By Dr. Entela Çeliku, PhD in Natural Product Chemistry
Every time I go to the gym, I can’t help but notice how much pressure there is to take supplements. Everyone is mixing protein shakes, drinking pre-workouts, and debating which powder builds muscle faster. It’s become part of the culture: train, drink, repeat. And while I care deeply about health and performance, I’ve learned to ask a simple question before adding anything new to my routine: Do I really know what I’m putting into my body?
A few weeks ago, a viral post claimed that creatine is made from insecticides. I saw panic spreading online, people suddenly doubting one of the most trusted supplements in the world. As a chemist, I felt the need to step in. Because while the headline grabs attention, the truth is far more scientific and much less frightening if you understand it.
The supplement world today is full of bold claims and viral trends, many of them detached from scientific reality. In our previous article, Biohackers, Influencers, and the Truth About Supplements, we explored how marketing hype often overshadows evidence, and how consumers can learn to recognize the difference between fear-based headlines and fact-based science.
The Real Role of Creatine
Creatine isn’t a foreign chemical. It’s something your body already makes every day from three amino acids, arginine, glycine, and methionine. It plays a vital role in producing ATP, the energy molecule your muscles and brain use for performance and recovery. About half of your body’s creatine comes from your diet, while the rest is made naturally by your liver, kidneys, and pancreas. Nearly 95% of it is stored in your skeletal muscles, where it supports strength, endurance, and repair.
For people who exercise, creatine helps the body regenerate energy faster, recover from intense effort, and build lean muscle more efficiently. Studies also show it supports focus and brain energy, especially under stress or fatigue.
Why We Supplement
Creatine is naturally present in foods like beef, pork, salmon, fish, shellfish, and milk, but in very small amounts. Herring and tuna have the highest levels, around 3–6 g per kg, while beef and pork contain about 4–5 g per kg, and salmon around 4 g. Cod and most white fish average only 1.5 g per kg, and shellfish such as shrimp or mussels less than 1 g.
To reach the recommended 5–8 g per day shown in research to optimize muscle and brain performance, you’d need to eat more than 2 kg of fish or meat every single day, something neither practical nor healthy. That’s why creatine supplements were developed: they provide the same natural molecule, in a purified and concentrated form, without requiring an impossible diet.
How Creatine Is Made: The Chemistry Behind It
Because extracting creatine from food isn’t feasible, nearly all creatine supplements are synthetically produced. The process combines two key compounds:sarcosine, derived from the amino acid glycine, and cyanamide, a nitrogen-based compound made from ammonia and calcium carbide. When mixed in purified water under controlled heat and pressure, they form creatine crystals, which are later filtered, dried, and ground into the fine white powder known as creatine monohydrate.
Here’s where the misunderstanding starts. Cyanamide and cyanide may sound similar, but they are completely different substances. Cyanamide is safe when used correctly in a controlled synthesis process, while cyanide is a toxic compound that has nothing to do with creatine production. However and this is important cyanamide is also used as a chemical intermediate in the synthesis of many agrochemicals, including herbicides, fungicides, and pesticides. This fact, verified by sources such as PubChem and Evonik, is what fuels confusion online. Because cyanamide serves as a building block in pesticide manufacturing, people wrongly assume that any product made from it must be toxic too. In reality, chemistry doesn’t work that way: compounds can have entirely different properties once transformed into new molecules.
The Origin of the “Insecticide” Myth
The rumor that creatine is made from insecticides comes from both this connection and from how some low-cost factories handle purification. In cheaper production facilities, particularly across Asia and India, industrial solvents such as methanol, acetone, or dichloroethane are often used to clean and crystallize the product. These same solvents are common in pesticide manufacturing.
When purification is done correctly, these solvents are completely removed. But when it’s not, residues of these chemicals can remain, and many of them are carcinogenic, meaning they can contribute to cancer development with long-term exposure. They also place unnecessary strain on the liver and kidneys. This is why the purification process and the origin of manufacturing matter so much when choosing your supplement.
Why Purity Matters
High-quality creatine, such as Creapure® made in Germany, uses a water-based purification process that avoids all organic solvents. The result is a product with over 99.9% purity, free from heavy metals, microbes, and solvent residues. Produced under strict European GMP and HACCP standards, it’s widely recognized as the safest and cleanest form of creatine available worldwide.
Choosing the right creatine isn’t just about performance, it’s about trust. Paying slightly more for a solvent-free, water-purified supplement protects your long-term health and ensures your body gets exactly what it needs: clean, natural energy.
What Happens When You Take Creatine
After you take creatine, most of it travels to your muscles, where it binds with phosphate to form phosphocreatine, a compound that regenerates ATP, allowing your muscles to perform at higher intensity. It increases cellular hydration, accelerates recovery, and supports repair after exercise. In the brain, it helps maintain mental focus and energy stability, especially during periods of stress, fatigue, or limited sleep.
For most healthy adults, a daily dose of 3–5 g of creatine monohydrate is both safe and effective. It can be mixed with water or juice and taken at any time of the day. There’s no need for loading or cycling; benefits accumulate gradually as your muscle stores build up.
Beyond the Gym
Creatine isn’t only for athletes. It has growing recognition in neuroscience and longevity research. Studies suggest it can support memory, protect neurons, and maintain healthy muscle and cognitive function as we age. It may also benefit individuals with metabolic or neurodegenerative conditions by improving cellular energy balance.
The Final Word
No, creatine is not made from insecticides. But one of its raw materials, cyanamide, is also used as an intermediate compound in the synthesis of pesticides and herbicides. Combined with the use of carcinogenic solvents in some low-cost factories this has created confusion and mistrust.
The difference lies in purification and transparency. When creatine is manufactured through water-based methods and tested for purity, it is completely safe. When it’s not, harmful residues can remain. That’s why choosing trusted brands like Creapure®, which use solvent-free purification, is essential for your health.
At Kungul, our mission is to empower people to make informed and conscious choices, not only in skincare but in everything they consume. Whether it’s a serum, a shampoo, or a supplement, our philosophy is the same: clean science over fear, transparency over marketing, and safety over shortcuts.
Because your body deserves products that protect it, not those that quietly harm it.
