Transparent Labs is a creatine brand people search for by name, about 8,400 times a month in the US. Its store no longer sells what most of those searchers probably expect. On 5 October 2026 the store's product feed listed 73 products and one creatine product among them: Creatine HMB, a blend. That changes every question this series asks. The price per gram is the price of a combination, the testing record is the record of a combination, and the evidence question is about what the second ingredient adds.
This analysis reads what Transparent Labs publishes (its label, its store and its claims) against NSF's sport register, the government label database and the trials. No tub was bought or sent to a laboratory, and the page ranks Transparent Labs against no other brand.
What is in a scoop
Read from the unflavoured product's facts-panel image on transparentlabs.com, 5 October 2026:
| Per scoop (7 g, unflavoured) | Amount |
|---|---|
| Creatine monohydrate | 5,000 mg |
| HMB (as calcium β-hydroxy β-methylbutyrate monohydrate, "myHMB") | 1,500 mg |
| BioPerine black-pepper extract (95% piperine) | 5 mg |
| Vitamin D3 | 12.5 mcg (500 IU) |
| Calcium | 200 mg |
| Other ingredients | "None" |
The calcium is not a separate ingredient. It arrives with the HMB, which is sold as a calcium salt. The flavoured tubs use a 9.5 g scoop; the Strawberry Lemonade label recorded in the NIH Dietary Supplement Label Database (label 325587, entered 22 November 2024) lists the same five active amounts, 10 calories, 285 g net and an Informed Choice seal.
The range, per gram
Read from the store's product feed on 5 October 2026:
| Size | Store price | Creatine per tub | Per gram of creatine | Per serving |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 servings | $49.99 | 150 g | $0.333 | $1.67 |
| 60 servings | $89.99 | 300 g | $0.300 | $1.50 |
The 30-serving tub comes in 13 flavours, the 60-serving tub in five. The per-gram figure is not like-for-like with a plain monohydrate tub, because the price also buys 1.5 g of HMB per scoop. The plain-monohydrate profiles in this series run from $0.036 to $0.100 per gram on their own stores; the table on creatine brands sets them out alphabetically.
Testing and certification: NSF's sport register lists it
NSF's Certified for Sport register, searched on 5 October 2026, listed Transparent Labs Creatine HMB in 13 flavours, which matches the 13 the store sells. The unflavoured listing names 12 lot numbers and package sizes of 105 g, 210 g and 420 g. Certified for Sport is the NSF programme that, by NSF's own description of it, screens production lots for 290 substances banned in sport and lists the lots it has tested; the separate contents standard (NSF/ANSI 173) does not include that screen. Which programme a brand is in matters more than the word "NSF", and the difference is set out on NSF-certified creatine.
The store text says something slightly different. It calls the product "third-party tested for purity and potency" batch by batch, points to test results in the site footer, and says the product "is also certified by Informed Choice". The Informed Choice seal is on the 2024 label in the government database. The Informed Choice register refused automated requests (HTTP 403) and was not read for this page, so the Informed Choice listing is reported as the brand's claim. The footer's "Third-Party Tests" page loaded without the results in a plain read and a rendered read, so no batch result is quoted here either.
The HMB: half the amount the trials used
The selling point of this product is the second ingredient. The store says creatine with HMB produces "significantly greater lean body mass and strength gains compared to creatine or HMB supplementation alone".
Five randomised trials have given both compounds in the same arm, and they are counted, with who ran them, on creatine and HMB. In short: the founding trial (Jówko 2001, 40 people, three weeks, lean mass by impedance) reported an additive effect, and its senior author introduced HMB as a training supplement; the independent trials in elite rugby league players (O'Connor & Crowe 2007) and collegiate rugby players (Mangine 2020) found no advantage of the combination. A 2022 meta-analysis of HMB alone in athletes found a small, non-significant effect on fat-free mass (p = 0.08), seen mainly where protein intake was below 1.6 g per kg a day.
The figure this page adds is the amount. The trials gave 3 g of HMB a day (Jówko, O'Connor & Crowe) or 5 g (Mangine). One Creatine HMB scoop contains 1.5 g. The store's own FAQ gives HMB "doses up to 3 grams per day". Reaching the trials' HMB amount from this product takes two scoops, which is also 10 g of creatine, 1,000 IU of vitamin D and 400 mg of calcium. None of those three trials tested 1.5 g of HMB with 5 g of creatine.
