"What should creatine be mixed with?" has two answers, and the internet usually gives only one. The first is chemistry: creatine is not very soluble, it dissolves better warm, and it breaks down faster in acid. The second is physiology: two trials from the 1990s and 2000 found that taking creatine with a large amount of sugar, or sugar plus protein, raised how much the body kept. This page gives the numbers for both and says what has never been measured. It gives no usage guidance, per our editorial standards.
How much liquid 5 g needs, by temperature
Creatine monohydrate's solubility rises almost in a straight line with temperature (Jäger 2011, PMC3080578). Dividing a 5 g serving by each figure gives the smallest volume that can fully dissolve it:
| Liquid temperature | Dissolves per litre | Volume needed for 5 g | In US cups (240 mL) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4°C (fridge-cold) | 6 g | ≈ 830 mL | ≈ 3.5 |
| 20°C (room temperature) | 14 g | ≈ 360 mL | ≈ 1.5 |
| 50°C (warm) | 34 g | ≈ 150 mL | ≈ 0.6 |
| 60°C (hot drink) | 45 g | ≈ 110 mL | ≈ 0.5 |
This is why creatine stirred into a small glass of cold water leaves sediment however long it is stirred. It is not a bad batch, and "micronized" creatine does not change the ceiling. Smaller particles dissolve faster, but the amount the water can hold is set by temperature (see how particle size affects dissolving). Some labels direct one scoop into 8–10 fl oz (240–300 mL), less than the 360 mL needed at room temperature; one is read on the Orgain creatine page.
Does undissolved creatine matter? Not that any study found for this page shows. A suspension swallowed is still creatine in the stomach, and the stomach's acidity largely prevents the conversion of creatine to creatinine during digestion, as the same review notes. Dissolving is about texture and not leaving powder in the glass.
Acidity: what common mixers measure, and what that does over time
In solution, creatine slowly turns into creatinine, a waste product with no creatine activity, and the rate depends on acidity. At 25°C over three days, solutions lost about 4% at pH 5.5, 12% at pH 4.5 and 21% at pH 3.5, and were relatively stable at pH 6.5–7.5 (Jäger 2011). At very low pH the reaction slows again, because the molecule's reactive group is protonated, which is the same reason stomach acid does little to it; the review gives no rate at any particular low pH.
What common drinks measure, from a 2016 survey that measured 380 US beverages in triplicate at 25°C immediately after opening (Reddy 2016, PMC4808596):
| Drink (as measured) | pH | Where it sits on the creatine stability data |
|---|---|---|
| Spring water | 7.4 | Relatively stable range |
| Starbucks medium roast coffee | 5.11 | Between the 4% and 12% three-day losses |
| Tropicana 100% orange juice | 3.80 | Close to the 21% three-day loss |
| Gatorade Lemon Lime | 2.97 | Acidic; no creatine measurement at this pH in the review |
| Coca-Cola Classic | 2.37 | Very acidic; the review describes breakdown slowing at very low pH but gives no figure here |
The time scale is the point. Those losses are over days. A drink finished within minutes of mixing loses a fraction of a per cent on the same arithmetic, whatever it is. The figures matter for a bottle mixed in the morning and drunk in the evening, or a premixed drink kept for days. The longer-term record, including an effervescent creatine drink that lost 90% in 45 days, is on does creatine expire.
Not measured: milk and protein shakes were not in the 2016 beverage survey, and no study found for this page measured creatine stability in milk, in a protein shake, or in hot coffee over the minutes it takes to drink one.
The physiology: sugar, protein and how much creatine is kept
Creatine enters muscle through a transporter that insulin speeds up. Two trials from the University of Nottingham group measured what that means in practice:
- Green 1996 (PMID 8944667): 24 men took 5 g of creatine four times a day for 5 days, alone or followed 30 minutes later by 93 g of simple carbohydrate in solution. Muscle biopsies showed a 60% greater rise in total creatine with the carbohydrate, and less creatine lost in urine. Creatine alone did not change insulin; creatine with carbohydrate raised it sharply.
