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Creatine Supplementation Dose and Duration Are Not Associated with Increased Side Effects: A Structured Review and Study-Level Dose-Response Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

Drew E Gonzalez, Broderick L Dickerson, Kelly Hines, Jisun Chun, Adriana Gil, Scott C Forbes, Darren G Candow, Richard B Kreider
Sports (Basel) 2026 14(4):137

Bibliography

PubMed
PMID 42043069
PubMed Central
PMC13120166
Funding
This research received no external funding.
Competing interests
Several authors disclosed creatine-industry relationships: Drew Gonzalez reported industry-sponsored creatine research and conference support; Richard Kreider reported industry-sponsored research, conference support, expert-witness work and advisory-board roles including AlzChem; Scott Forbes reported advisory work and creatine donations; Darren Candow reported industry-sponsored research, product donations and travel support.

Study snapshot

DesignStructured review and study-level dose-response analysis of randomized controlled trials
ModelHuman
Sample684 randomized controlled trials; more than 12,800 participants in creatine and placebo study arms
InterventionCreatine monohydrate across a wide range of doses and durations
DurationVaried; analyzed by dose and duration tertiles
EndpointsTotal side-effect reporting; Gastrointestinal events; Renal events; Liver events; Musculoskeletal events; Dose-response patterns

What the study showed, in plain terms

Large 2026 analysis testing whether higher creatine exposure or longer supplementation is linked to more side effects.

Key findings

No consistent clinically meaningful dose- or duration-dependent increase in side-effect risk was identified; reported events were generally infrequent, mild and often similar to placebo.

What this study can and cannot tell us

Analysis was primarily study-level rather than individual-patient meta-analysis, and adverse-event reporting varied among trials.

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