What's up everyone, Zach Nuster here and today we're going to discuss whether or not creatine is harmful for the kidneys. So before we answer this question, we need to examine why this ever became a concern in the first place. And really I think there are two main reasons as to why people associate creatine with kidney damage. The first reason is just a general ignorance of sports supplements and PEDs. For the general, uninformed public, many sports supplements are sort of grouped in with illegal and potentially harmful performance enhancing compounds. Some of these illegal compounds have been associated directly with kidney and liver damage. I think this has led many to believe that sports supplements in general are potentially dangerous. Apart from this, we've heard horror stories of people with pre-existing kidney conditions or kidney damage, consuming high amounts of protein and often supplementing with protein powder and then suffering from further kidney damage or even kidney failure. Because protein powders and creatine are often lumped together when it comes to sports, supplements, nutrition, this falsely puts creatine and protein powder in a controversial light. But I think the most significant reason for the misconception that creatine causes kidney damage is due to creatinine. Now creatinine in short is a byproduct that's excreted from the kidneys when creatine is broken down. Now creatinine is also a good indicator of the quality of filtration being done by the kidneys and therefore it's also a good indicator of kidney health. So if creatinine is found to be high in the blood, then that's often a sign that the kidneys are being overly stressed and potentially an indicator of kidney damage. Now since creatine is found naturally in small amounts in the body, it only makes sense that supplementing with a ton of creatine is going to lead to higher levels of creatinine in the body. And back when creatine was fairly new, users of a displayed high levels of creatinine in the blood, leading to this false belief that taking creatine was leading to kidney stress and potentially kidney damage because again of the increased creatinine in their blood. When in fact it was just directly caused by the creatine supplementation itself and not kidney damage. So we now know that creatine supplementation does not cause excessive kidney stress or kidney damage and while there really doesn't seem to be a definitive consensus on whether or not creatine supplementation is harmful for those with pre-existing kidney damage or kidney conditions. The current research suggests that it's most likely safe even for those individuals with unhealthy kidneys to supplement with creatine. That being said, while I recommend creatine for any athlete with healthy functioning kidneys, I reserve recommendations for those with pre-existing kidney problems to their doctors just to be on the safe side. But the bottom line is guys, no creatine does not cause kidney damage. Alright, everyone, thank you so much for watching. Make sure to like and share the video and subscribe to the channel to keep up to date on everything fitness. Leave any questions and comments you have in the comments section down below. Follow me on social media and I'll see you guys next time.