Bulk Creatine Monohydrate review

Our take: cheap, plain and slightly over-served

Bulk is one of the two big UK value brands for sports nutrition, and its creatine is exactly what a value creatine should be: creatine monohydrate on its own, unflavoured, vegan, at a stated 99.9 per cent purity. At the lowest listing we saw, it works out at about £2.60 per 100 g, level with the cheapest creatine we have reviewed.

The one thing worth knowing is the serving. The 500 g pouch is listed as 100 servings, which means a 5 g scoop — about 4.4 g of creatine. That is safe and it works. But both the research and the authorised claim on the label are built on 3 g of creatine a day, which is about 3.4 g of powder. Use that instead, and the pouch lasts 147 days rather than 100.

This is a desk review. We have read the published label details, UK retailer listings and the research on creatine monohydrate. We have not used this product, tested its contents or run a trial. We could not open Bulk’s own product page while writing, so the next section says where each figure came from.

What exactly are you buying?

Bulk Creatine Monohydrate is sold unflavoured in pack sizes including 500 g, 1 kg and larger, and is described as micronised, vegan and 99.9 per cent pure creatine monohydrate with no additives. UK listings describe the 500 g pouch as 100 servings.

That serving count implies a 5 g serving of creatine monohydrate. Because the monohydrate form includes a bound water molecule — about 12 per cent of its weight — 5 g of powder gives about 4.4 g of creatine. The label’s claim, meanwhile, says the beneficial effect is obtained with a daily intake of 3 g of creatine, which is about 3.4 g of powder.

None of that is a problem physiologically. Taking 4.4 g a day will saturate your muscles slightly faster than 3 g and is well within the doses studied for safety. It simply means that if you follow the pack, you use more powder than the evidence requires. We could not read the scoop size or directions directly, so check them on the pack.

The label does not name where the creatine is made. Bulk sells a separate Creapure-branded creatine, made in Germany, for buyers who want a named source.

What creatine can realistically do

Creatine monohydrate is one of the most studied supplements in sports nutrition. The International Society of Sports Nutrition’s 2017 position stand calls it the most effective nutritional supplement available for increasing high-intensity exercise capacity and lean body mass during training. A 2017 meta-analysis of 53 randomised studies found a consistent improvement in upper-body strength, and an earlier review the same for the lower body. The effects are modest — a few per cent on top of training.

In the classic Nottingham study by Hultman and colleagues, 3 g a day for 28 days raised muscle creatine by about 20 per cent — the same as 20 g a day for six days, just more slowly. That is why 3 g is the figure on the GB nutrition and health claims register, where creatine is authorised to increase physical performance in successive bursts of short-term, high-intensity exercise.

Creatine helps with heavy sets, sprints and stop-start sport. It does little for steady endurance work and does not build muscle on its own: it lets you do slightly more work in training, and the training does the rest.

Testing: what the listings do and do not say

The listings we read state the purity — 99.9 per cent — but make no banned-substance testing claim for this product, such as Informed Sport or Informed Choice. For an ordinary gym-goer, a plain creatine monohydrate from an established UK brand is a low-risk purchase. For an athlete under anti-doping rules, strict liability applies, and the safer choice is a product whose batch you can look up in a certifier’s database. Our Myprotein Impact Creatine review covers one that claims Informed Choice certification.

Price: as cheap as creatine gets

A UK price comparison site listed the 500 g pouch from £12.99, about £2.60 per 100 g. We read that from a search listing rather than taking an order through checkout, so confirm the delivered price before you pay.

At 3 g of creatine a day (about 3.4 g of powder), that is roughly 9p a day, and the pouch lasts about 147 days. At the pack’s 5 g serving, it is about 13p a day for 100 days.

For comparison, we priced Myprotein Impact Creatine at about £3.20 per 100 g for 500 g on offer and £2.60 to £3.50 for 1 kg, and Optimum Nutrition Micronised Creatine at £6.31 to £7.49 per 100 g at list price. For the same compound, Bulk is at or near the bottom of the range.

Best alternatives

The ones we have fully reviewed are linked, and appear in the comparison cards below this article. The others we name for comparison only: we have not reviewed them in full, so do not read their inclusion as a recommendation.

• Myprotein Impact Creatine (reviewed) — our highest-scoring creatine. Similar price per 100 g in its larger packs, a serving that matches the 3 g claim exactly, and an Informed Choice testing claim.
• Optimum Nutrition Micronised Creatine (reviewed) — the big-brand option at the same 3 g dose, but more than twice the price per 100 g at list price and a product page that contradicts itself on serving size.
• Bulk Creapure Creatine (not yet reviewed) — Bulk’s own premium version made with Creapure, for buyers who want a named German source. It costs more, and the trials were run on creatine monohydrate, not on a brand of it.
• A batch-tested creatine — if you compete under anti-doping rules, choose whichever monohydrate you can look up by batch in a certifier’s database.

Who should skip it, and what to watch for

For healthy adults, creatine monohydrate has one of the better safety records in the supplement aisle. The ISSN’s 2021 review of common questions and misconceptions concluded that the research does not support claims that creatine harms healthy kidneys, causes dehydration or cramping, or leads to hair loss.

Expect a kilogram or so of extra body weight in the first weeks, mainly water drawn into muscle. Creatine raises blood creatinine, a marker used to estimate kidney function, so tell your doctor you take it before a routine blood test.

Anyone with kidney disease, anyone taking medicines that affect the kidneys, and anyone pregnant or breastfeeding should talk to their GP or pharmacist before starting. Creatine is not recommended for under-18s. Food supplements sold in Great Britain are not approved by a regulator for safety or effectiveness before sale, so the label is the manufacturer’s responsibility rather than a regulator’s endorsement.

Sources and shopping: our UK buying checklist

Before you order, choose the unflavoured version and a pack size you will finish before its best-before date. Check the delivered price and divide it by the pack weight to get the cost per 100 g; around £3 or less is good value for plain monohydrate. Check whether the seller is Bulk or an authorised retailer.

When the pack arrives, check the seal, the batch code and the best-before date. Weigh out about 3.4 g once — a cheap kitchen scale that reads to 0.1 g is enough — to see how much of the scoop that is, and use that amount daily. Give it four weeks before judging whether it is doing anything.

Our commercial link for this product is our Bulk Creatine Monohydrate link. It earns us a commission at no extra cost to you, and it has no influence on the score above — which is an 8.2, held back by a pack serving larger than the evidence needs, an unnamed source and no testing claim.

The fair summary is this. Bulk Creatine Monohydrate is plain creatine at about as low a price as it goes in the UK. Take 3 g of creatine a day rather than the pack’s serving, and it is one of the best buys in the aisle.