Two groups ask this question for different reasons. A job applicant or a transport worker wants to know whether a scoop of creatine can turn a workplace urine test positive. A tested athlete wants to know whether creatine is banned. The answers are no and no, with one detail that sits underneath both: every regulated urine drug test measures creatinine, the molecule creatine turns into, to decide whether the sample itself is valid.
This page sets out what the rules test for, what they do with creatinine, and what the creatine studies measured. It reports what the regulations and studies say; it is not advice about any test.
What a workplace drug test looks for
Federally regulated workplace tests in the US use a fixed panel. The Department of Transportation's cutoff table (49 CFR 40.85, as current on 1 October 2026) lists:
- marijuana metabolite
- cocaine metabolite
- codeine and morphine; hydrocodone and hydromorphone; oxycodone and oxymorphone; 6-acetylmorphine
- phencyclidine (PCP)
- amphetamine, methamphetamine, MDMA and MDA
Creatine, creatinine and every other sports supplement are absent. Non-federal employers can choose wider panels, but a supplement is not a drug class any standard panel screens for.
What it does with creatinine
A urine sample can be diluted by drinking a lot of water, which lowers the concentration of any drug in it. So the laboratory also measures creatinine, which muscles release at a fairly steady rate, and the sample's specific gravity. The federal rules for urine (the HHS Mandatory Guidelines, published 23 January 2017 at 82 FR 7920, Sections 3.7–3.8) set the lines:
| Laboratory result | Creatinine | Specific gravity |
|---|---|---|
| Dilute | at least 2 mg/dL but below 20 mg/dL | above 1.0010, below 1.0030 |
| Substituted (not human urine) | below 2 mg/dL on two tests | at or below 1.0010, or at or above 1.0200 |
What happens next is set in 49 CFR 40.197. A positive result that is also dilute stands as a positive. A negative-dilute with creatinine between 2 and 5 mg/dL requires an immediate recollection under direct observation; above 5 mg/dL the employer may order a retest but does not have to, as long as it treats all employees the same way.
That is the whole connection between creatine and a drug test. Creatine is never the target; creatinine is the check on the sample.
What creatine supplementation does to urine creatinine
Creatine taken by mouth is partly stored in muscle, partly excreted unchanged, and partly converted to creatinine. Two trials measured 24-hour urine and disagree:
| Study | People | Creatine intake | Urinary creatinine |
|---|---|---|---|
| Havenetidis & Bourdas, 2003 | 21 sprint-trained men | 10, 25 or 35 g a day for 4 days, then placebo (crossover) | Mean 2.4-fold rise across the three doses vs placebo |
| Burke et al., 2001 | 20 university football and hockey players (10 on creatine) | 0.1 g per kg of lean mass a day (6–8 g) for 7 days | No change; about 46% of the creatine taken was excreted unchanged within 24 hours |
The difference is plausibly the amount: the first trial gave loading doses, the second roughly a maintenance dose. Neither looked at single spot samples of the kind a drug test collects. What both point to is that creatine intake does not lower urine creatinine, which is the direction that produces a dilute flag. Drinking large volumes of water does lower it, and the dilute rule exists for that.
Forensic toxicologists have also studied whether creatine intake changes how a diluted sample reads, and recommend measuring creatine itself in a sample where supplementation is suspected (Franz et al., 2022). A government-funded study of how drug-test evasion is discussed online found creatine among the tactics talked about, while noting that the posts offered little evidence the tactics work (Grabenauer et al., 2025). Under the federal rules, a sample a laboratory reports as adulterated or substituted is not a pass.
In sport
Creatine is not on the World Anti-Doping Agency's Prohibited List. A search of WADA's list explorer for "creatine" on 5 October 2026 returned 0 results. WADA's own caution applies: a name missing from the explorer does not by itself prove a substance is permitted, because most categories list examples rather than everything. Creatine is sold and studied as an ordinary dietary supplement; the compound-by-compound statuses for the performance substances this site covers are on WADA status by compound.
The sport risk is not creatine; it is a creatine product contaminated with something that is banned, and the contamination survey behind that warning is on is creatine a steroid. That is what lot-tested certification addresses, and what "NSF" on a label does and does not mean is on NSF-certified creatine. How tested athletes stand with the peptides sold alongside creatine is on peptides and drug testing.
Blood tests are a different question
Creatine supplementation can raise blood creatinine, the number laboratories use to estimate kidney filtration, without a fall in kidney function measured another way. That can matter on a routine blood panel, not on a drug test. The trials and what to tell a doctor reading the result are on creatine in bloodwork, and the kidney record is on creatine and the kidneys.
What is not established
- Spot urine samples. Both supplementation trials measured 24-hour urine. No trial found here measured the single morning-style sample a drug test collects after typical daily use.
- Maintenance doses over months. The trials ran 4 and 7 days.
- Women. Both trials enrolled men only.
- Non-federal panels. Private employers can test for more; this page reads the federal and transport rules only.
Sources and dates
- 49 CFR 40.85 (urine drug-test cutoffs), 40.155 and 40.197 (dilute specimens), via the eCFR, current as of 2026-10-01, read 2026-10-05.
- HHS/SAMHSA, Mandatory Guidelines for Federal Workplace Drug Testing Programs, 82 FR 7920 (23 January 2017), Sections 3.7–3.8, read 2026-10-05.
- World Anti-Doping Agency, Prohibited List explorer, search "creatine", 0 results, 2026 list, read 2026-10-05.
- Havenetidis K, Bourdas D. Creatine supplementation: effects on urinary excretion and anaerobic performance. J Sports Med Phys Fitness 2003;43:347–55, PMID 14625517.
- Burke DG et al. The effect of 7 days of creatine supplementation on 24-hour urinary creatine excretion. J Strength Cond Res 2001;15:59–62, PMID 11708707.
- Franz S, Skopp G, Musshoff F. The effect of creatine ingestion on urinary creatinine concentration: does supplementation mask a heavy dilution? Drug Test Anal 2022;14:162–8, PMID 34559477.
- Grabenauer M et al. Systematic web monitoring of drug test subversion strategies in the United States. Drug Test Anal 2025;17:34–41, PMID 38520174.