Kidney supplements: mostly what to avoid
Most kidney supplement marketing is a cleanse. The evidence we read is about not mistaking a lab number for damage, and about not treating a healthy-adult trial as permission for diseased kidneys.
Creatine and the creatinine number
Naeini 2025 (PMID 41199218) found a small serum creatinine rise (mean difference 0.07 µmol/L, 95% CI 0.01 to 0.12, unit as printed) and no significant GFR change. de Souza 2019 (PMID 31375416) printed a significant creatinine standardized mean difference and still concluded that the studied doses did not show renal damage. The full hair and headache notes are on creatine side effects. If creatinine is already being watched, tell the clinician about creatine before anyone calls the rise a new disease.
What these reviews are not
They are not trials in people with established kidney disease. A cleanse, flush, or detox tea is not a GFR treatment. Detox teas are the wrong tool. Magnesium glycinate trials we read were in adults with overweight, for 12 weeks, not in kidney failure (PMID 36640582). Kidneys clear magnesium. Diagnosed kidney disease is a reason to ask before adding a mineral, and this page is not giving a filtration cutoff it did not read.
Questions people ask
What kidney supplement should I take?
None as a cleanse. The useful information is what can confuse a blood test and who was not studied.
Does creatine cause kidney failure?
The reviews show a creatinine change and not a filtration drop, in populations that were not established kidney disease.