Quick Answer
No, there is no creatine in the original BioSteel sports drink products. BioSteel is known for having a simple, clean ingredient profile and does not contain any creatine. The original BioSteel formula includes water, sodium, potassium, stevia leaf extract, blue sea salt, coconut water powder, and natural flavors.
What is BioSteel?
BioSteel is a sports drink company founded in 2009 by former NHL player Michael Cammalleri and business partner John Celenza. The original BioSteel sports drink was developed as a natural alternative to sugary sports drinks like Gatorade.
Some key facts about BioSteel:
- Headquartered in Toronto, Canada
- Currently endorsed by over 300 pro athletes from major sports leagues like the NHL, NFL, MLB, and NBA
- Acquired by Canopy Growth Corporation in 2019
- Product lineup includes sports drinks, protein powders, collagen powder, and CBD-infused beverages
- Known for using natural ingredients and containing no artificial colors, flavors, or sweeteners
The brand aims to provide hydration and nutrients from plant-based sources while avoiding artificial additives. As a clean, natural sports drink, BioSteel does not contain any creatine in its original formula.
BioSteel Ingredients
The key ingredients in the original BioSteel sports drink are:
- Water – The base of the drink is water to provide hydration.
- Sodium – Includes electrolytes like sodium and potassium to replenish what’s lost in sweat.
- Stevia leaf extract – Used as a natural zero-calorie sweetener.
- Blue sea salt – For additional electrolytes and minerals.
- Coconut water powder – Provides natural electrolytes from coconut water.
- Natural flavors – For flavoring.
As you can see, creatine is noticeably absent from that ingredient list. The company emphasizes whole-food ingredients over synthetic additives like creatine.
The lack of creatine sets BioSteel apart from many other sports drinks which are formulated with creatine or other muscle-building compounds. The original BioSteel product aims to just provide hydration and electrolyte replenishment rather than muscle enhancement or performance amplification.
What is Creatine?
Creatine is one of the most commonly used sports supplements on the market. It is a naturally occurring compound that is made in the body to supply energy to cells and tissues, particularly muscles.
Here’s a quick rundown of key facts about creatine:
- Naturally produced in the liver, pancreas and kidneys
- Stored as creatine phosphate (phosphocreatine) in muscles
- Used to rapidly regenerate ATP, the fuel source for high-intensity muscle contractions
- 95% of the body’s creatine is stored in skeletal muscle tissue
- Red meat and seafood are dietary sources of creatine
- Synthetically manufactured as a sports supplement
- Promotes muscle strength, power output, and lean mass gains when combined with exercise
Supplemental creatine first became popular in the 1990s. Studies showing that it could boost strength and muscle mass led to widespread use among athletes and fitness enthusiasts.
While creatine occurs naturally in the body and food, most sports supplements provide it in a pure powder form. Creatine monohydrate is the most common, affordable and research-backed type of creatine supplement.
Benefits of Creatine for Athletes
Decades of research have shown that creatine can provide several performance and physique benefits:
- Improves high-intensity exercise capacity – Creatine enhances the body’s ability to produce energy rapidly during intense activities like sprinting, weight lifting, team sports, etc.
- Increases muscle strength and power – Supplementing with creatine has consistently been shown to improve physical performance in strength and power-based sports.
- Supports lean muscle gains – Creatine boosts the ability to gain muscle during strength training programs by enhancing protein synthesis and inhibiting protein breakdown.
- Reduces mental fatigue – Some evidence indicates creatine may help maintain cognition, focus and mental performance during exhaustive exercise.
- May support injury prevention – Creatine supports overall musculoskeletal health and may help reduce risk factors like muscle strains and tears.
These performance and physique enhancing effects make creatine an extremely popular supplement among competitive athletes, fitness enthusiasts and recreational gym-goers. Using creatine while strength training can provide a significant benefit.
Why BioSteel Doesn’t Contain Creatine
Given the proven benefits of creatine for athletic performance and muscle-building, it may seem like an odd omission from BioSteel’s products.
However, there are a few reasons why BioSteel sports drinks don’t contain any added creatine:
- Outside the core focus – As a sports drink, BioSteel is marketed primarily as a source of hydration and electrolytes rather than performance enhancement. So adding creatine falls outside the core purpose of the product.
