Creatine content and identity

Confirms the amount of creatine in each serving matches the label — and that it's actually creatine monohydrate, not a different form of creatine.

Result: 5.38 g of creatine monohydrate per serving, against a 5 g label declaration.

Creatine: contaminant screen

Creatine can carry two unwanted substances: creatinine, a breakdown product that forms when creatine is stored badly or processed poorly, and dicyandiamide, a manufacturing residue. Neither belongs in a finished product. We test for both.

Result: both below the level the instrument can measure.

Heavy metals

Lead, arsenic, cadmium, and mercury. These occur naturally in soil and can carry through into any ingredient grown or raised. Testing is how you know.

Result: all four in spec.

Microbiological panel

Salmonella, E. coli, staph, yeast, mold, coliforms, and total plate count — the standard safety screen for any powder. Light Labs sends this panel to a partner lab.

Result: clean across every marker. Salmonella, E. coli, and staph not detected; everything else below the reporting threshold.

Gluten

RETAIN contains no gluten-containing ingredients. It's made on shared equipment in a facility that also handles milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soy and sesame. The finished product was screened for gluten.

Result: not detected, at a detection limit of 1.0 ppm. The FDA threshold for a gluten-free food is 20 ppm.

Soy

Same reasoning. No soy ingredients, shared equipment, so the finished product was screened.

Result: not detected, at a detection limit of 0.32 ppm.

Glycine and vitamin C

From the manufacturer's release testing, alongside the panels above.

Result: both came in above the amount listed per serving.