Creatine: Facts vs. Influencer B.S.

Separating the hype from the facts.

Post summary

• Creatine was once considered a somewhat sketchy underground supplement.

• But now creatine is booming. Influencers are saying it’s a miracle supplement. Major media organizations are covering it. Sales are projected to quadruple in the next five years.

• This post covers what you need to know about creatine.

• We’ll separate the facts from the online hype (of which there is a lot).

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The first time I tried to buy creatine, the clerk at my local vitamin store carded me.

That was in the early 2000s, when the public was coming out of the MLB steroid era and skeptical of sports supplements. Fortune magazine had even called creatine “nature’s steroid,” and schools and athletic organizations recommended¹ high school kids avoid it.

Over time, however, scientific data on creatine piled up. Creatine is now one of the most studied supplements on the planet—and the research shows it has legitimate benefits.

Creatine is also having a moment right now. Online influencers are talking about it. Major media organizations like The Wall Street Journal and New York Times are covering it. Sales are booming. The market is projected to grow from $1 billion last year to $4 billion by 2030.

What was once an underground bodybuilding supplement is now available on the shelves of Costco—the ultimate mark that a product has gone mainstream.

Of course, any time a supplement gets pitched as a miracle, your bullshit detector should start screeching.

Consider this post a radar that will help us detect the signal from the noise.

We’ll cover what creatine does, what it doesn’t do, overhyped claims, and whether it’s worth your money.

Let’s roll …

Do I have to supplement creatine to get it?

• In short: No.

Your body produces creatine naturally and also gets it from food.

We need about 2 to 4 grams of it a day (the equivalent of 2 to 4 packets of Splenda). Our body produces about half of that, and the rest comes from food.

The best food sources are meat and fish, which have about 1 to 2 grams of creatine per pound.

Then why supplement?

• In short: Because you may need more of it, especially if you don’t eat lots of meat.

One study² found that we’ve been getting slightly less creatine over the last 20-ish years. About 69 percent of people consumed less than one gram a day, which is the recommended intake.

You could get enough from meat. But meat is expensive and contains a lot of calories and fat. Enter creatine supplements.

The International Society of Sports Nutrition pointed out³:

Since meat and fish are expensive (about $4.00 to $18.00 USD per pound) and contain large amounts of protein and fat (i.e., about 450 to 1,400 kcals/pound), dietary supplementation of creatine monohydrate (about $0.03 - $0.05 USD per gram) is a more cost-effective way to ensure individuals obtain enough creatine in their diet to meet daily needs.

• Caveat: To be clear, it’s hard to pin down what the effects of “not getting enough” are. Most people don’t supplement creatine, and they’re fine. For example, vegetarians are the group most at risk of not getting enough, and they tend to live longer. Nutritional recommendations are ultimately somewhat arbitrary cutoffs informed by research. Supplementing is more about maximizing the potential benefits of “having enough” rather than avoiding harm.

Creatine for strength and power

• In short: Creatine supplementation works.

The International Olympic Committee⁴ lists creatine as a supplement “that directly improves sports performance.”

Creatine enhances high-intensity exercise, such as lifting and sprinting by 10 to 20 percent. This has been shown in hundreds of studies.

That’s why it seems best for lifters and people who play sports that require powerful bursts of energy, like football, soccer, basketball, and tennis players.

Here’s how it works: Creatine gets transferred to your muscles and converted into creatine phosphate, which your muscles use to generate energy during high-intensity activities. Supplementation effectively “tops off” your muscles’ quick-energy supply, allowing you to go harder.

The researchers wrote: “These adaptations would allow an athlete to do more work over a series of sets or sprints, leading to greater gains in strength, muscle mass, and/or performance due to an improvement in the quality of training.”

Creatine for muscle growth

• In short: It might help you gain slightly more muscle than lifting alone (with a caveat), making it especially useful for aging adults.

Most research suggests that pairing creatine with weight lifting helps people gain slightly more muscle (maybe one to four pounds).

Of course, that’s why meatheads take it. But it may be more important for aging adults, because maintaining muscle is essential for healthspan and lifespan.

One analysis examined aging adults who lifted weights. Those who supplemented creatine gained slightly more muscle. For aging populations, a little more muscle goes a long way.

If you’re aging, think of creatine like an insurance supplement. Lifting and being active is your primary, “big” insurance policy against muscle loss. But if you also take creatine, it’s like adding supplemental coverage for a bit more protection.

• Caveat: If you don’t lift, all the creatine in the world won’t help. You’ll also want to focus on good nutrition and sleep, which are likely more powerful than creatine.

Creatine for endurance

• In short: Mixed results. If you’re a serious runner, try it and track your results.

Given that creatine improves short-term high-intensity exercise, researchers wanted to understand how creatine impacts longer endurance exercise.

