"Liquid creatine" and "creatine drinks" together draw about 3,500 searches a month. The idea is appealing — no gritty powder, no undissolved sludge at the bottom of the shaker — and for a few years in the early 2000s "creatine serums" were among the best-known supplements in gyms. They are a cautionary case, because creatine has a chemical weakness that liquids expose: once dissolved, it slowly converts into creatinine, a waste product the body simply excretes. This page sets out what the laboratory assays and trials found, what the liquid labels in the NIH label database list today, and what remains unknown about the newer drinks. It reports evidence; it does not advise anyone what to take (how we work).
The short answer: the liquid creatine products that were independently tested held almost no creatine and did not work in trials. Creatine powder dissolved in a drink shortly before drinking is a different thing — that is how most creatine trials gave it — because the breakdown takes days, not minutes. For pre-made drinks with a long shelf life, the published evidence is one small industry-run study.
The problem: creatine in water becomes creatinine
Creatine in solution cyclises into creatinine. The rate depends mostly on acidity and temperature, and it is slow on a human timescale but fast on a shelf timescale. At 25°C over three days, measured losses were about 4% at pH 5.5, 12% at pH 4.5 and 21% at pH 3.5, with solutions relatively stable between pH 6.5 and 7.5 (Jäger et al. 2011, set out with the solubility data on what to mix creatine with). Heating speeds it up; what that means for a hot drink is on creatine in coffee. Dry powder, by contrast, is stable for years (does creatine expire).
Most flavoured drinks are acidic — citric acid is the commonest flavouring acid — and a ready-to-drink product has to sit in a warehouse, a truck and a cupboard. That is the format's structural difficulty, before any brand is considered.
The assay: four laboratories, one creatine serum
The decisive study was published in 2004 by Roger Harris's group, which had carried out the original muscle-biopsy creatine work of the early 1990s. Three samples of Creatine Serum ATP Advantage from Muscle Marketing USA were assayed for creatine by two techniques at four independent laboratories, and for creatinine at two (Harris et al., J Sports Sci 2004, PMID 15513279).
| Sold as | Measured | |
|---|---|---|
| Creatine monohydrate in a 5 mL dose | "equivalent" to 2.5 g | under 10 mg |
| Creatinine in a 5 mL dose | — | about 90 mg |
| Phosphocreatine | — | not detectable |
| Other creatine forms | — | ruled out by total-nitrogen analysis |
In the same paper, six men took, in random order, water, 2.5 g creatine monohydrate dissolved in water, and 5 mL of the serum, with blood drawn for eight hours. Dissolved creatine monohydrate raised plasma creatine from 59 to 245 µmol/L and raised urinary creatine; the serum raised neither, and behaved like water. The authors concluded the trace creatine in the product "would be too little to affect the muscle content even with multiple dosing."
Under 10 mg against a claimed 2,500 mg is less than 0.4% of the label (MuscleLedger's arithmetic) — an upper bound, since the assay reported "<10 mg".
The trials
Three controlled trials tested liquid creatine products against something:
| Trial | Who | Compared | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gill et al. 2004 (PMID 15142023) | 11 competitive male team-sport athletes, double-blind crossover, 7-week washout | 20 g/day creatine powder in solution vs 5 mL/day creatine serum, each for 6 days, at the makers' recommendations | Powder: total sprint work +9.6%, peak power +3.4% (significant). Serum: "little change" |
| Astorino et al. 2005 (PMID 16287365) | 24 cross-country runners | 5 mL of a creatine serum stated to contain 2.5 g creatine vs placebo | 5,000 m time unchanged; a VO2max rise within the test's normal variation; "do not support the ergogenic claims" |
| Hone et al. 2017 (PMID 28121472) | 10 active men, double-blind | 3 g microencapsulated creatine in a 70 mL ready-to-drink vs placebo | Plasma creatine peaked at about 102 µmol/L at 30 min, 2.3 times placebo, still ~50% above rest at 3 h |
Gill's group did not measure the creatine in its serum, and noted that substantial conversion to creatinine had been reported in many formulations. The 2017 study is the only positive result for a pre-made liquid, and it shows the creatine was absorbed, not that it improved performance or how long the drink keeps; two of its six authors were at Anabio Technologies, the company that makes the microencapsulation material. It is a pharmacokinetic study of ten people.
