The Creatine Shortage, Supplement Inflation, and Shady Practices By Supplement Companies

 

Unless you're living under a rock you're likely aware of the labor shortages, supply chain shortages, and inflation sweeping this country right now. We've seen the price of whey protein go up 30% to 50% in recent months, and we've seen a number of supplement companies and manufacturers changing their product sizes instead of raising prices ie a 4 Pound Tub of Protein that previously cost $40 still costs $40, but is now a 3 Pound Tub of Protein, this is what's referred to as shrinkflation. The idea being people are more likely to notice a price hike, than they are to notice they are receiving less product. This isn't unique to the supplement industry, Costco, Grocery Stores and most companies making consumer staples are doing the same thing for everything from potato chips to cereal, to toilet paper and paper towels. 

One area of inflation that's been especially astounding is when it comes to Creatine. Creatine has always been an incredibly cheap supplement. We've been hearing about Creatine shortages for a couple months, but aside from a one off brand being out of Creatine temporarily we haven't noticed any dramatic changes... Until recently that is. Not only are many if not most major supplement manufacturers completely out of stock of Creatine, but we've seen the price of Creatine Skyrocket in recent weeks. A 500 gram tub of creatine typically went for $10 to $12, that same tub just a few weeks later is selling for about $30. Typically a 1,000 gram tub would go for about $24, that same tub a few weeks later is going for $60. I've even seen eBay sellers charging upwards of $125 for a 1000 gram tub of creatine. 

One business practice that rubbed me the wrong way however was seeing a BioSteel brand Creatine supplement advertising 72 servings per tub, however when examining the supplement facts and instructions they are calling a serving to be 2.5 grams of Creatine. Everyone knows that a standard serving size of Creatine is 5 grams. This is misleading making their tubs of creatine appear to have 72 servings when by any normal persons standard their 180 gram tub of Creatine is actually 36 servings. 

Just wanted to give you all a heads up, keep an eye on supplement prices, tub sizes, and serving sizes. Shrinkflation is all around us and it's a fact of life, I expect to see smaller sizes, what I don't expect as a consumer is to see a company advertising a certain amount of servings based on a dosage that's not the recommended or clinical dosage such as we've seen from BioSteel.