They analyzed the best research and found that creatine doesn’t help endurance. It had a “trivial negative effect.”

That minor negative effect could be because creatine can lead to slight water weight gain, and—all things equal—being lighter is often better for endurance sports.

That said, it could help runners recover quicker and improve short bursts of energy (like sprinting toward the finish line). If you’re a runner, give it a try. Track what happens and make your own judgment.

Creatine for recovery

• In short: Probably useful.

The International Society of Sports Nutrition put it simply: “Creatine supplementation can help athletes recover from intense training.”

It appears to help replenish energy stores, helping you train sooner and better. This occurs within workouts and between workouts.

It also leads to lower markers of muscle damage and inflammation, and may reduce the risk of muscle cramps, heat illness, and muscle strains.

Essentially, it allows us to cope better with the stress of demanding exercise.

• Caveat: This likely matters most to people who train hard and often, and it doesn’t beat proper nutrition and sleep. I.e. If you train hard, sleep and eat well, you may see a boost.

Creatine for vegetarians and vegans

• In short: Probably useful.

Creatine is one of those things where you need to get “enough” to see benefits. Once you have enough, taking more won’t provide additional benefits.

But if you don’t eat meat, there’s a higher likelihood that you won’t be getting enough creatine to maximize benefits.

For example, here’s what creatine stores look like among vegetarians compared to non-vegetarians and people who supplement creatine:

This is probably why one study noted, “data indicates that creatine supplementation might be most beneficial for athletes with low pre-existing muscle creatine stores.”

Another⁵ study found that vegetarians who supplemented creatine saw the greatest improvements in muscle and strength.

Creatine for your brain

• In short: Overhyped, but maybe useful in extreme circumstances.

A recent paper⁶ in the journal Nutrition noted that there’s a big “enthusiasm engine” behind creatine and brain health. The author wrote:

Social media platforms have become powerful engines for modeling public beliefs about health. Influencers, wellness coaches, fitness personalities, and even self-branded “neuroscientists” frequently promote creatine for its supposed mental benefits. These claims are often framed in language that sounds scientific, invoking terms like enhancing neural efficiency or boosting mitochondrial function, yet are rarely accompanied by critical appraisal of the underlying data.

Most research on creatine and brain health isn’t that great—and it’s mixed. The two most rigorous studies—on Parkinson and Huntington diseases—found no benefits.

For the rest of us, one review⁷ found that creatine only helped cognitive function in highly stressed people. Think: Military members doing a 24-hour mission.

The scientists also noted that it may help slightly for vegans, older adults, and people who are sleep deprived. I think

Brady Holmer

put it well:

If you’re healthy, young, well-fed, and not sleep-deprived, creatine probably won’t do much for your mental performance. But if you’re an overtrained athlete, a chronically stressed student, or over 60? It might offer a small edge. Social media might have you thinking it will double your IQ, but that’s hardly the case.

Creatine for mood

• In short: Creatine is not a magic mood enhancer.

Some online influencers claim that creatine is an all-natural mood booster and a cure for depression. They cite research that suggests supplementing creatine can fix depression.

But the research sucks. The studies are small and conducted in people who are clinically depressed and already taking SSRIs. Many of the studies focus on methamphetamine addicts.

This is why I’m highly skeptical. Low mood and depression are complex, but I think most cases are best understood as a signal about our life course—our body’s way of suggesting something in our life isn’t working, and that we need to redirect our energy.

If you’re on a life course that is leading to low mood and depression, taking creatine won’t help (unless you get a placebo bump). Taking stock of why you’re depressed and fixing that underlying issue will likely be a far more productive use of your time and energy.

• Go deeper: Read our recent post on the evolutionary origins of depression and six ways to break out of it.

Creatine for bone health

• In short: Lifting and power exercises are likely more beneficial.

There’s a lot of talk online about how creatine can improve bone health, which is important for longevity.

But one review⁸ found, “Creatine supplementation more than 2 years did not improve bone health in older, postmenopausal women with osteopenia.”

Most research suggests exercise is most important—especially lifting and high-impact exercises like jumps.

TL;DR: Do all the physical activities your body can—lift, jump, cover ground, etc—and you’ll see a bigger bone-health benefit. Of course, as we learned earlier, creatine can help you do all of those things better.

Does creatine cause hair loss?

• In short: Probably not.

A 2009 study⁹ found that 10 rugby players who took creatine saw a 56 percent jump in dihydrotestosterone (DHT) concentrations. DHT has been linked to baldness and hair loss. So people thought creatine might cause hair loss.

But those results haven’t been replicated since, and no research has shown that creatine causes hair loss.

Are there any downsides to creatine?

• In short: You may gain some water weight and have stomach issues.

Creatine gets stored in your muscles and pulls water into your muscle cells. That can lead to fluid retention, so you might gain a pound or two.

