6 days ago
In a prior blog titled “Rhabdomyolysis: Does Caffeine or Creatine Increase Your Risk?”, I was curious about a statement made from a physician about cases of rhabdomyolysis—the excessive breakdown of muscle cells–and how both caffeine and creatine could also cause the medical condition. Granted, the correlation with caffeine was with excessively high doses and creatine didn’t show a causative relationship. But this had me thinking about kidney health and creatine.
Does creatine supplementation negatively affect kidney function? No, and this topic has been reviewed elsewhere. See Antonio et al. (2021) and Rawson (2018). (1,2)
Yet in my experience working as a sports dietitian, there have been two incidences of athletes supplementing with creatine with slightly concerning lab values or blood pressure readings and, in both scenarios, the physician advised the athlete to immediately cease their creatine supplementation. In the former the athlete had known previous kidney damage (eGFR in the high 50s, no other flags) and the latter the athlete reported having white coat syndrome, or a higher blood pressure reading when at the doctor’s office compared to when at home.
The goals of this article include:
Kidney labs and the role of blood pressure.
How being an athlete can affect kidney labs.
A review on creatine supplementation and kidney health.
The importance of supplement safety.
Want to read more?
Subscribe to galloptovictory.com to keep reading this exclusive post.
