Do eggs contain creatine? How much is in an egg vs meat
Eggs contain almost no creatine. One lab study measured about 0.24 mg of creatine in a whole egg, and an older study found none at all. A 150 g serving of beef holds more than 2,000 times as much. Creatine is stored in muscle, and an egg is not muscle tissue, so eggs are not a meaningful source of creatine.
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Key takeaways
- A whole egg contains only a trace of creatine: about 0.24 mg in one study, and none detected in an older one.
- Creatine is stored mainly in muscle, so meat and fish are the real food sources. A normal serving holds hundreds of milligrams.
- Egg protein is not creatine. Your body makes its own creatine from amino acids, but eating eggs does not count as eating creatine.
- Vegetarians who eat eggs and dairy still get very little creatine from food, and studies show their body creatine levels tend to be lower.
Do eggs contain creatine?
Only in trace amounts. Very few labs have measured creatine in eggs, but the studies that did agree that the amount is tiny.
- A 1970 study used an enzyme test to look for creatine in hen's eggs. It found no creatine in either the yolk or the egg white. This contradicted earlier reports.
- A 2020 poultry study measured creatine in eggs from hens on a normal diet. A whole egg contained about 0.24 mg of creatine: about 0.17 mg in the yolk and about 0.08 mg in the white.
So the honest answer is that an egg contains either no creatine or a fraction of a milligram.
How much creatine is in an egg?
Using the 2020 measurement, one whole egg contains about 0.24 mg, or 0.00024 g. Ten eggs would contain about 2.4 mg. That is still less than 1% of the creatine in a single serving of meat.
The amount can change a little with the hen's diet. In the same study, hens that were fed a creatine building block called guanidinoacetic acid laid eggs with about 42% more creatine. That raised the total to about 0.35 mg per egg, which is still a trace amount.
Keep in mind that this is one small study, and it used eggs from hens raised for breeding. No large database lists creatine for eggs, because the amount is too small to matter for nutrition.
Why do eggs have so little creatine?
Creatine is stored mainly in muscle, where it helps supply quick energy for movement. Animal foods made of muscle, such as meat and fish, are the main food sources. Researchers sometimes call creatine a "carninutrient", meaning that adults get it from food almost only by eating animal muscle, or from supplements.
An egg is not muscle. It is a store of protein, fat, and other nutrients for a growing chick. The 1970 study found that the chick embryo makes its own creatine as it develops, using enzymes in its liver, instead of taking it from the egg.
Eggs vs meat and fish: creatine compared
The table below compares one egg with typical servings of meat and fish. The meat and fish ranges come from our guide to foods high in creatine. They are approximate, and cooking and the cut of meat change the numbers. As a check, a 1997 lab study found about 30 mmol of creatine per kg in raw beef and raw chicken, which is roughly 4 g per kg.
| Food | Serving | Approximate creatine |
|---|---|---|
| Egg | 1 whole egg | about 0.0002 g (0.24 mg) |
| Chicken | 150 g | about 0.3–0.5 g |
| Pork | 150 g | about 0.4–0.7 g |
| Beef | 150 g | about 0.5–0.8 g |
| Salmon | 150 g | about 0.5–0.8 g |
| Herring and similar oily fish | 150 g | about 0.7–1.5 g |
To get the creatine in one 150 g serving of chicken from eggs alone, you would need more than 1,000 eggs. For beef, it would take more than 2,000.
Egg protein is not creatine
Eggs are rich in protein, and that sometimes causes confusion. Creatine is not a protein. It is a small compound that your body makes from three amino acids: arginine, glycine, and methionine. A 2016 review estimated that an adult man uses about 2 g of creatine per day. Up to half of that can come from a diet that includes meat and fish, and the body makes the rest.
Eating eggs gives you amino acids, which your body uses for many things. It does not give you a meaningful amount of ready-made creatine. Protein and creatine also do different jobs, which our guide on creatine vs protein explains.
What about vegetarians who eat eggs?
Vegetarians who eat eggs and dairy still get very little creatine from food. A 2018 randomized trial followed 40 women who ate meat. Some kept their usual diet and some changed to a vegetarian diet. The women who changed to a vegetarian diet without a supplement had lower creatine in their blood and muscles after 3 months. In a group that also took a small daily creatine supplement, this drop was reduced.
A 2016 review also notes that blood and muscle creatine are usually somewhat lower in vegetarians than in people who eat meat. The same review notes that the body can usually make enough creatine for normal function. Our guide on creatine for vegetarians and vegans covers what the research shows for people who do not eat meat.
References
- Reicher N, Epstein T, Gravitz D, et al. (2020). From broiler breeder hen feed to the egg and embryo: The molecular effects of guanidinoacetate supplementation on creatine transport and synthesis. Poultry Science. doi:10.1016/j.psj.2020.03.052
- Ramírez O, Calva E, Trejo A (1970). Creatine regulation in the embryo and growing chick. Biochemical Journal. doi:10.1042/bj1190757
- Harris RC, Lowe JA, Warnes K, Orme CE (1997). The concentration of creatine in meat, offal and commercial dog food. Research in Veterinary Science. doi:10.1016/s0034-5288(97)90181-8
- Brosnan ME, Brosnan JT (2016). The role of dietary creatine. Amino Acids. doi:10.1007/s00726-016-2188-1
- Blancquaert L, Baguet A, Bex T, et al. (2018). Changing to a vegetarian diet reduces the body creatine pool in omnivorous women, but appears not to affect carnitine and carnosine homeostasis: a randomised trial. British Journal of Nutrition. doi:10.1017/S000711451800017X