Doctor warns creatine is 'killing your kidneys' after friend on 5g dose took blood test
YouTubing health professional Dr. Isa Waheed has weighed in on the potential dangers of taking creatine.
Popular amongst gym members, creatine is an organic compound constructed from amino acids that supplies energy to our cells - predominantly in the musculature and brain region.
It is undeniably a useful supplement for intense activities, but is it in fact, destroying your kidneys?
Dr. Waheed's somewhat misleading YouTube short answers this, while using his 'friend' Jamal as an example of somebody taking 5 grams of the stuff every single day without being aware of the repercussions.
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"Creatine is killing your kidneys," is his opening statement.
"Let me explain: this is my friend Jamal. Jamal is in his 20's and is training his strength performance in the gym, and so was taking 5g of creatine every day not knowing what was happening on a biochemical level in his blood."
Apparently, his perception of creatine completely altered when Jamal went for a routine blood test.
"The full blood count was normal, the liver test was unremarkable, but when it came to the kidney blood test, his EGFR (estimated glomerular filtration rate), which is a measure of kidney function, was significantly low at just 15," the doctor reveals.
15 is so extremely low for a result of this nature that it would be classed as stage 3 chronic kidney disease.
"But is there something else going on that could explain these results?" says the YouTuber. "You see, EGFR is measured by checking the certain level of our waste products in the blood to see if the kidneys are filtering it out through the urine well enough or not, and this waste product is called creatinine.
"When your muscle consumes the creatine that you ingest, the waste product is called creatinine, and so if someone is taking creatine supplements, the creatinine will inevitably be higher as well.
"So this blood test was likely what we call a false positive and the kidneys are most likely working fine. In fact, a systematic review looking at 21 different studies found that creatine supplementation at the recommended doses and duration do not damage your kidneys."
So, if you don't want to poison your lovely kidneys, stick to the correct dosage of creatine and you'll be fine.
This comes after a man shared before and after pictures of himself during a one-month creatine program.
Although it's admittedly hard to tell much of a difference, social media personality Cillian Domican appeared musclier post-creatine.
Dan Seddon