Can under-18s buy creatine in California from 2027?

Short answer: California's new sales limit begins on January 1, 2027. After that date, dietary supplements that are labeled, marketed, or otherwise represented for weight loss or muscle building may not be sold, offered for sale, or given away as a retail or wholesale promotion to a person in California under 18, except where that person has a prescription for the product. Creatine appears in the statute as one factor a court may consider when it decides whether a product is represented that way. The ingredient alone does not automatically place every creatine product in scope. The law does not make creatine illegal to possess or use, and it does not apply to adults.

Posts circulating in November 2026 have said California will require ID to purchase certain creatine supplements and will ban sales to anyone under 18 starting January 1, 2027. The date is right, and the phrase "certain creatine supplements" is closer to the statute than a claim that creatine itself is banned. Assembly Bill 2030, by Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal, was approved by Governor Gavin Newsom and filed with the Secretary of State on September 28, 2026, as Chapter 720 of the Statutes of 2026. The enacted text has no operative-date clause, and the Council for Responsible Nutrition tells retailers the start date is January 1, 2027.

What the statute says about creatine

Chapter 720 adds section 109030 to the California Health and Safety Code. In that section, a dietary supplement for weight loss or muscle building means a dietary supplement under the federal definition at 21 U.S.C. 321(ff), if it is labeled, marketed, or otherwise represented for the purpose of achieving weight loss or building muscle. Over-the-counter diet pills are also in scope: nonprescription drugs, under 21 U.S.C. 321(g)(1), that are labeled, marketed, or otherwise represented for weight loss. Two express carve-outs follow: the section does not apply to a person under 18 years of age with a prescription for the product, and it does not apply to a person 18 years of age or older.

Coverage is not settled by a product list. In deciding whether a supplement is labeled, marketed, or otherwise represented for weight loss or muscle building, a court may consider, but is not limited to, the factors in section 109030(e):

• Whether the product contains an ingredient approved by the FDA for weight loss or muscle building; a steroid; or creatine, green tea extract, raspberry ketone, garcinia cambogia, or green coffee bean extract.
• Whether the product's labeling or marketing bears statements or images that express or imply it will help modify, maintain, or reduce body weight, fat, appetite, overall metabolism, or the process by which nutrients are metabolized, or will help maintain or increase muscle or strength.
• Whether the product or its ingredients are otherwise represented for weight loss or building muscle.
• Whether the retail establishment or delivery seller has placed signs, categorized, or tagged the product with those statements; grouped it with other weight-loss or muscle-building products in a display, advertisement, website, or area of the store; or otherwise represented that the product is for weight loss or muscle building.

When plain creatine is likely, and when it is a closer call

• Likely covered: a creatine monohydrate powder, capsule or gummy whose label or ads say it will help maintain or increase muscle or strength, or that uses images to the same effect. The same is true if a store or website files it under "muscle building," "lean muscle" or a similar category, tags it that way, or places it with other muscle-building products.
• A closer call: a plain creatine product that makes no muscle, strength, weight or metabolism claims, is not tagged or categorized that way, and is not grouped with weight-loss or muscle-building products. Creatine is still a factor a court may weigh, so this is not a safe harbor written into the statute.
• Still a sales rule, not a possession rule: nothing in section 109030 makes it unlawful for a person under 18 to have or use creatine. The limit is on selling, offering to sell, giving away as a promotion, and, for delivery sellers, delivering a covered product to a person in California under 18.

What the ID check actually requires

The in-store duty is narrower than a blanket rule that every creatine buyer must show identification. For a covered in-store purchase, the retailer shall request valid identification if it cannot reasonably determine that the person appears to be under 18 years of age. That is the enacted trigger. If the buyer appears to be under 18, the statute does not require the retailer to request identification, but the sale to a person who is under 18 is still prohibited. If the buyer does not appear to be under 18, including when appearance is uncertain, the retailer must request identification. The statute does not require identification in every case, and it does not use a test of whether the buyer appears to be at least 18. The retailer may limit access to covered products in a manner designed to prevent unauthorized access. The statute does not require that they be kept behind a counter.

Before a delivery seller, including an online retailer, may accept an order to mail or ship a covered product to a consumer in California, it must do either or both of two things. It may obtain the purchaser's full name, birth date, and residential address and verify them through a commercially available database, or aggregate of databases, consisting primarily of data from government sources, that are regularly used by government and businesses for age and identity verification and authentication. It may instead, or in addition, use a mailing or shipping method that requires an adult who is at least 18 years of age to sign for the shipping container at the delivery address and to provide a valid, government-issued identification bearing a photograph of that person, showing the person is at least 18. A database used for the first method shall not be in the possession or under the control of the delivery seller, and shall not be subject to any changes or supplementation by the delivery seller. Those duties also reach a seller located outside California that ships a covered product into the state.

Enforcement is public. The Attorney General, a county counsel, or a city attorney may apply for a temporary or permanent injunction, and may recover a civil penalty of no more than $500 for each violation in a civil action brought in the name of the people of the State of California. A prevailing plaintiff in an action under this section is entitled to reasonable attorney's fees and costs. Private individuals do not have a cause of action under the section. The penalties are cumulative and do not diminish rights, remedies, or penalties established under other laws.

