THE SCIENCE
Maintenance, not loading.
Most creatine advice was written for athletes chasing performance. TORTIS was built for a different job: keeping your daily creatine covered. Here's the science behind that, and its limits.
What creatine actually is
Creatine is a compound your body uses every day to help recycle energy in your cells. Your liver and kidneys make a good share of it on their own. The rest is meant to come from food, mainly meat and fish. Your body uses up a small amount every single day, whether you train or not, so it needs a steady supply.
Two different jobs, two different numbers
Loading
- Typical amount: 3–5 g a day, sometimes 20 g a day to start
- The goal: fill muscle stores to the max
- Built for: athletes training for strength and performance
Maintenance (TORTIS)
- Amount: 525 mg a day (three pieces)
- The goal: keep your daily intake covered
- Built for: people who eat little meat or fish, and anyone who wants creatine covered without a tub
Both are legitimate. They're just answering different questions.
Most of your creatine never came from food.
The maintenance dose.
Your body makes most of what you use every day. Food is only meant to cover the rest. Here is what that actually looks like.
Tap each step
Loading protocols use 3 to 5 grams because they are forcing saturation for performance. That is a different goal, and a different number.
Why everyone says 3–5 grams
Since the early 1990s, most creatine research has studied athletic performance. Those studies used doses large enough to fill muscle stores, and for that goal, they work.
But most of that research also paired creatine with exercise, and most studies never measured how much creatine people had before they started. So 3–5 grams tells you what fills you up. It doesn't tell you what your body needs day to day.
That second question is newer, and researchers have only recently started answering it.
How much your diet is meant to cover
Researchers have proposed daily intake figures for creatine from food: about 400 mg a day for men and 240 mg a day for women. These are proposed recommendations, not yet official standards. Three pieces of TORTIS provide 525 mg, which clears both.
Why gum
Creatine has always come as a powder, a pill or a gummy. We wanted it in something people already reach for.
We were football players who were supposed to take creatine, and the tub kept sitting in the cupboard. Scoops, shakers and water were the problem. Gum has none of that.
Gum only works because the amount is small. A loading dose of 3–5 grams could never fit into gum. A maintenance amount can.
No water, no mixing, no scoop. It fits in a pocket or a bag, it tastes like mint, and it's something you'd chew anyway.
Creatine, in something you already enjoy.
Who is most likely to fall short
People who eat little or no meat
Plant foods contain no creatine. Studies show vegetarians and vegans have roughly 20–30% lower muscle creatine than people who eat meat.
Most people, more than they'd expect
Studies of the general population show many people get less creatine from their diet than expected.
What TORTIS is not
TORTIS is not a performance supplement. If you're training for strength or athletic performance, the research supports 3–5 grams a day, and a powder is the right tool for that. TORTIS is for daily coverage: no loading, no scoops, no tub. We don't make claims about performance, muscle building, cognition, mood or any medical condition.
Questions people ask
Sources
Below are the published studies referenced on this page. [Sources to be added.]