All about creatine and creatine supplementation

Every once in a while, there is a nutrient, fad diet, or superfood that seems to take the world by storm.  As dietitians, we are often asked: “Oh! What do you think about [insert current food trend here]?”

Some trends are more rooted in evidence than others, but often, they are kicked off by one or two studies that claim miraculous results when this food, diet or supplement is eaten, used or taken. These studies are then exasperated by blog articles, nutrition “experts,” influencers and the like spreading the news like wildfire.

Nutrition science is a labyrinth- sure, there are tons of studies that do in fact have radical results, but whether or not those results are reliable, applicable to humans or truly substantial is hard to discern.

What do we think of this trend? It gives us a chance to put our degrees and experience to good use: to dig into the literature, do some research, see what claims are out there and what we can help to bust or substantiate.

Creatine is a top trend at the moment.

From friends who frequent the gym, looking to gain muscle a bit more quickly to moms of friends, curious about the brain benefits, everyone is interested in what creatine is, how it works and if it really is worth the hype.

Creatine isn’t new - it has been used as a supplement for over 150 years (1).

What is creatine?

Creatine occurs naturally in our bodies and is also available in animal products, particularly meat and fish, as it is found primarily in muscle tissue.

Your kidneys and liver work together to create creatine from three amino acids - arginine, glycine and methionine.

Your blood then transports creatine throughout the body, with about 95% of your body’s creatine stored in your skeletal muscles (as free creatine and phosphocreatine) (1).

Phosphocreatine acts as a quick backup supply for adenosine triphosphate (ATP).

Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is your body’s main energy currency. It is what your cells use to power almost everything that requires energy.

ATP = ENERGY.

Every single move your body makes - getting out of bed, moving your hand to your mouth to brush your teeth, opening a jar, running to catch a train or lifting your kids or grandkids - requires ATP.

ATP also contributes to every involuntary move your body is making. The contractions of your heart each time it beats and the processes that maintain electrical gradients and enable signalling in your brain all require ATP.

Nutrients we get from the food we eat, such as carbs and fats, provide fuel that our cells use to make ATP.

Because our cells don’t store large amounts of ATP, our body is almost constantly breaking it down and regenerating it.

Phosphocreatine contributes to its rapid regeneration of ATP and helping the body meet sudden, intense energy demands. For short, intense energy bursts (a sprint or an intense high-weight lift), the creatine-phosphocreatine system helps to regenerate ATP quickly and efficiently.

While the creatine-phosphocreatine system isn’t the only system contributing to ATP production, the brain has its own creatine-phosphocreatine system, which helps buffer and rapidly regenerate ATP when energy demands increase. (More on this later.)

Takeaway point: Creatine helps to create energy (ATP), which then supports the body when it is needed during sudden, intense energy demands.

How much creatine do you need?

There isn’t an official recommended daily intake for creatine. It has been estimated that the body needs about 2-4 g per day, with about half coming from the diet and the rest being made in our bodies (2).

An omnivore diet contains 1-2g creatine per day, with primary sources including meat, fish and cow’s milk.

While vegetarian and especially vegan diets contain little to no dietary creatine, creatine still exists in the body through our body’s production.

When people do supplement creatine, it is usually in 3-5 gram per day dosages.

If you are interested in pursuing creatine supplementation by the end of this article, we always recommend talking to a dietitian about how much to use, when, etc.

Creatine Supplementation for Sports Performance

Sports performance is often limited, partly, by the rate at which you resynthesize ATP compared to the speed at which it’s used.

The more efficiently your body can reproduce ATP and have quick, readily available energy, the more power you have to perform.

Creatine supplementation has been used in sports for decades. Over the years, it has gone from being used exclusively by Olympic and professional athletes, to being tested by anyone looking to increase their performance in their local gym.

The first record of creatine being isolated from meat and used as a supplement was in 1832 (3,4).

However, research on creatine as a supplement was hardly reliable for the following 1.5 centuries until British sprinter Linford Christie earned the title of “fastest human” in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics with the admission of having used creatine supplementation.

At this point, research on the supplement quickly picked up speed with sports physiology labs around the world carrying out much more reliable studies on creatine as a supplement for athletes.

This, in combination with a 1992 study proving that oral supplementation could raise creatine levels in skeletal muscles, started its trajectory towards becoming one of the most-researched dietary supplements (5).

Creatine supplementation can increase the total creatine stores in your muscles. This means there is more phosphocreatine available to regenerate ATP for bursts of short, intense activities.

A variety of studies have proven the effectiveness of short-term creatine supplementation on increasing power output, particularly for high-intensity efforts like sprints or power lifting (6).

Evidence primarily points to creatine improving performance in activities that require short bursts of energy and power and is less established for more endurance-based sports.

While the strongest evidence for creatine supplementation for sports performance comes from studies in men, there have been more recent studies focused on effects for women.

While dosing is similar in women as in men and use is found to be safe and effective in women, more research is still needed to further refine supplementation protocol for women and further understand its efficacy across the menstrual cycle (1).

Creatine supplementation has been found to be beneficial in highly trained athletes and recreational athletes alike, but must be used in combination with resistance training or repeated high intensity exercise to show that benefit (1,7).

