Is Creatine Natty? Supplements and Natural Bodybuilding Rules

A lot of you ask me whether you're still natural if you take supplements like creatine and whey. The short answer is yes, you are. Creatine, whey protein and EAAs aren't on any banned list.

Short answer

• Creatine, whey protein, EAAs, beta-alanine and caffeine aren't banned. You're still natural if you take them.
• DHEA, prohormones, SARMs, MK-677 and peptides are banned, even when they're sold as supplements.
• Some pre-workouts and fat burners contain banned substances. Check the label.
• A supplement with a clean label can still be contaminated. Buy products that are third-party tested.

I'm Sam Sobati, a WNBF pro card holder. The WNBF is the World Natural Bodybuilding Federation, and it tests its athletes with both a urine test and a polygraph. In this article we'll go through what the WNBF and WADA (the World Anti-Doping Agency) say about supplements.

There are two things you need to watch out for, though. The first is substances that are sold as supplements but are banned. The second is supplements with a clean label that contain something the label doesn't mention.

Last reviewed: November 2026, against the 2026 WADA list and the WNBF rules page.

Is creatine doping?

No. Creatine monohydrate isn't a hormone or a steroid. Your body makes it, and it's in red meat and fish too ¹. Creatine isn't on the WADA Prohibited List or on the WNBF's list. The US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) has also said creatine isn't prohibited in sport ².

Same goes for whey protein, EAAs and beta-alanine. You can take them without worrying about your status.

What does natural bodybuilding mean? The WNBF definition

Being natural has a definition, and every federation writes its own. Online you'll hear it called "natty". Under WNBF rules, you need to have been off banned substances for this long before your first show ³:

• 10 years for pharmaceutical and prescription hormones, like anabolic steroids and growth hormone
• 5 years for SARMs
• 2 years for DHEA, prohormones and over-the-counter hormones

The WNBF uses two kinds of test: a polygraph (lie detector) and a urine test. Since January 2022, a positive test for steroids, growth hormone, peptides or SARMs means a lifetime ban ³.

Under the federation's rules, any banned substance found in your urine counts as a positive test, no matter how it got into your body. So "I didn't know what was in my supplement" isn't accepted.

Supplements allowed in natural bodybuilding

These aren't on the WADA or WNBF banned lists:

• Creatine
• Whey protein
• EAAs
• Beta-alanine
• Caffeine

Caffeine is on WADA's Monitoring Program. That means WADA tracks how athletes use it, but it isn't banned ⁴. Coffee and the caffeine in pre-workouts are fine.

USADA adds a warning here. A substance being allowed doesn't mean every product containing it is clean ⁵. Creatine is allowed, but a tub of creatine can still have something else in it. I explain this further down, in the section on contaminated supplements.

If you want to see how a training and nutrition program gets written for one person at Sobati Fitness, it's explained here: How to get a program from Sobati Fitness (2 min read).

Banned substances you'll still find in supplement shops

DHEA. It's in some test boosters and "anti-aging" or "youth" supplements. WADA lists it as an anabolic agent (class S1), banned all year, in and out of competition ⁴. On a label it can show up as prasterone, androstenolone or 7-keto-DHEA ⁶. The WNBF bans it too and says you need to be off it for 2 years before your first show ³.

Football tests under WADA rules too, and Paul Pogba was banned over this substance. He tested positive for DHEA after a match on 20 August 2023 and was first given a 4-year ban. The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) accepted it wasn't intentional and that it came from a supplement prescribed by a doctor in Florida. The court cut his ban to 18 months ⁷.

Prohormones. They're sold as "legal muscle builders", under names like 1-Andro, 4-Andro and Epiandrosterone. WADA puts them in the anabolic steroid class, and the WNBF bans them too ³⁴.

SARMs. They're usually sold as "research chemicals" and aren't classed as steroids. Ostarine, ligandrol (LGD-4033) and RAD140 are the best known. WADA still puts them in the same S1 class as steroids and bans them all year ⁴. The WNBF requires 5 years off them, and a positive test means a lifetime ban ³.

You can't trust what's in these products either. A study published in JAMA in 2017 tested 44 products sold online as SARMs. Only 23 actually contained a SARM, and 17 contained a different unapproved drug ⁸.

MK-677 and peptides. MK-677 (ibutamoren) is sold as a "growth hormone booster" and is banned all year on the WADA list ⁴. Peptides like BPC-157 are too. In the 2027 list, WADA made it clear that a peptide can be banned even if its name isn't on the list ⁹.

Are pre-workouts doping?

