Creatine impurities: what DCD and DHT are, and which brands publish limits
Independent testing in this category asks one question — is the creatine in there. There is a second question almost nobody asks in public: what else came along with it. Two manufacturing residues have names, have numbers, and are almost never printed on a consumer label.
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The headline number: of the nine creatine gummy brands we review, exactly one publishes numeric impurity ceilings on its own consumer site — Create, at dicyandiamide (DCD) at or below 50 ppm and dihydrotriazine (DHT) at or below 3 ppm, alongside a stated ≥99.9% purity. We checked Legion and Force Factor directly and found no equivalent figures published (checked 13 September 2026).
What DCD and DHT actually are
Creatine monohydrate is made industrially, most commonly by reacting sarcosine with cyanamide. Two byproducts of that reaction are the ones the trade watches:
- Dicyandiamide (DCD) — an unreacted starting-material residue. It is the most commonly specified impurity in creatine raw material.
- Dihydrotriazine (DHT) — a side-reaction product, specified at much lower ceilings than DCD because the tolerances applied to it are tighter.
Neither is an ingredient anyone adds on purpose. Both are controlled by specification at the raw-material stage, which means the ceiling is set long before a gummy is moulded — by whoever the brand buys its powder from, not by the brand's own factory.
Why this is a different question from the label-claim tests
The three independent rounds we track — NOW Foods, SuppCo and James Smith/Eurofins — measured how much creatine was in the product against how much the label promised. That is the right first question, and 16 of 28 product tests failed it. But a product can contain exactly the creatine it claims and still have been made from a low-grade raw material.
Purity is upstream of dose. A brand that publishes its impurity ceilings is telling you something about the material it buys; a brand that only says “third-party tested” is telling you something about a single downstream measurement, if that.
What we could and could not verify
Create's figures are the brand's own published specification, not an independent measurement. We have not seen a certificate of analysis for a specific batch, and we are not in a position to test one. What we can say is narrower and still useful: Create is the only brand on our list that has committed to a number in public at all. A published limit is not proof — it is a commitment that can be held against the brand later, and the rest of the category has not made one.
Create's quality page also states that every batch is tested for purity, potency and label accuracy, and re-tested over time to check that potency holds across shelf life. Stability testing matters more for gummies than for powder, because the degradation route that produces creatinine is a water-and-heat problem and a gummy is made with both.
How to use this when comparing two products
In isolation, a published impurity ceiling tells you very little — you cannot taste 50 ppm and you are not going to lab-test your tub. In comparison, it tells you quite a lot. If two certified products sit at a similar price and one publishes a specification while the other publishes a slogan, the difference between them is not the number itself; it is that one brand was willing to be measured against something.
And if a product publishes neither a lab result nor a specification, “pharmaceutical grade” on the tub is a phrase with no definition behind it. It is not a regulated term for supplements.
Bottom line. Impurity limits are not the first thing to check — dose accuracy and a searchable certification are. But when those two are tied, this is the tiebreaker, and right now it points at exactly one brand in this category.
If purity is the axis you are deciding on, Create is the brand with numbers attached. The 90-count tub is 30 servings at $60 list or $48 on subscription, and our link takes a further 20% off — about $38.40 subscribed. Force Factor is cheaper per serving and also NSF-certified, so it remains the fair alternative if price outweighs the specification.
See Create with 20% off →Opens the official Create site · 20% comes off at checkout · we may earn a commission · prices checked Sep 13, 2026
Questions
What is dicyandiamide (DCD) in creatine?
It is an unreacted residue left over from the manufacture of creatine monohydrate, and the impurity most commonly specified in creatine raw material. It is not an added ingredient. Create publishes a ceiling of 50 ppm or below on its own quality page.
What is dihydrotriazine (DHT)?
A side-reaction product from the same manufacturing process. It is specified at much tighter ceilings than DCD — Create publishes 3 ppm or below, against 50 ppm for DCD.
Which creatine gummy brands publish impurity limits?
Of the nine brands we review, only Create publishes numeric ceilings on its own consumer site, at DCD ≤50 ppm and DHT ≤3 ppm with a stated ≥99.9% purity. We checked Legion and Force Factor directly and found no equivalent published figures as of 14 September 2026. Bear Balanced is a partial case: it states that it uses Creapure, and Creapure publishes its own numeric ceilings for DCD and DHT as a raw-ingredient specification. That is a claim about the powder going in rather than a figure Bear Balanced publishes for its finished gummy, so we count it separately.
Is a published limit the same as an independent test?
No, and the difference matters. A published limit is the brand's own specification for the material it buys. An independent test is a third party measuring a finished product. The specification is a commitment; the test is evidence. Ideally you want both, and in this category most products offer neither.
Should impurity limits change which gummy I buy?
Not on its own. Check dose accuracy and a searchable certification first — those are the questions where products in this category actually fail. Use the impurity specification as a tiebreaker when two products are otherwise close on price and certification.
Does “pharmaceutical grade” mean anything on a supplement label?
Not as a regulated term for dietary supplements. It has no fixed definition a buyer can check, which is why a published numeric specification or a registry listing is worth more than the phrase.