Oct 11, 2026

Is Creatine Safe for Teenagers? Evidence, Age Limits and Growth

A mother in a navy jumper and her teenage son in football kit talking across a bright kitchen table after a match, a yellow water bottle between them and his muddy boots by the door.

No trial has been designed to test whether creatine is safe for teenagers. Thirteen small studies of 268 young athletes report no adverse events, and a 2023 review graded their quality poor. UK law sets no age limit on buying creatine, the authorised performance wording is for adults only, and this page gives no dose for anyone under 18.

Is creatine safe for teenagers?

"Safe" would need a study built to measure it: hundreds of 13 to 17-year-olds, a placebo group, blood markers, growth measurements, years of follow-up. None exists. A 2023 review found 13 studies, 268 participants, mean ages 11.5 to 18.2, mostly footballers and swimmers: "The overall quality of the studies was poor", there were "no consistent findings" on performance, and "No studies were designed to address the topic of safety."¹

Those trials recorded no adverse events,² but none measured markers of clinical health,³ and a 2026 systematic review found only five studies with any safety outcome: no consistent short-term signal in kidney, liver or metabolic markers, and a call for larger, longer studies.⁴

So the adolescent trials report performance gains on some measures and no adverse events; what they do not report is a safety outcome, because none was designed to. What creatine does and its side effects are measured in adults; a growing body is a different question.

Is there an age limit for creatine in the UK?

No. Creatine is a food supplement, and the Food Supplements (England) Regulations 2003 set no minimum age for buying or taking one. The label must carry the daily portion, "a warning not to exceed the stated recommended daily dose" and that the product "should be stored out of the reach of young children".⁵

The "18+" line on many tubs is the seller's wording, not a legal rule; the International Society of Sports Nutrition calls it "a legal precaution".⁶ One reason it appears: Great Britain's only authorised creatine claim "may be used only for foods targeting adults performing high intensity exercise",⁷ so a product carrying it cannot be aimed at teenagers. A marketing rule, not a finding about harm.

Nor is creatine covered by the coming energy-drink law, which from 6 April 2027, subject to Parliamentary scrutiny, stops sales to under-16s in England of any drink, "other than tea or coffee, that contains over 150 milligrams of caffeine per litre"; food supplements are out of scope and creatine is not mentioned.⁸

Can a 13, 14, 15, 16 or 17-year-old take creatine?

The evidence has no age-by-age answer. The three trials in the table below enrolled 17-year-olds, under-16s and 13 to 14-year-olds^{9, 10, 11} and measured sprints, jumps or ball skills, never growth, bone age, hormones or long-term blood markers; none lasted longer than eight weeks. No age flips the evidence from unknown to known.

The ISSN's 2017 position stand finds creatine acceptable only for younger athletes who "are involved in serious/competitive supervised training", eat "a well-balanced and performance enhancing diet", are "knowledgeable about appropriate use of creatine" and "do not exceed recommended dosages".⁶ The American Academy of Pediatrics takes the other view: for most young athletes, performance-enhancing substances do "not produce significant gains over those seen with the onset of puberty", and it lists "high rates of product contamination" among its concerns.¹²

Neither has a safety trial to offer. This page gives no dose for anyone under 18, because no study has set one; how much creatine should you take is written for adults from adult trials.

Does creatine stunt growth, or make you taller?

Neither has been measured, so the fear and the hope rest on nothing. No adolescent creatine trial has recorded height, growth velocity, bone age or pubertal stage; the 2023 review calls for studies on "the growth, development, and performance of the developing athlete".¹ Height is set by genes and the timing of puberty; no study has shown creatine acting on growth plates or growth hormones either way. "Stunts growth" is unsupported; so is "makes you taller". What adults see is up to about a litre of water inside muscle in the first weeks (does creatine make you gain weight): weight, not height.

What do the studies in young athletes show?

Protocols are as the trials ran them, under supervision, not a suggestion for anyone.

Study	Who, and how long	What it measured	What it found
Yáñez-Silva 2017⁹	19 male youth footballers, mean age 17; low daily amount by body weight or placebo, 14 days	Power on a 30-second cycle test; total work	Peak and mean power rose after creatine, not placebo; total work rose in both groups
Vargas-Molina 2022¹⁰	23 male under-16 basketball players, mean age 14.3; daily amount by body weight or nothing, 8 weeks of training; open-label	Four jump tests; points and minutes per game	One jump (Abalakov) and points per game improved more with creatine; three other jumps and minutes did not differ significantly
Wu 2025¹¹	40 male basketball players aged 13 to 14; five-day protocol by body weight or placebo, crossover	Ball skills during mental arithmetic; heart rate; perceived effort	Dribbling, passing and shooting improved under the dual task; heart rate and perceived effort were lower

Missing from all of them: girls, anything longer than eight weeks, and any health outcome.¹

What about children under 13, and a toddler who swallows some?