- Keep the formula simple – BioSteel aims to only use key electrolytes, minerals and natural ingredients in their drinks. Adding creatine would make the ingredients more complex.
- Some consumers prefer no additives – While many athletes want supplements like creatine, some people prefer drinks with minimal or no additives.
- Concerns over solubility and taste – Creatine has solubility challenges and a taste that some users dislike, which may impact the drink’s formulation and palatability.
BioSteel sticks to electrolyte replenishment and avoids muscle-boosting compounds like creatine in order to provide a straightforward sports drink.
BioSteel Sport and Creatine
The original BioSteel sports drink contains no creatine, but this isn’t the case for all BioSteel products.
BioSteel Sport is an isotonic sports drink mix that does contain creatine along with other performance-enhancing ingredients.
BioSteel Sport comes in protein-enhanced and non-protein versions. Both versions list creatine as an ingredient on the nutrition labels.
Here are some key differences between the original BioSteel and BioSteel Sport products:
| BioSteel | BioSteel Sport |
|---|---|
| Focused on hydration | Focused on performance enhancement |
| No creatine | Contains creatine |
| Lower electrolytes | Higher electrolytes |
| No protein | With or without added protein |
While the original BioSteel drink is creatine-free, the company does produce performance-oriented products like BioSteel Sport that are formulated with creatine and other muscle-boosting nutrients.
At 5g per serving, the creatine content of BioSteel Sport is similar to many standard creatine supplements. The addition of creatine brings BioSteel Sport closer to an intra-workout supplement than a sports drink.
Should You Use Creatine with BioSteel?
Since most BioSteel products don’t actually contain creatine, you may be wondering if you should take creatine supplements along with drinking BioSteel.
There are a few factors to consider here:
- If building muscle strength and size is your main goal, then yes, adding creatine supplements can provide additional benefit.
- Creatine and electrolyte replenishment from BioSteel Sports Drink can complement each other well – fluids to hydrate and creatine to fuel muscles.
- Taking creatine at the same time as BioSteel is unlikely to cause issues as they are different types of supplements.
- 5g of creatine monohydrate per day, every day is a good general dosage recommendation to start with.
- You may want to avoid taking creatine alongside the BioSteel Sport products since they already contain creatine.
Using creatine and BioSteel together can be an effective stacking strategy for athletes and fitness enthusiasts looking to enhance performance, recovery and physique improvements.
Should Creatine Be Added to BioSteel?
We’ve established that the current BioSteel product lineup mostly excludes creatine, except for the performance-focused BioSteel Sport.
This begs the question – should BioSteel add creatine to their flagship sports drink product?
There are reasonable arguments on both sides:
Reasons to add creatine:
- Creatine is one of the most proven and effective sports supplements for strength athletes.
- Adding an evidence-backed performance enhancer like creatine could appeal to serious athletes.
- People who already use creatine could benefit from getting it in their sports drink as well.
- May increase sales among hardcore gym-goers and bodybuilders who take creatine.
Reasons not to add creatine:
- Would make the formula more complex by adding another ingredient.
- Potential solubility and taste issues with adding creatine.
- People who want creatine can simply take it as a separate supplement.
- Could turn off consumers who want a simpler, cleaner sports drink.
Whether creatine should be added likely comes down to BioSteel’s brand positioning and target market.
The absence of creatine allows BioSteel to occupy a unique spot as a cleaner, purer sports drink brand. But adding an ingredient as popular as creatine amongst serious athletes could potentially expand their customer base.
There are reasonable arguments on both sides. In the end, it may come down to consumer research and testing different formulations.
The Bottom Line
In summary:
- The original BioSteel sports drink does not contain any added creatine.
- BioSteel Sport products do include 5g of creatine per serving.
- Creatine can enhance strength, power, muscle gains and anaerobic endurance.
- BioSteel leaves creatine out of their core products to focus on clean hydration rather than muscle enhancement.
- Stacking creatine supplements with the original BioSteel can be an effective strategy.
- Adding creatine to BioSteel sports drinks could appeal to hardcore athletes but may turn off other consumers.
While creatine has proven benefits for athletes, BioSteel has chosen to leave it out of their flagship sports drink. But creatine and BioSteel can still be effectively stacked together for hydration, muscle-building and performance enhancement.