- Steenge 2000 (PMID 10956365): 12 men took 4 × 5 g of creatine with either 5 g of carbohydrate (placebo), about 50 g of protein plus 47 g of carbohydrate, 96 g of carbohydrate, or 50 g of carbohydrate. The protein-plus-carbohydrate and high-carbohydrate drinks raised insulin equally, and both increased whole-body creatine retention by about 25%. The insulin effect on creatine faded within the first 24 hours of supplementing.
A third result, summarised in the 2011 review, found whole-body retention over three days of 61% for creatine monohydrate in water and 80% with 18 g of dextrose, taken four times a day.
Three things limit how far these reach:
- The amounts are large. 93 g of simple sugar per dose, four times a day, is about 370 g of sugar a day. The protein arm was about 50 g of protein plus 47 g of carbohydrate per dose, also four times a day.
- They measured loading. Both trials studied the first days of 20 g a day. At a steady 3–5 g a day, muscle reaches the same plateau over about four weeks without help, as covered on creatine loading phase.
- Retention is not performance. Neither trial measured strength or training outcomes from the mixer.
A protein shake made with carbohydrate is the closest everyday version of Steenge's protein arm. A protein shake without carbohydrate was not tested. The creatine vs protein powder page covers what each supplement does on its own.
Mixer by mixer
- Water. The neutral, stable baseline; room temperature or warmer meets the dissolving arithmetic at 360 mL or more. No insulin effect.
- Coffee. Hot coffee dissolves 5 g in about 110 mL, and its pH of about 5.1 costs little over the minutes of drinking it. The live question is caffeine. Trials disagree on whether it blunts creatine's effect, and they are set out on creatine and caffeine.
- Juice. Supplies carbohydrate, though a 240 mL glass carries far less than the 93 g Green used. It is also the most acidic common mixer on the stability data, so a juice mix is the one whose losses build fastest if left standing.
- Protein shake. Matches the one protein trial only when it also carries carbohydrate. Stability in milk or shakes is unmeasured.
- Sports drinks and soda. Carbohydrate plus low pH; the stability review has no creatine measurement at pH 2–3, and the timing caveat above still applies.
- Food. Taking creatine with a meal supplies carbohydrate and protein together. The timing question (before, after, with meals) has its own page: creatine timing.
The honest summary
- Temperature sets how much dissolves: 5 g needs about 830 mL cold, 360 mL at room temperature, 110 mL hot.
- Acidity sets how fast it breaks down, over days: about 4% (pH 5.5) to 21% (pH 3.5) in three days at 25°C; coffee is pH 5.1, orange juice 3.8.
- Sugar or sugar plus protein raised retention in loading trials, with 93 g of sugar or about 50 g protein + 47 g carbohydrate per dose, not everyday amounts.
- Not measured: creatine in hot coffee, milk or shakes over minutes; any head-to-head of mixers on performance.
Limits of this page
Solubility and stability figures are from one review that collates laboratory data, some of it from non-journal sources. pH values are single-brand measurements from one survey and vary by product and brew. The carbohydrate and protein trials were small, all-male and short, and measured creatine retention during loading, not training outcomes.
Sources and dates
- 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;40:1369–83 — PMID 21424716, full text PMC3080578 read 2026-10-02 (solubility, stability, retention data)
- Reddy A, Norris DF, Momeni SS, Waldo B, Ruby JD. The pH of beverages in the United States. J Am Dent Assoc 2016;147:255–63 — PMID 26653863, full text PMC4808596 read 2026-10-02 (Tables 1–4)
- Green AL, Hultman E, Macdonald IA, Sewell DA, Greenhaff PL. Carbohydrate ingestion augments skeletal muscle creatine accumulation during creatine supplementation in humans. Am J Physiol 1996;271:E821–6 — PMID 8944667
- Steenge GR, Simpson EJ, Greenhaff PL. Protein- and carbohydrate-induced augmentation of whole body creatine retention in humans. J Appl Physiol 2000;89:1165–71 — PMID 10956365