No trial has given creatine to healthy children under 13. It has been studied in children with neuromuscular and metabolic disorders under specialist care,² which is not evidence for a healthy ten-year-old. Nothing supports giving creatine to a baby or toddler, and the label says "out of the reach of young children".⁵

If a small child swallows some, the NHS poisoning advice applies: call NHS 111 if you are "not sure if something you or someone else have swallowed, touched or breathed in" is harmful; 999 or A&E if they have lost consciousness, have severe difficulty breathing or have a seizure; do not make them sick.¹³ A mother's own question is covered on can you take creatine while pregnant or breastfeeding.

What should you do if your teenager is asking for creatine?

Parents describe the same scene: a son who "will not stop going on about it", who is "adamant everyone his age is taking it", and no clear answer online. The lack of an answer is the answer: nobody can call creatine proven safe, or proven harmful, at 15.

Start with meals, sleep and training, which the paediatric academy says deliver most of a young athlete's gains,¹² then ask the GP, school nurse or a registered sports dietitian to weigh diet, growth, any kidney condition or regular medicine.
Ask the club or governing body. No national UK school or club rule on creatine was found. For a junior in a tested sport, UK Anti-Doping's supplement guidance is to "assess the need, risk and consequences", since "there is no guarantee that any dietary supplement is free from containing prohibited substances"; its pages do not name creatine either way.
The GCSE "brain power" hope. Great Britain's health-claims committee refused a cognition claim for creatine in 2024.⁷ The adult trials are on creatine and the brain; none is in teenagers or tested exam performance.
If he is going to anyway ("Realistically I can't stop him taking it", as one parent put it), insist that the GP knows, that he never exceeds the label's stated daily dose, and that anyone ordering a kidney blood test is told.

Frequently asked questions

What age can you start taking creatine?

There is no evidence-based age. The authorised performance claim is restricted to foods targeting adults, and no trial has been designed to test safety under 18.^{1, 7}

Is creatine safe for a 16-year-old?

Not established either way. Trials in 16 and 17-year-olds lasted days to weeks, measured performance and recorded no adverse events; none measured growth, hormones or long-term kidney markers.^{1, 2, 9}

Is creatine beneficial for children with ADHD?

No trial has tested creatine in ADHD at any age. The NHS says "ADHD medicines must be started and monitored by an ADHD specialist"; support starts with the GP or the school's SENCO.¹⁴ The adult trials are on creatine and the brain.

Can a teenager take creatine gummies?

The same answer as powder. A gummy is an adult food supplement in a different form (do creatine gummies work); no format has been tested in teenagers, so none is safer or less safe.

Does creatine cause kidney damage in teenagers?

Not studied. None of the adolescent performance trials measured kidney markers,³ and the 2026 review saw no consistent short-term kidney signal.⁴ In adults, creatine raises blood creatinine, the marker kidney tests read, with measured kidney function unchanged in healthy people; creatine side effects explains why the GP must know.

Sources

Metzger GA, et al. Creatine supplementation in the pediatric and adolescent athlete: a literature review. Journal of Orthopaedics, 2023. PubMed 37008451.
Jagim AR, Kerksick CM. Creatine supplementation in children and adolescents. Nutrients, 2021. PubMed 33670822.
Antonio J, et al. Common questions and misconceptions about creatine supplementation: what does the scientific evidence really show? Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 2021. PubMed 33557850.
Rubinchuk A, et al. Evaluating the safety of creatine monohydrate in adolescents: a systematic review of renal, hepatic, and cardiometabolic outcomes. Cureus, 2026. PubMed 42124755.
The Food Supplements (England) Regulations 2003 (SI 2003/1387), regulation 6, as made; fetched 11 October 2026. legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2003/1387/regulation/6/made
Kreider RB, et al. International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: safety and efficacy of creatine supplementation in exercise, sport, and medicine. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 2017. PubMed 28615996.
Great Britain nutrition and health claims (NHC) register, last updated 19 May 2026, fetched 11 October 2026. gov.uk/government/publications/great-britain-nutrition-and-health-claims-nhc-register
Banning the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to children: consultation outcome, updated 16 July 2026, fetched 11 October 2026. gov.uk/government/consultations/banning-the-sale-of-high-caffeine-energy-drinks-to-children
Yáñez-Silva A, et al. Effect of low dose, short-term creatine supplementation on muscle power output in elite youth soccer players. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 2017. PubMed 28190980.
Vargas-Molina S, et al. A randomized open-labeled study to examine the effects of creatine monohydrate and combined training on jump and scoring performance in young basketball players. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 2022. PubMed 35966022.
Wu J, et al. Acute creatine supplementation enhances technical performance in adolescent basketball players under cognitive-motor dual-task condition. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 2025. PubMed 40758095.
LaBotz M, Griesemer BA; American Academy of Pediatrics. Use of performance-enhancing substances. Pediatrics, 2016. PubMed 27354458.
NHS. Poisoning. Page last reviewed 12 June 2025, fetched 11 October 2026. nhs.uk/conditions/poisoning
NHS. ADHD in children and young people. Page last reviewed 19 March 2025, fetched 11 October 2026. nhs.uk/conditions/adhd-children-teenagers

General information, not medical advice: for a child or teenager, speak to the GP, school nurse or a registered sports dietitian first.

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