Creatine and Heart Palpitations: Is There a Link?

Does Creatine Cause Heart Palpitations?

Does Creatine Cause Heart Palpitations?
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Updated on August 6, 2025
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Creatine is an organic substance that the liver and kidneys synthesize from essential amino acids before transporting it to the muscles. The skeletal muscles store about 95 percent of the body's creatine supply for use during physical activity, with the rest traveling to the heart, brain, and other tissues.

Creatine supplements are available as powders, capsules, liquids, energy bars, and tablets to support people who exercise a lot or can't absorb dietary creatine. However, these supplements can have side effects,

 which very rarely include heart palpitations.

 Heart palpitations involve a racing heartbeat that you might feel in your neck, throat, or chest. You might be uncomfortably aware of your heartbeat or feel like it has skipped beats.

Side Effects of Creatine: Does It Cause Palpitations?

People generally tolerate creatine supplements well, and it doesn't have links to any side effects that threaten health, per a review published in 2025 of 685 human clinical trials comparing creatine with a placebo. Among the 12,839 people who took creatine in the studies, just 12 — around 0.09 percent — experienced palpitations. This was within the margin of clinical significance, meaning that the authors couldn't conclude that creatine increased the occurrence of heart palpitations.

Creatine's very low prevalence of side effects involving the heart may be due to the safe levels of creatine that stay in heart cells after a typical supplementation dose. A study on bodybuilders found that creatine only slightly interacted with heart rate and not in a harmful way.

Despite creatine's safety, some people may experience the following side effects more often than palpitations:

  • Weight gain due to water retention
  • Nausea and vomiting
  • Diarrhea
  • Intense sweating
  • Dizziness
If you notice any of these symptoms, taking smaller doses throughout the day, rather than consuming your whole daily dose at once, may help.

Creatine's Possible Heart Benefits

Limited research has suggested that creatine might provide the heart with additional energy in people with heart failure, in whom the heart muscle doesn't get enough energy. Creatine levels in people with heart failure also reduce significantly, leading some researchers to suggest that creatine supplementation may support improved function.

While more research is necessary, studies have found that creatine supplementation might help improve the quality of life, muscle strength, and endurance for people with heart failure. However, it doesn't seem to show direct improvements in heart function.

For this reason, some people with heart failure take creatine to support heart health. However, not enough solid evidence supports its use for treating heart failure.

Some studies in labs have found that extremely high concentrations of creatine might improve specific heart functions, such as the force with which it contracts or the flow of blood from the heart through the coronary artery. However, the dose a person would need to take is far lower that those used by these studies, and human studies are necessary to confirm this benefit.

Since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration considers creatine to be a dietary supplement, it does not regulate it in the same way as medication.

 Creatine supplements may contain other harmful ingredients, drugs, or contaminants.

 Be sure to pick a product that's undergone testing from a third-party lab, as this can help ensure that you're consuming only the ingredients listed on the label.

EDITORIAL SOURCES
Everyday Health follows strict sourcing guidelines to ensure the accuracy of its content, outlined in our editorial policy. We use only trustworthy sources, including peer-reviewed studies, board-certified medical experts, patients with lived experience, and information from top institutions.
Resources
  1. Creatine. Cleveland Clinic. April 26, 2023.
  2. Kreider RB et al. Safety of creatine supplementation: analysis of the prevalence of reported side effects in clinical trials and adverse event reports. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition. April 8, 2025.
  3. Heart palpitations. MedlinePlus. April 9, 2024.
  4. Balestrino M et al. Role of Creatine in the Heart: Health and Disease. MDPI Nutrients. April 7, 2021.
  5. Creatine. Mayo Clinic. December 13, 2023.
  6. Dietary Supplements. U.S. Food and Drug Administration. October 1, 2024.
  7. Using Dietary Supplements Wisely. National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. January 2019.
  8. Why is Third-Party Certification Important for Dietary Supplements? Uniformed Services University. May 29, 2024.
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Sanjai Sinha, MD

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Sanjai Sinha, MD, is a board-certified internal medicine physician and an assistant professor of clinical medicine and the director of the care management program at Weill Cornell Medical College. Helping patients understand health information and make informed decisions, and communicating health topics effectively both in person and through patient educational content, is a challenge that animates his daily life, and something he is always working to improve.

Dr. Sinha did his undergraduate training at the University of California in Berkeley, where he graduated magna cum laude. He earned his medical degree at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City in 1998 and completed his internship and residency training at the New York University School of Medicine in 2001. Subsequently, he worked with the Department of Veterans Affairs from 2001 to 2012 and held faculty appointments at both the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.

In 2006, he won the VISN3 Network Director Award for Public Service and a commendation from the secretary of Veterans Affairs for his relief work after Hurricane Katrina. He joined Weill Cornell Medical College in 2012, where he is an assistant professor of clinical medicine and the director of the care management program, as well as a practicing physician.

In addition to his work for Everyday Health, Sinha has written for various publications, including Sharecare and Drugs.com; published numerous papers in peer-reviewed medical journals, such as the Journal of General Internal Medicine; and presented at national conferences on many healthcare delivery topics. He is a fellow of the American College of Physicians.
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