Can Creatine Kill You?
August 5th, 2009
Over the years I’ve heard a lot of people discussing how dangerous creatine is. Often times a determinate of how dangerous something is, is whether it can kill someone or not.
This is partially a loaded question though. Creatine although naturally occuring in the body (mostly from the digestion of meats) is being referenced here as a supplement. So let’s rephrase that question, can a Creatine Supplement be dangerous enough to kill? In theory yes.
However that has yet to be proven or tested on humans for obvious reasons.
The standard supplement of Creatine has 20 grams of creatine in it. To achieve that naturally you would most likely have to eat somewhere in the range of 8lbs of meat. However this is the point of a supplement, to get the good stuff without having to ingest all that food. All the same this 20g dose has been debated a lot. Some people say it is too much of a recomendation for amateurs to handle.
That being said, this is the biggest problem with Creatine, not following the directions with it. When someone takes a supplement without following the proper guidelines, you are asking for disaster. This is where dehydration and the various other side effect referenced in our What are the Dangers of Creatine section come into play. These side effect definitely CAN kill if not addressed immediately. So please remember be safe with your supplements!