But the weight is from water, not fat. And this extra water may help you regulate your body temperature in the heat.

Some people do get gastrointestinal issues, but these tend to occur with higher doses. If you experience stomach issues while supplementing creatine, dial back your dose until you find one that doesn’t upset your stomach.

Do I use creatine?

• In short: Yes.

I take 3 to 5 grams a day, mixed into my oatmeal. I’m not neurotic about it, though. Some days I forget, and that’s fine.

It may improve my fitness ever so slightly. And it’s safe, cheap, and doesn’t have many downsides—for example, caffeine also enhances physical and mental performance, but if you take too much, you get jittery and feel like hell.

So I put creatine in the “probably worth it” category.

How to use creatine

Step one: Buy a good brand

• In short: Take an NSF-certified brand like Momentous.

If you go into a vitamin store, you’ll see different forms of creatine making claims about why they’re best.

Ignore the marketing and buy creatine monohydrate. It’s the most well-studied and effective.

In theory, creatine monohydrate is all the same. In practice, not so much.

Some creatine gummies don’t actually have creatine. Cheap brands aren’t tested for purity, and the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) notes that creatine products with banned substances make it onto shelves.

Your move: Buy an NSF-certified creatine. Momentous is my go-to. They have contracts with the military and pro-sports, so the testing is extremely rigorous. Two Percent subscribers can use code EASTER for 35% off.

Step two: Take the right dose

• In short: Take 3 to 5 grams daily.

You may have heard that you need to “load” creatine—take a high dose for a week then taper to a normal 3-5 gram dose per day.

The research says loading isn’t necessary. You can take 3-5 grams a day (the size of the scooper in the tub) and get all the benefits.

Some influencers claim you should take more than 5 grams a day, but there’s no evidence for that.

Have fun, don’t die,

Michael

1. Metzl JD, Small E, Levine SR, Gershel JC. Creatine use among young athletes. Pediatrics. 2001 Aug;108(2):421-5. doi: 10.1542/peds.108.2.421. PMID: 11483809.

2. Korovljev, D., Todorovic, N., Stajer, V. et al. Temporal trends in dietary creatine intake from 1999 to 2018: an ecological study with 89,161 participants. J Int Soc Sports Nutr 18, 53 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12970-021-00453-1

3. Kreider, R.B., Kalman, D.S., Antonio, J. et al. International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: safety and efficacy of creatine supplementation in exercise, sport, and medicine. J Int Soc Sports Nutr 14, 18 (2017). (Note: This paper is referenced often in this post)

4. Maughan RJ, Burke LM, Dvorak J, Larson-Meyer DE, Peeling P, Phillips SM, Rawson ES, Walsh NP, Garthe I, Geyer H, Meeusen R, van Loon LJC, Shirreffs SM, Spriet LL, Stuart M, Vernec A, Currell K, Ali VM, Budgett RG, Ljungqvist A, Mountjoy M, Pitsiladis YP, Soligard T, Erdener U, Engebretsen L. IOC consensus statement: dietary supplements and the high-performance athlete. Br J Sports Med. 2018 Apr;52(7):439-455. doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2018-099027. Epub 2018 Mar 14. PMID: 29540367; PMCID: PMC5867441.

5. Burke DG, Chilibeck PD, Parise G, Candow DG, Mahoney D, Tarnopolsky M. Effect of creatine and weight training on muscle creatine and performance in vegetarians. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2003 Nov;35(11):1946-55. doi: 10.1249/01.MSS.0000093614.17517.79. PMID: 14600563.

6. Igor Eckert, Creatine Supplementation for Cognition: A Critical Perspective on Promise, Proof, and Public Perception, The Journal of Nutrition, 2025, ISSN 0022-3166,

7. Terry McMorris, Beverley J. Hale, Beatrice S. Pine, Thomas B. Williams, Creatine supplementation research fails to support the theoretical basis for an effect on cognition: Evidence from a systematic review, Behavioural Brain Research, Volume 466, 2024, 114982, ISSN 0166-4328,

8. Sales LP, Pinto AJ, Rodrigues SF, Alvarenga JC, Gonçalves N, Sampaio-Barros MM, Benatti FB, Gualano B, Rodrigues Pereira RM. Creatine Supplementation (3 g/d) and Bone Health in Older Women: A 2-Year, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2020 Apr 17;75(5):931-938. doi: 10.1093/gerona/glz162. PMID: 31257405.

9. van der Merwe, Johann MBChB; Brooks, Naomi E PhD; Myburgh, Kathryn H PhD. Three Weeks of Creatine Monohydrate Supplementation Affects Dihydrotestosterone to Testosterone Ratio in College-Aged Rugby Players. Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine 19(5):p 399-404, September 2009. | DOI: 10.1097/JSM.0b013e3181b8b52f