Nutritional Profiles of U.S. Adults With Suboptimal Dietary Creatine Intake

Abstract

ObjectivesWe determined the prevalence of inadequate dietary intake of creatine and described nutritional profiles of individuals with low creatine intake in U.S. adults using data from the 2017–2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) round. MethodsData for this study were obtained from the latest round of NHANES 2017–2018. Detailed dietary intake information from adult NHANES participants was obtained by dietary interview component through two 24-hour dietary recall interviews. To calculate creatine intake, we first identified meat-based protein foods using 8-digit USDA food codes organized in five database subgroups using dietary interview entry for individual foods. Next, we recorded the gram weight of each food/individual component containing meat-based protein, and calculated the net intake of meat-based protein for each respondent by merging all relevant food items on daily basis. Individual values for total grams of creatine consumed per day for each respondent were computed using the average amount of creatine (3.88 g/kg) across all sources of meat-based protein. A threshold for dietary intake of creatine was set at 1.00 gram per day, with respondents were classified into two subpopulations with the suboptimal intake of creatine (<1.00 g/day) or recommended intake (dietary creatine 3 1.00 g/day). ResultsAmong 4,004 NHANES adult participants that reported detailed dietary intake information, 2,611 (65.2%) were calculated to have dietary creatine intake below recommended levels of 1.00 g/day. The average daily creatine intake in this subpopulation was 0.52 ± 0.26 g (95% confidence interval, from 0.51 to 0.53). This was accompanied by a significantly lower dietary intake of meat-based protein, as compared to participants whose dietary creatine intake was equal to or above recommended levels (20.1 ± 10.2 g/day vs. 67.1 ± 30.4 g/day; P < 0.001). ConclusionsThe large-scale rate of suboptimal dietary creatine intake found in this cross-sectional study warrants additional research, and calls for immediate public health measures fostering creatine-rich foods in human nutrition. Funding SourcesNone.