Black-pepper extract. The store says BioPerine "helps increase the amount of active ingredient absorption". A PubMed search for piperine with creatine on 5 October 2026 returned 11 records; none measured creatine absorption. The claim is the brand's.
The store's directions, against the trials
Loading. The store says "there is no need to 'load'" and that muscle stores saturate "within a few weeks" at one scoop a day. The biopsy study behind the loading debate agrees on the endpoint: 3 g a day reached the same muscle creatine as a 20 g-a-day load in about 28 days (Hultman et al., 1996). The comparison is on creatine loading phase.
The vitamin D reason. The store gives a second reason not to load: it "will lead to excessive intake of vitamin D". The arithmetic: a 20 g creatine day from this product is four scoops, or 2,000 IU of vitamin D. The Institute of Medicine's 2011 report set the tolerable upper intake level at 4,000 IU a day for ages 9 and older (Ross et al., 2011). Four scoops are half that level, before food, sunlight or another supplement. The same store page says "2-3 servings per day" can be taken. This page reports both statements and the arithmetic; it does not say what amount anyone should take.
Timing. The store recommends the scoop "within 30 minutes after completing your workout". The timing trials are on creatine timing; the differences they find are small.
Mixing volume. One scoop into 10–12 oz (296–355 mL). Creatine monohydrate dissolves at about 14 g per litre at 20°C (Jäger et al., 2011), so 5 g needs about 357 mL at room temperature; cold water dissolves less. Which drinks change the picture is on what to mix creatine with.
What the label and store omit
- The source of the creatine. No manufacturer, country of origin or branded raw material is named for the creatine, though the HMB and the pepper extract are both named brands.
- A plain-creatine option. None was listed in the store's feed on 5 October 2026, so a buyer who wants creatine without HMB, vitamin D and calcium cannot get it from this store.
- Batch results in a readable form. The test-results page did not show them to an automated read.
- The vitamin D sum across servings. The panel shows one scoop; the store's "2-3 servings" line is not translated into vitamin D on the label.
Transparent Labs beside the other profiles
It is the first profile in this series where the only creatine on sale is a combination, and one of three with Certified for Sport listings; the creatine brands table puts it beside the others, alphabetically, with the per-gram figure marked as a blend. The other combinations sold under creatine names, from gummies to HCl blends, are on Costco's creatine shelf and types of creatine.
Limits of this page
Prices are transparentlabs.com list prices on 5 October 2026 and change; subscription and retailer prices differ. The facts panel was read from the store's image of the unflavoured tub; the NIH label record is a 2024 snapshot of one flavour. NSF listings change, and the date they were read is stated. Nothing here is a measurement made for this page.
Sources and dates
- Transparent Labs, Creatine HMB: product feed (prices, sizes, flavours), page text, FAQ and the unflavoured facts-panel image, read 2026-10-05; store product feed (73 products) read the same day.
- NIH Office of Dietary Supplements, Dietary Supplement Label Database: Creatine HMB Strawberry Lemonade, label 325587 (entered 2024-11-22), read via the DSLD API 2026-10-05: serving, net contents, Informed Choice seal.
- NSF Certified for Sport, register search, "creatine" and Creatine HMB Unflavored listing, read 2026-10-05; NSF, How to get certified (lot testing for 290 banned substances), read 2026-10-05.
- Jówko E et al. Creatine and beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate (HMB) additively increase lean body mass and muscle strength during a weight-training program. Nutrition 2001;17:558–66, PMID 11448573.
- O'Connor DM, Crowe MJ. Effects of six weeks of HMB and HMB/creatine supplementation on strength, power, and anthropometry of highly trained athletes. J Strength Cond Res 2007;21:419–23, PMID 17530933.
- Mangine GT et al. The addition of HMB to creatine monohydrate supplementation does not improve anthropometric and performance maintenance across a collegiate rugby season. J Int Soc Sports Nutr 2020;17:28, PMID 32460801.
- Holland BM et al. Does HMB enhance body composition in athletes? A systematic review and meta-analysis. J Strength Cond Res 2022;36:585–92, PMID 31868817.
- Hultman E et al. Muscle creatine loading in men. J Appl Physiol 1996;81:232–7, PMID 8828669.
- Ross AC et al. The 2011 report on dietary reference intakes for calcium and vitamin D from the Institute of Medicine. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2011;96:53–8, PMC3046611.
- Jäger R et al. Analysis of the efficacy, safety, and regulatory status of novel forms of creatine. Amino Acids 2011;40:1369–83, PMC3080578.
- PubMed search "piperine AND creatine", 11 records, read 2026-10-05.