Creatine blood level
Creatine in the body
The body of an average adult contains approximately 80-130 g of creatine. Creatine and its high-energy form, creatine phosphate, play a crucial role in energy storage and release within cells. A balanced diet provides about half of one's creatine requirement directly through food; the body can produce the rest itself. An average man between the ages of 20 and 40 synthesizes approximately one gram of creatine per day. The value is slightly lower in women than in men, and it decreases with age in both sexes.
Creatine blood level
Creatine is found not only in cells but also in the blood. However, blood creatine levels are not usually used for diagnostic purposes.
Typical values are:
Creatine blood serum (fasting)
Adults 0.3 - 0.7 mg/dL (23 - 53 micromol/L)
Creatine urine (24-hour urine collection)
Men 15 - 189 mg/d
Women 19 - 270 mg/d
Creatine and creatinine
In the body, a certain portion of creatine—approximately two to three grams per day—is broken down into the waste product creatinine and excreted in the urine. Because the terms creatine and creatinine are very similar, these two terms are often confused. While the creatine blood level usually has no diagnostic significance, creatinine is measured as a routine parameter for kidney function.
