Nutritional Profiles of US Adults with Suboptimal Dietary Creatine Intake

Introduction: Recent population-based studies reported an inadequate dietary intake of creatine, a conditionally essential nutrient that plays an important role in human metabolism. Methods: We analyzed here the nutritional profiles of US adults with low creatine consumption, using data from the 2017 to 2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Results: Among 4,004 NHANES adult participants that reported detailed dietary intake information, 2,611 (65.2%) were calculated to have dietary creatine intake below recommended levels of 1.00 g/day. The average daily creatine intake in this subpopulation was 0.52 ± 0.26 g (95% confidence interval, from 0.51 to 0.53). This was accompanied by a significantly lower dietary intake of meat-based protein, as compared to participants whose dietary creatine intake was equal to or above recommended levels (20.1 ± 10.2 g/day vs. 67.1 ± 30.4 g/day; p < 0.001). Conclusion: The large-scale rate of suboptimal dietary creatine intake found in this cross-sectional study warrants additional research, and calls for immediate public health measures fostering creatine-rich foods in human nutrition.