What the creatine evidence says in adolescents

In a 2021 Nutrients review, Jagim and Kerksick wrote that studies of creatine and exercise performance in adolescent athletes, though limited in scope, generally report improvements in several ergogenic outcomes, with limited evidence that supplementation reduces performance and consistent reports of no adverse events associated with supplementation. They also wrote that less is known about whether the physiological benefits documented in adults extend to children and adolescents, even though creatine remains commonly used in adolescent sports. The authors disclose that they received payment from Alzchem, the sponsor of the special issue, for preparing and reviewing the paper, and that they have consulted with and received funding from companies that sell dietary ingredients.

The International Society of Sports Nutrition's 2017 position stand on creatine monohydrate reaches a similar place, with conditions. It calls creatine monohydrate the most effective ergogenic nutritional supplement currently available to athletes who want to increase high-intensity exercise capacity and lean body mass during training, and it says there is no compelling scientific evidence that short- or long-term use, at doses up to 30 grams a day for up to five years, has detrimental effects in otherwise healthy people. On younger athletes, the position stand says supplementation is acceptable if proper precautions and supervision are provided, and only in those who are involved in serious, supervised competitive training, who are eating a well-balanced performance diet, who understand appropriate use, and who do not exceed recommended dosages. It also says label warnings against use under 18 are likely unnecessary given the safety evidence, including in children and adolescents. The Council for Responsible Nutrition provided support to prepare the position stand, and the lead author states that he prepared it at the request of the Council and the Society. The competing-interests section discloses industry funding and advisory roles, including grants from companies that sell creatine and an advisory role with a company that sells creatine. That is a sports-nutrition position, not a recommendation that teenagers in general start taking creatine, and it is not medical advice for a particular child.

A 2025 narrative review by an international team of creatine researchers, published in the same journal, opens by calling creatine monohydrate supplementation a safe and effective intervention for improving certain aspects of sport, exercise performance, and health across the lifespan. The authors describe that review as a follow-up to their 2021 paper on common creatine questions, not as an update of the 2017 position stand. Several authors of that 2025 review, and of the 2021 Jagim and Kerksick paper, disclose relationships with companies that manufacture or sell creatine, including service on scientific advisory boards. The honest message for families is narrower than either "creatine is banned because it is dangerous" or "every teen athlete should take it." Families weighing creatine for a teenage athlete should take that question to a pediatrician or a registered dietitian who knows the teenager's training and health history.

The energy-drink comparison

The same posts have contrasted the new creatine age check with a 13-year-old walking into a gas station for an energy drink, candy and a soda. AB 2030 does not regulate candy or soda. Its definitions cover dietary supplements, as defined in 21 U.S.C. 321(ff), that are represented for weight loss or muscle building, and nonprescription drugs represented for weight loss. A typical canned energy drink sold as a conventional beverage is outside those definitions. The statute is a sales rule for a defined product class, not a ranking of which products are safer for teenagers, and it is not a statewide age limit on ordinary grocery items.

US rules

FDA does not have the authority to approve dietary supplements before they are marketed, and federal law has no provision for the agency to approve them for safety before they reach the consumer. If a product is sold as a dietary supplement and represented for treatment or prevention of a disease, it meets the definition of a drug and is regulated as one. The California age limit sits on top of that federal framework; it does not amend it. The discussion here is general information about the sales restriction, not legal advice for a particular product, store or shipment. Speak with a doctor, pharmacist or registered dietitian before giving a creatine product to a teenager.

FAQ

Can people under 18 buy creatine in California from January 1, 2027?

A covered creatine product may not be sold or given away to a person in California under 18, unless that person has a prescription for it. A product sold with muscle or strength claims, or placed with other muscle-building products, is likely covered. Creatine as an ingredient is only one of the factors a court may consider. Adults are outside the section.

Will every creatine purchase require ID?

No. In a store, the retailer must request valid identification for a covered product if it cannot reasonably determine that the buyer appears to be under 18. For a covered product shipped to a California buyer, the seller must use a qualifying age-and-identity database, a shipping method that requires an adult signature and government-issued photo identification, or both.

Is creatine banned in California?

No. Adults can still buy it. The new limit is a sales restriction for covered products sold or delivered to people in California under 18. It does not make creatine illegal to possess or use.

What if a clinician has prescribed a creatine product?

The section does not apply to a person under 18 years of age with a prescription for an over-the-counter diet pill or dietary supplement for weight loss or muscle building.

Do out-of-state websites have to follow the rule?

Delivery sellers that mail or ship a covered product to a consumer in California are subject to the delivery-seller rules, including the age check before the order is accepted.

Is creatine considered unsafe for adolescents?

Jagim and Kerksick's 2021 review reports that the limited adolescent-athlete studies generally show performance gains and consistently report no adverse events, while also saying less is known in this age group than in adults. The 2017 International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand treats use in younger athletes as acceptable only with supervision, serious competitive training, a sound diet, knowledge of appropriate use, and recommended dosages. That evidence does not mean every teenager needs a creatine supplement.