Creatine’s New Normal

I’ve been thinking a lot about a world that existed before the internet and before supply chains became truly global. Back in the '90s, when we were building the sports nutrition brand Maxim, there was a much higher degree of implicit trust in society. You trusted your suppliers, and you trusted that a manufacturer was selling something that wasn't going to be harmful or make you sick. We did deals on handshakes, and your word was your bond; the conversation about the purity of ingredients simply never came up as a discussion point with consumers or businesses.

Sounds crazy in comparison to where we are today.

We had our certificates of analysis tucked away in paper files for the trading standards office, but it wasn't something that kept you awake at night, and it certainly wasn’t the defining USP of your brand or product. It was just the normal way of doing business in a much more localised, simple world.

The industry has changed since those early days. The shift occurred when the business became global, and procurement started looking for ingredients from all over the world based on the best price. The supply chain went from being relatively simple to being highly complex, fragmented, and quite opaque. And because of this complexity, the creatine category has uniquely created a narrative for itself that focuses almost entirely on a specific standard of cleanliness. I don’t know of any other ingredient, honestly (whether it’s iron, probiotics, omega-3s, or protein), that has focused its entire identity on this single metric. It feels like we are making a mountain out of a molehill sometimes. We are talking about microscopic parts per million, yet this one category has made a rod for its own back by focusing on the wrong narrative.

If we look at this in the cold light of day, the safety thresholds are very clear. In the US, the United States Pharmacopeia (USP)  baseline for imported creatine is 98% purity, and at a standard daily dose of three to five grams, there is no risk to human health. Even at that level, the data shows you aren't building up dangerous levels of toxins. Most reputable retailers already have systems in place to ensure these requirements are met. When you buy a steak from the butcher or a cabbage from the grocery store, you don't ask for a certificate of analysis, even though they are subject to soil contaminants and rainfall. It actually doesn’t make sense when you take a step back and realise how disproportionately this spotlight has found creatine.

At Jenerise, we’ve decided that our upcoming and future launches will not showcase purity as our unique selling point. I cannot stand on a stage and claim our offerings are better (or worse) just because of a few tiny parts per million. Yes, safety is absolute and imperative, but to me, that level of quality is a prerequisite; it’s a given. It’s the "Intel Inside" of our brand. Every manufacturer should be at this level because it is perfectly doable. Purity is just the starting line, the absolute new normal. The real question is: what do you do with that material to create new value for the person actually using it?.

The future of this category has to be about innovation, utility, and application. We are focusing on how the product actually performs: the solubility, eliminating the grit and bitter aftertaste, and ensuring the mesh size is perfectly aligned for modern manufacturing. I was frustrated to see that creatine in 2011, when I popped my head back into the world of creatine, looked almost exactly the same as it did in the 90s when I had worked with it so closely. It hadn't evolved to become more attractive to the people who really need to be taking it. We are moving beyond the baseline conversation because we want to focus on delivery mechanisms and use cases that haven't been explored yet.

I also believe that as a brand, we lose the game the moment we start using comparison charts to bash competitors. Those tactics don’t level up a brand or company... In my opinion, you end up dragging yourself into a conversation that isn’t part of your own roadmap and the bright future you should have your eyes set on as an honest business person.

We aren't interested in being a reactive brand that exists only in relation to what others are doing. Our mission is to provide a product that is future-proof, scientifically credible, and functionally superior.

Check out my previous post below.

We all rise together,

Steve Jennings | Co-Founder + CEO, Jenerise