Dietary creatine and sperm-related hormones in US males
What it found
In over 1,300 US males aged 12 and older, creatine from food was not strongly linked to two blood hormones related to sperm production.
The study used existing survey data, so it cannot prove cause and effect.
What they found
Studies in people
No link to inhibin B
Creatine intake from food was not significantly associated with blood levels of inhibin B, either before or after accounting for age, total calories, and protein intake.
Weak link to AMH
In the first analysis, higher creatine intake was linked to slightly lower AMH levels, but this link disappeared after accounting for age, total calories, and protein intake.
No difference by hormone threshold
There was no significant difference in creatine intake between participants with inhibin B below 112 pg/mL and those at or above that level, which is considered a sign of normal sperm production.
Average intake and hormone levels
The average dietary creatine intake was 0.97 grams per day. Average blood levels were 135.7 pg/mL for inhibin B and 10.45 ng/mL for AMH.
What the authors conclude
“Our findings suggest no significant association between dietary creatine intake and indirect biomarkers of spermatogenesis in males aged 12 years and older.”
Also in their conclusions
- They say their findings suggest no significant association between dietary creatine intake and indirect biomarkers of spermatogenesis in males aged 12 years and older.
- They conclude that creatine from food is unlikely to have either beneficial or detrimental effects on spermatogenesis in the general population.
- They call for future epidemiological research in diverse groups and for interventional studies using testicular tissue and semen analyses to better understand creatine's role in male reproductive health.
How it was done
Creatine helps supply energy to many organs, including the testes, and making sperm takes a lot of energy. Some studies suggest creatine might help sperm health, while others raise concerns, and it was unclear what effect creatine from food has on sperm.
The researchers looked at data from 1,350 male participants in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) from 1999 to 2004, all aged 12 and older. They compared how much creatine each person got from food with their blood levels of two hormones, inhibin B and anti-Müllerian hormone (AMH).
What it can’t tell you
- This study used existing survey data and did not test creatine directly in an experiment, so it cannot show whether creatine causes any changes.
- The study looked at hormones in the blood, not sperm itself, so it cannot show how creatine affects actual sperm production or fertility.
- Because the study looked at people at one point in time, it can show a link but not cause and effect.
Who paid
- Conflicts
- DN, NT, THS and DE declare no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the authorship of this paper. SMO serves as a member of the Scientific Advisory Board on Creatine in Health and Medicine (AlzChem LLC). SMO co-owns patent “ Supplements Based on Liquid Creatine ” at the European Patent Office (WO2019150323 A1) and patent application “ Composition Comprising Creatine for Use in Telomere Lengthening ” at the US Patent and Trademark Office (# 18/934,264). SMO has received research support related to creatine during the past 36 months from the Ministry of Science, Technological Development and Innovation; Provincial Secretariat for Higher Education and Scientific Research; AlzChem GmbH; Kaneka Nutrients; ThermoLife International, and Vireo System Inc. SMO is the co-founder of KRE-ALL, a company developing creatine-enriched food products, and the founder of INOVA Nutrition, a biotechnology startup focused on innovative nutraceuticals.
- Authors work at
- University of Novi Sad, Serbia; University of Agder, Norway; University of Pécs, Hungary
The paper
- Title
- Association between dietary creatine intake and serum biomarkers of spermatogenesis in males aged 12 years and older
- Type
- Study
- Evidence
- Studies in people
- Summarised from
- Full text
- Licence
- CC BY. Words in quotation marks are the authors’; the rest is our summary.
- Cite
- Nedeljkovic D, Todorovic N, Stea TH, Engeset D, Ostojic SM (2025). Association between dietary creatine intake and serum biomarkers of spermatogenesis in males aged 12 years and older. Reproduction & fertility. doi:10.1530/RAF-25-0009Free full textPubMed 40859883DOI
Summary written 29 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error