What liquid labels list today
MuscleLedger searched the NIH Dietary Supplement Label Database on 2026-10-17 for liquid labels with "creatine" in the product name and read each one. It found 15, of which one (a 1/4-teaspoon serving of creatine monohydrate) appears to be a powder recorded as a liquid and is set aside, leaving 14.
| Label type | Labels | Creatine per serving on the label |
|---|---|---|
| "Creatine serum" sprays (one brand, four product lines, two flavours each; entered 2014) | 8 | 500 mg of an ingredient named "creatine serum" per 5 mL — the creatine content of that ingredient is not stated. Directions on six of the eight: 6 sprays (0.8 mL) under the tongue before exercise |
| "Creatine plasma" shots (entered 2013–14) | 2 | 2.5 g creatine monohydrate per 10 mL |
| "Creatine liquid" (entered 2011, off market) | 1 | 3 g creatine monohydrate per 15 mL |
| "Creatine liquid" (entered 2014) | 1 | no creatine row recorded; the facts panel lists carnitine, 1.3 g per 2 tablespoons |
| Creatine ethyl ester "mass serum" (entered 2021 and 2023, both off market) | 2 | Creatine ethyl ester inside a 1,500 mg proprietary matrix with nine other ingredients; amount not disclosed |
Three things stand out. The two newest liquid creatine labels in the database are both marked off the market. On the spray labels, 6 sprays of a 500 mg-per-5 mL ingredient is about 80 mg of "creatine serum" per use (MuscleLedger's arithmetic) — and the label does not say how much of that is creatine. And the creatine form in the newest products, creatine ethyl ester, is itself unstable in water: it cyclises to creatinine at a rate that rises with pH, with a half-life of 23 seconds above pH 8 (Gufford et al., J Diet Suppl 2013, PMID 23957855). The claims for ethyl ester and other forms are compared on types of creatine.
The database records labels as transcribed; an "on market" flag on an entry from 2014 means it has not been marked off, not that the product was seen for sale in 2026. MuscleLedger did not buy or assay any of these products.
Ready-to-drink creatine beverages
The newer canned "creatine drinks" are mostly sold as foods, with a Nutrition Facts panel rather than Supplement Facts, so they are not in the supplement label database. In 2020 FDA closed a notice from a creatine manufacturer for adding 1 g of creatine per serving to energy drinks, protein powders, shakes and drink mixes with a letter saying it had no questions (GRN 931; details on is creatine FDA approved). That notice concerns safety at that level; it says nothing about how much creatine survives in a given drink over its shelf life.
MuscleLedger found no independent assay of a current ready-to-drink creatine beverage. A PubMed search for creatine with "ready-to-drink", "beverage" or "creatine drink" on 2026-10-17 returned 575 records; the 2017 microencapsulation study above was the only one testing a creatine drink format in people.
Powder in a drink is not "liquid creatine"
The confusion in the search results is between two different things:
- Creatine powder dissolved shortly before drinking — the method in Harris's comparison arm and in most creatine trials. At the measured rates, the loss over the minutes between mixing and drinking is negligible. How much liquid fully dissolves a given amount is on what to mix creatine with.
- A pre-made liquid that must keep its creatine for weeks or months. This is the format the assay and trials found wanting.
Other non-powder formats raise their own label questions: gummies on creatine gummies, capsules on creatine pills vs powder.
What is not established
- How much creatine current ready-to-drink beverages contain at the end of their shelf life. No independent assay was found.
- Whether any stabilised liquid improves performance. The one positive study measured blood levels only, in ten people, and was run with the stabiliser's maker.
- What the "creatine serum" ingredient on the spray labels consists of.
Sources
- Harris RC, Almada AL, Harris DB, Dunnett M, Hespel P. "The creatine content of Creatine Serum and the change in the plasma concentration with ingestion of a single dose." J Sports Sci 2004;22(9):851–7. PMID 15513279
- Gill ND, Hall RD, Blazevich AJ. "Creatine serum is not as effective as creatine powder for improving cycle sprint performance in competitive male team-sport athletes." J Strength Cond Res 2004;18(2):272–5. PMID 15142023
- Astorino TA et al. "Is running performance enhanced with creatine serum ingestion?" J Strength Cond Res 2005;19(4):730–4. PMID 16287365
- Hone M et al. "Plasma Creatine Kinetics After Ingestion of Microencapsulated Creatine Monohydrate with Enhanced Stability in Aqueous Solutions." J Diet Suppl 2017;14(4):433–45. PMID 28121472
- Gufford BT et al. "pH-dependent stability of creatine ethyl ester: relevance to oral absorption." J Diet Suppl 2013;10(3):241–51. PMID 23957855
- Jäger R et al. "Analysis of the efficacy, safety, and regulatory status of novel forms of creatine." Amino Acids 2011;40(5):1369–83. PMID 21424716
- NIH Office of Dietary Supplements, Dietary Supplement Label Database — dsld.od.nih.gov (API v9): every liquid label with creatine in the product name, read 2026-10-17.
- FDA GRAS Notice Inventory, GRN 931 — FDA, read 2026-10-17.