Creatine loading causes water retention and bloating

This review paper was written by a team of experts to answer common questions about creatine supplements, including whether the loading phase causes water retention and bloating. However, every one of the 11 authors holds financial ties to AlzChem — the company that manufactures creatine — or to the ISSN, an organisation financially supported by the creatine industry, making the conclusions unreliable as independent science.

• No original data: the paper only summarises other studies rather than running new experiments or pooling data with formal statistics
• Short-term water retention is real: even within this paper, the authors acknowledge a loading phase (20 g/day for 5–7 days) typically causes a 1–3 kg body mass increase mostly from water
• Longer-term picture is mixed: some studies show no persistent water retention; two others show significant increases in total or intracellular body water at 4–8 weeks — the paper downplays these without formal analysis
• Structural conflict of interest: when all reviewers hold advisory board positions at the product's manufacturer, their summary conclusions cannot be used as neutral evidence