. 2023 Mar 18;15(6):1466. doi: 10.3390/nu15061466

Table 3.

Experimental studies investigating the effects of creatine supplementation on kidney function in healthy populations.

Study	Sample Characteristics	Experimental Design	Creatine Supplementation Protocol	Main Findings
Derave et al. (2004) [38]	Healthy young adults (19 ± 0 years old)	Double-blind randomized controlled trial (i) Creatine (n = 8) (ii) Placebo (n = 8)	Creatine monohydrate L: 20 g∙day⁻¹ for 1 week M: 5 g∙day⁻¹ 19 weeks	↑ Serum Crn ↔ Urinary Crn ↔ BUN
Kreider et al. (2003) [49]	Healthy young adults (19 ± 2 years old) College football players	Non-randomized controlled trial (i) Non-creatine control (n = 44) (ii) Creatine 0–6 months (n = 12) (iii) Creatine 7–12 months (n = 25) (iv) Creatine 12–21 months (n = 17)	Creatine monohydrate L: 15.75 g∙day⁻¹ for 5 days M: 5–10 g∙day⁻¹ for 0–21 months	↔ Serum Crn ↔ BUN ↔ Uric acid ↔ Electrolytes ↔ Plasma protein ↔ Plasma albumin ↔ Plasma globulin
Mayhew et al. (2002) [46]	Healthy young adults (20 ± 2 years old) College football players	Non-randomized controlled trial (i) Creatine users (n = 10) (ii) Non-creatine control (n = 13)	Creatine monohydrate 5–20 g∙day⁻¹ for 0.25–5.6 years	↔ Serum Crn ↔ Crn clearance ↔ BUN
Spillane et al. (2009) [55]	Healthy young men (20 ± 2 years old)	Double-blind randomized controlled trial (i) Creatine monohydrate + RT (n = 10) (ii) Creatine ethyl ester + RT (n = 10) (iii) Placebo + RT (n = 10)	Creatine monohydrate or Creatine ethyl ester L: 20 g∙day⁻¹ for 5 days M: 5 g∙day⁻¹ for 43 days	↔↑ Serum Crn ^#
Cancela et al. (2008) [52]	Healthy young men (20 ± 3 years old) Soccer players	Double-blind randomized controlled trial (i) Creatine (n = 7) (ii) Placebo (n = 7)	Creatine monohydrate L: 15 g∙day⁻¹ for 7 days M: 3 g∙day⁻¹ 49 days	↔ Serum Crn ↔ Crn clearance ↔ BUN ↔ Uric acid ↔ Plasma albumin
Poortmans & Francaux (1998) [42]	Healthy young men (21 ± 2 years old)	Non-randomized controlled trial (n = 20) (i) Creatine supplementation (ii) Placebo supplementation	Creatine monohydrate L: 21 g∙day⁻¹ for 5 days M: 3 g∙day⁻¹ for 58 days	↔ Crn clearance ↔ Urea clearance ↔ Albuminuria
Mihic et al. (2000) [44]	Healthy young adults (22 ± 2 years old) Physically active	Randomized controlled trial (i) Creatine (n = 15; 7 men/8 women) (ii) Placebo (n = 15; 8 men/7 women)	Creatine monohydrate 20 g∙day⁻¹ for 5 days	↔ Serum Crn ↔ Crn clearance
Poortmans & Francaux (1999) [43]	Healthy young adults (24 ± 3 years old) (i) Athletes of national and international levels (ii) Physical education and physical therapy students	Non-randomized controlled trial (i) Creatine supplemented (n = 9) (ii) Non-creatine control (n = 85)	Creatine monohydrate 1–80 g∙day⁻¹ for 10–60 months	↔ Serum Crn ↔ Urinary Crn ↔ Crn clearance ↔ BUN ↔ Urinary urea ↔ Urea clearance ↔ Plasma albumin ↔ Albuminuria ↔ Clearance albumin
Gualano et al. (2008) [54]	Sedentary healthy young men (24 ± 5 years old) *	Double-blind randomized controlled trial (i) Creatine + AT (n = 9) (ii) Placebo + AT (n = 9)	Creatine monohydrate L: 0.3 g∙kg⁻¹∙day⁻¹ for 1 week M: 0.15 g∙kg⁻¹∙day⁻¹ for 11 weeks	↑ Serum Crn ↓ Serum CysC ↔ Serum electrolytes ↔ Urinary electrolytes
Carvalho et al. (2011) [58]	Healthy male adults (24 ± 5 years old) *	Double-blind randomized controlled trial (i) Creatine-absolute + RT (n = 12) (ii) Creatine-relative + RT(n = 11) (iii) Placebo + RT (n = 12)	Creatine monohydrate L: 20 g∙day⁻¹ for 1 week M: 0.03 g∙kg⁻¹ or 5 g∙day⁻¹ for 7 weeks	↑ Serum Crn ^† ↔ BUN ↔ Proteinuria ↔ Hematuria