Pre-workouts themselves aren't banned. But three banned substances turn up in some pre-workouts and fat burners ⁴:

• DMAA, which can be listed as methylhexanamine, 1,3-dimethylamylamine or geranium
• DMHA, listed as octodrine or 2-aminoisoheptane
• Higenamine, listed as norcoclaurine

DMAA and DMHA are stimulants on the WADA list and banned in competition. Higenamine is banned all year. The WNBF names DMAA on its own list and refers to the WADA list for the rest ³.

The WNBF also has a separate rule for DMAA. Because so many supplements and pre-workouts contain it, a first-time WNBF competitor has to be off it for 30 days ³.

So check the ingredients on your pre-workout label and look for these names.

How WNBF rules differ from WADA's

The WNBF built its rules on the WADA Code and list, and its rules page tells athletes to always check the WADA list. But it's stricter in a few places ³:

• Your history gets checked too. A urine test shows what's in your body today. The WNBF also asks about your use over the last 10 years and checks your answers with a polygraph.
• Ephedrine is fully banned. WADA only bans ephedrine in competition, above 10 micrograms per millilitre of urine ⁴. The WNBF lists ephedrine and ephedra with no threshold. So if you compete in the WNBF, stay away from fat burners with ephedrine in them.
• Prescribed testosterone isn't accepted either. Any outside testosterone is banned, even if a doctor prescribed it.
• The penalty is heavier. A positive test for steroids, growth hormone, peptides or SARMs means a lifetime ban.

What is a contaminated supplement?

OK, now say you've checked your supplement and none of these substances are in it. There's still something called a tainted, or contaminated, supplement. That's when a banned substance isn't on the label but is in the product anyway, and it can get you banned from natural competition.

This happens for two reasons. One is fake supplements, where nobody knows where they were filled. The other is genuine supplements from factories that don't follow good manufacturing practice, so whatever else runs on the same production line ends up in your product.

The best-known study on this comes from the German Sport University Cologne. In 2000 and 2001, the researchers bought and tested 634 non-hormonal supplements from 13 countries. 94 of them, about one in seven, contained anabolic steroids that weren't on the label. The rate was 21% for companies that also sold prohormones and about 10% for the rest ¹⁰. That gap fits contamination on shared production lines.

A 2022 review pooled the results of 50 studies. Of 3,132 supplements tested, 875, more than 28%, contained something that wasn't on the label ¹¹.

Yoel Romero, the UFC fighter, was banned for six months over a contaminated supplement. He tested positive for MK-677 in December 2015, and it wasn't on the label of any of his supplements. At USADA's request, the WADA-accredited lab in Salt Lake City bought a sealed container of the same supplement, tested it and found the substance in it ¹².

A few months later the same thing happened to Tim Means, another UFC fighter. Ostarine was found in a sealed container of his supplement, and he was banned for six months too ¹³. Both proved the substance came from a contaminated supplement, and both still lost six months of fighting.

How do you buy a tested supplement?

When you buy, make sure the supplement is third-party tested. That means a separate company, independent of the manufacturer, has tested the product for banned substances. USADA recommends these five programs ¹⁴:

• Informed Sport
• NSF Certified for Sport
• BSCG
• Eurofins Clean Sport Certified
• TruShield Certified

In Europe, the Cologne List also publishes a list of tested products.

Before you buy, check these three things:

• One of these programs' logos is on the product.
• Search the product's batch (lot) number on that program's website or app. Certification is issued per batch, and a logo can be faked.
• Buy from a trusted seller and make sure the product is genuine.

USADA says a certified product lowers the risk of a positive test but doesn't remove it ¹⁴. The WNBF itself doesn't endorse any certification program; that recommendation comes from USADA.

Where can you check the banned list?

These are the two main sources for a natural athlete:

• The WADA Prohibited List. A new list takes effect every 1 January, and the 2027 list is already out.
• The WNBF anti-doping rules and banned substances list

Before you take any new supplement, search every ingredient on the label in both lists. For medicines (not supplements), Global DRO shows each one's status under the WADA list.

Summary table

Status of each substance under the 2026 WADA list:

Quick questions

Is caffeine doping? No. Caffeine is only on WADA's Monitoring Program and isn't banned ⁴.

Is ephedrine doping? In the WNBF, yes, it's fully banned ³. Under WADA it's only banned in competition, above a set limit ⁴.

What about ecdysterone and turkesterone? Ecdysterone has been on WADA's Monitoring Program since 2020 and isn't banned. Turkesterone isn't named on the WADA list ⁴. The real risk with these supplements is contamination.