The MOST HARMFUL MISTAKE 90% Make With Creatine Over 50
The central point of this video is the difference between creatine and creatinine. Creatine is the supplement; creatinine is the waste product your kidneys filter out, and a creatinine reading is used as a rough marker of kidney function. Taking creatine raises blood creatinine as a predictable consequence of having more creatine in the system — which the video argues is why so many people over 50 wrongly panic at a lab result and cut their dose below the level that does anything.
Why does creatine raise a creatinine lab result?
Because creatinine is produced by the normal breakdown of creatine in muscle. Supplementing raises the substrate, so the waste product rises too. The video’s position is that this is a benign, expected change in lab values rather than evidence of kidney damage, and it points to trials in healthy people — including older adults, at doses above the standard 3 to 5 g and over long periods — that found no kidney harm. The important qualifier throughout is healthy kidneys: anyone with existing kidney disease or on relevant medication should be having this conversation with their doctor, not with a video.
What are the other nine mistakes?
| Mistake | The correction given |
|---|---|
| Not drinking enough water | Creatine draws water into muscle; thirst also declines with age, so hydration is non-negotiable |
| Buying exotic forms | Creatine monohydrate is the most studied and least expensive; look for third-party testing |
| Adding load too fast | Tendons and ligaments adapt more slowly than muscle, especially after 50 |
| Loading with 20 g a day | Unnecessary; 3 to 5 g daily saturates muscle in about three to four weeks without the stomach upset |
| Treating it as a substitute | It supports training, diet and sleep — it does not replace them |
| Skipping days | Benefits depend on staying saturated; consistency matters more than dose size |
| Taking it on an empty stomach | Take it with a small meal or some carbohydrate if it causes nausea |
| Worrying about caffeine | The interference claim is largely unsupported; very high caffeine intake mainly works against hydration |
| Expecting a pre-workout effect | It works cumulatively and can take around a month to show |
Read the research behind it
For the evidence on creatine and age-related muscle loss, see creatine and protein for healthy ageing and sarcopenic obesity. On the safety questions people ask most, does creatine cause hair loss? and high-protein diets and kidney health both trace the claims back to their sources. Women over 40 have their own dosing question, covered in creatine for women over 40.
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