Poortmans et al. (2005) [51]	Healthy young men (24 ± 6 years old)	Single group pre-to-post design (i) Creatine supplementation (n = 20)	Creatine monohydrate 21 g∙day⁻¹ for 14 days	↔ Serum Crn ↔ Urinary Crn ↔ Albuminuria
Poortmans et al. (1997) [41]	Healthy young men (25 ± 3 years old)	Non-randomized crossover (n = 5) (i) Creatine supplementation (ii) Placebo supplementation	Creatine monohydrate 20 g∙day⁻¹ for 5 days	↔ eGFR ↔ Serum Crn ↔ Urinary Crn ↔ Crn clearance ↔ Proteinuria ↔ Albuminuria
Robinson et al. (2000) [45]	Healthy young adults (25 ± 5 years old) * Physically active	Randomized placebo-controlled trial (i) Creatine (L; n = 7 men) (ii) Creatine (L; n = 6 men) ^‡ (iii) Creatine (M; n = 7 women) (iv) Creatine + RT (M; n = 9 women) (v) Placebo (n = 7 men) (vi) Placebo (n = 6; 3 men/3 women) ^‡ (vii) Placebo + RT (n = 6 women)	Creatine monohydrate L: 20 g∙day⁻¹ for 5 days M: 3 g∙day⁻¹ for 8 weeks	↔ Serum Crn ↔ BUN ↔ Electrolytes ↔ Plasma albumin
Lugaresi et al. (2013) [59]	Healthy young men (26 ± 4 years old) * Resistance trained High-protein diet	Double-blind randomized controlled trial (i) Creatine (n = 12) (ii) Placebo (n = 14)	Creatine monohydrate L: 20 g∙day⁻¹ for 1 week M: 5 g∙day⁻¹ for 11 weeks	↔ mGFR ↔ Serum Crn ↔ BUN ↔ Serum electrolytes ↔ Urinary electrolytes ↔ Proteinuria ↔ Albuminuria
Blancquaert et al. (2018) [65]	Healthy young women (26 ± 7 years old)	Randomized controlled trial (i) Omnivorous diet (Control; n = 10) (ii) Vegetarian diet + Placebo (n = 15) (iii) Vegetarian diet + Supplements (n = 15)	Creatine monohydrate 1 g∙day⁻¹ for 3–6 months	↔ Serum Crn ↔ Urinary Crn
Pereira et al. (2015) [64]	Healthy young adults (29 ± 4 years old)	Non-counterbalanced single-blind crossover (i) Creatine (L) (ii) Creatine (M) (iii) Placebo	Creatine monohydrate L: 7 or 20 g∙day⁻¹ for 7 days M: 2 or 5 g∙day⁻¹ for 23 days	↔ Serum Crn ↔ Urinary Crn
Chilibeck et al. (2015) [61]	Postmenopausal women (57 ± 6 years old)	Double-blind randomized controlled trial (i) Creatine + RT (n = 15) (ii) Placebo + RT (n = 18)	Creatine monohydrate 0.1 g∙kg⁻¹∙day⁻¹ for 12 months	↔ Serum Crn ↔ Crn clearance ↔ BUN ↔ Plasma albumin ↔ Proteinuria ↔ Albuminuria
Eijnde et al. (2003) [48]	Physically active healthy older men (63 ± 9 years old) *	Double-blind randomized controlled trial (i) Creatine + CT (n = 15) (ii) Placebo + CT (n = 21)	Creatine monohydrate 5 g∙day⁻¹ for 12 months	↔ Serum Crn ↔ Urinary Crn ↔ BUN
Brose et al. (2003) [47]	Healthy older adults (68 ± 4 years old) *	Double-blind randomized controlled trial (i) Creatine + RT (n = 14; 8 men/6 women) (ii) Placebo + RT (n = 14; 7 men/7 women)	Creatine monohydrate 5 g∙day⁻¹ for 14 weeks	↑ Serum Crn ↔ Urinary Crn

AT: aerobic training; BUN: blood urea nitrogen; Crn: creatinine; CT: combined aerobic and strengthening exercise training; CysC: Cystatin C; eGFR: estimated glomerular filtration rate; L: loading phase; M: maintenance phase; mGFR: measured glomerular filtration rate; RT: resistance training. * whole sample estimated pooled mean ± SD from available data. ^# only creatine ethyl ester supplementation significant increased serum Crn levels. ^† remained within normal ranges. ^‡ assessments were performed six weeks after the last ingested dose of dietary supplement. Arrows indicate similar results (↔) between-groups or significant increased (↑)/decreased (↓) in creatine-supplemented groups versus placebo/control.