Can You Take Creatine and Magnesium Together?

We didn't find a trial testing creatine and magnesium taken together, and there's no documented conflict between the two — they work through unrelated pathways. The one place they actually connect is water balance: creatine's loading phase measurably shifts total body water, and magnesium is one of the minerals involved in the body's normal electrolyte balance.

What each one does

Creatine raises intramuscular phosphocreatine, which the body draws on to help regenerate ATP during short, high-intensity effort. Magnesium is an essential mineral with several EU-authorized nutrient-function roles (EFSA/EC Regulation 432/2012): it contributes to normal muscle function, normal energy-yielding metabolism, and normal electrolyte balance. Those are separate physiological roles — one is an energy-system compound most people don't get meaningfully from food in supplement-sized amounts, the other is a mineral most people take in through both diet and, for some, a supplement.

Is there a known interaction?

We didn't find a controlled trial testing creatine and magnesium supplementation combined, so there's no research-based interaction to point to either way. The general safety literature on creatine — the 2017 International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand — doesn't flag magnesium as a specific concern, and nothing about magnesium's own established roles overlaps with creatine's mechanism in a way that would suggest one blocks the other.

Where they connect: water and electrolyte balance

A one-week randomized trial found creatine's loading dose (0.3 g per kg body weight) raised total body water by about 2%, alongside higher fat-free mass readings that the study authors attributed to water retention rather than muscle growth, given the short timeframe. That's a real, documented shift in body water during loading specifically. Magnesium's electrolyte-balance role is part of the same general picture — hydration and mineral balance move together — but no trial we found specifically tests whether magnesium supplementation changes how someone experiences creatine's water-retention effect. If you're in a creatine loading phase and normally track your magnesium or general hydration, that's a reasonable thing to keep an eye on; it isn't a documented requirement.

Do you need to change your dose or timing?

Nothing in the research above suggests spacing the two apart, or adjusting either product's own label directions because you're taking both. Follow each label's own instructions independently.

Our creatine monohydrate

Electric Tiger Creatine Monohydrate is 5,000 mg of creatine monohydrate per scoop, nothing else in the tub, 50 servings, as low as $20.63 a bottle on subscription. This page doesn't feature a specific magnesium product — see how much creatine should you take a day? for our own product's loading-and-maintenance schedule.

Questions people ask

Can I take creatine and magnesium at the same time?

We didn't find a trial testing that combination, and there's no known conflict between the two. Each product's own label directions apply independently.

Does creatine deplete magnesium?

We didn't find a trial measuring that specifically. The documented effect during creatine loading is a rise in total body water, not a measured change in magnesium status.

Should I take magnesium during creatine loading?

No trial specifically tests that question. The loading phase's water-retention effect is real and documented; whether adding a magnesium supplement changes anything about that experience hasn't been studied directly.