Creatine is one of the most studied, useful and safe supplements around, and creatine and heat is a critical part of those studies. If you want to learn more about the benefits of creatine, please see our blog here. It’s also incredibly easy to take daily, you can stir it into water, milk, smoothies, oats and yes, even coffee. As myth busters, we spend a lot of time talking with clients about supplement myths. One that is very common, is the idea that a hot drink, or even a hot warehouse, will convert creatine monohydrate into the inactive waste product creatinine.
In this blog we will be focusing on two questions to help you:
- “Does heat destroy creatine?”
- “Do coffee/caffeine and creatine ‘cancel’ each other out?”
1. Creatine and heat
Powder form (in the tub):
Creatine is VERY heat stable in powder form. In fact, there is a study that looked at creatine powder for 3 years at temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius and there was no breakdown. Only trace amounts (0, 01%) were seen after 44 months at 60 degrees Celsius. In other words, even in very hot warehouses, your creatine is safe.
Once mixed in a drink:
In solution (added to a fluid), creatine slowly converts to creatinine. The rate depends on pH, temperature and time. A study looked at this and showed at 25 degrees Celsius for 3 days, the expected loss is about 4% at pH 5.5 (filter coffee, some herbal teas), 12% at pH 4.5 (strong black tea, tomato juice, yoghurt) and 21% at pH 3.5 (some fruit juices, sports drinks, kombucha and some soft drinks). At neutral pH (6.5-7.5) like water or milk, it’s relatively stable over those 3 days. The conversion stops at very low pH (< 2.5), which is why creatine isn’t degraded in your stomach and also at very high pH (> 12).
Fresh coffee sits around pH 5 and starts out hot (60-85 degrees celsius), then cools quickly. From the graph above, meaningful losses take hours, not minutes, especially as the mug cools. So practically wise, adding creatine to hot coffee and drinking soon after mixing keeps losses trivial. If you plan to let it sit, use cool/neutral pH options (water or milk) instead. No studies, as of yet, have timed creatine in boiling coffee to the minute, but putting the equations together, if you have your creatine in warm/hot liquids in the first 10-15 minutes your loss is well under 5%, as your mug most likely cools below 60 before degradation is really accelerated.
What we wouldn’t suggest is leaving your coffee there for an hour or more, you might lose double-digit percentages, and the coffee tastes awful by then anyway.
2. Creatine and caffeine: why the evidence looks “mixed”
Does ingesting caffeine at the same time blunt creatine performance benefits?
Like many concerns about creatine, it started with an old, small participant size study. In 1990s, 9 participants showed less effect on muscle performance with creatine supplementation when caffeine was added. However, muscle creatine levels increased. The study was not brilliant, it was small (n=9), all male and uses a very specific isokinetic lab test. The doses are hefty (creatine 30 to 40 g/day and caffeine 350-450 mg/day) and were taken together for 6 days, this isn’t how most people use them.
Newer controlled work is far less dramatic. A randomised study comparing creatine alone vs creatine and caffeine tablets vs creatine and coffee during 5 days of loading, and found no significant performance differences among creatine groups.
Systematic reviews have concluded that evidence of a consistent negative interaction is inconclusive and protocol-dependent. Some studies even show neutrality or even benefit of caffeine and creatine when programmed sensibly.
In our opinion, the caffeine in coffee which ranges from 95mg in 1 cup filter, to 40-80mg in an espresso is not comparable to the 350-450mg caffeine tablet/supplement seen in studies anyways. So the bottom line, creatine is heat-stable and coffee-friendly. Stir it into your coffee and enjoy within 30 minutes. The “caffeine cancels creatine” idea is old and inconsistent. If you’re cautious, take your creatine any time with water or milk and keep your coffee for your collagen 😊.
References:
Trexler ET, Smith-Ryan AE, Roelofs EJ, Hirsch KR, Persky AM, Mock MG. Effects of Coffee and Caffeine Anhydrous Intake During Creatine Loading. J Strength Cond Res. 2016;30(5):1438-1446.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4808512/pdf/nihms-724283.pdf
Kreider RB, Jäger R, Purpura M. Bioavailability, Efficacy, Safety, and Regulatory Status of Creatine and Related Compounds: A Critical Review. Nutrients. 2022; 14(5):1035.
https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/14/5/1035
Trexler ET, Smith-Ryan AE, Roelofs EJ, Hirsch KR, Persky AM, Mock MG. Effects of Coffee and Caffeine Anhydrous Intake During Creatine Loading. J Strength Cond Res. 2016;30(5):1438-1446.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26439785/
Jäger R, Purpura M, Shao A, Inoue T, Kreider RB. Analysis of the efficacy, safety, and regulatory status of novel forms of creatine. Amino Acids. 2011;40(5):1369-1383.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3080578/