It is important to note also that factors such as baseline muscle creatine levels, diet, training and type of exercise can greatly impact how much someone benefits from supplementation.

Not everyone will respond the same way, and there are people who are non-responders (15).

Takeaway point: Creatine supplementation can enhance athletic performance for some in short duration, high intensity sports.

Creatine & Building Muscle Mass

As creatine supplementation has become more and more prevalent among amateur athletes, many people have also become curious about using it to build muscle mass.

Creatine supplementation alone does not contribute directly to muscle growth.

Creatine supplementation can contribute to increased strength, ballistic power, sprint ability, resistance to fatigue and recovery.

Ultimately, it may help you get more out of a resistance training program, which can also lead to potentially more muscle than carrying out the same program without creatine supplementation.

Studies show that creatine supplementation in combination with heavy resistance training leads to more strength, fat free mass than resistance training alone (7).

Many client ask us if creatine will make them look leaner or ‘more fit’. Creatine is not the intervention for aesthetic purposes. That requires work on body image, body dysmorphia, expectations of the body, disordered eating and more.

Takeaway point: Creatine supplementation can hasten muscle recovery only IN COMBINATION WITH adequate calorie and protein intake. It should not be used to replace any dietary consumption .

Other cases for creatine supplementation

In the last decade or so, research has turned more towards creatine’s use outside of the gym.

Beyond enhancing physical performance, creatine monohydrate supplementation is being researched for improving cognitive function and overall health in women, vegans, and other populations by addressing creatine deficiencies, improving energy metabolism, and supporting recovery from physical and neurological challenges (3,7).

Brain function & cognition

As mentioned in the intro, the brain has its own creatine-phosphocreatine system, which makes it a prime research topic for creatine supplementation. Particularly, studies are looking into creatine supplementation for memory, attention and cognitive performance improvements.

Similarly to phosphocreatine stores in muscles, supplementation has been found to increase creatine in the brain, but there is very limited evidence yet linking this to cognitive improvements and the research available is quite varied in strength and quality of evidence (8, 16).

While the evidence until this point to some promising possibilities, more research is needed before any significant conclusions can be made.

Healthy aging & sarcopenia

Sarcopenia, or loss of muscle mass, is a natural part of aging. Creatine is being researched in older populations as a method of counteracting this. The research here is pretty substantial and continuing to grow.

While the evidence is pointing towards creatine improving lean mass, muscle strength and physical function and potentially bone density in adults over 65, this is only when used in combination with adequate protein and strength training (7, 8).

There is also some new research examining creatine’s impact on cognitive aging and if it could make a difference in memory and attention of aging adults. While this is an extremely interesting area, the research is still very young (10).

Women’s health

There is emerging evidence that creatine can be used to support women’s health, especially during peri- and post-menopause given changes in estrogen levels, which is a major reason why it is such a point of interest at the moment.

Creatine supplementation has the potential to support in bone health and muscle preservation particularly in these stages (11). What is known at this point is that creatine may support in muscle mass preservation during and post menopause when used with strength training, but effects on bone benefits remain unseen (17).

There is also research exploring the role of brain creatine on cognition changes that occur during peri- and post-menopause - while there are only some very small studies so far, it is certainly an interesting start to more valuable uses for creatine supplementation in women (12, 13).

Neurological diseases and brain injury

The brain is one of the most energy-demanding organs, making it a logical subject for research into potential applications for creatine supplementation.

The increased cellular energy demands that occur in neurological diseases and following a traumatic brain injury beg the question of: can increasing the brain creatine and phosphocreatine potentially lead to a better ATP availability in these situations?

There is some research that looks at potential applications in Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s

disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Alzheimers and concussion.

Evidence is still very minimal and inconsistent. While it is a very interesting, biologically-sound application, it’ll be a while before we see any substantial result results.

Depression & mental health

Energy metabolism in the brain is driving a lot of new research for psychological applications of creatine supplementation.

Some randomized trials as well as a systematic review have looked at creatine’s effect on depressive symptoms, finding a small-to-moderate effect for people with depression. However, results are not statistically significant or clinically significant and a lot more research, including larger, more rigorous trials are needed (14).

Final thoughts

While creatine is certainly having its moment in the spotlight, it isn’t anything new. It has been used for over 1.5 centuries to support performance and muscle growth in athletes.

The already substantial body of research is continuing to expand into its application outside of sport and points to some interesting use cases for new populations.

There is still a lot of work to be done.

So, curious about giving creatine supplementation a try?

We do recommend creatine to some clients, but it isn’t a universally magic supplement and isn’t for everyone. Whether creatine supplementation makes sense for you is determined on a case-by-case basis.

There are a few standard recommendations we have:

• If you are struggling with disordered eating or not getting enough nutrition, are you trying to supplement yourself out of a adequate, balanced diet? This is not possible!

• We always recommend 3rd party tested supplements, ideally creatine monohydrate

• Build your foundation first: work on getting adequate protein and calories and incorporating some resistance training

References

1. Gutiérrez-Hellín J, Del Coso J, Franco-Andrés A, Gamonales JM, Espada MC, González-García J, López-Moreno M, Varillas-Delgado D. Creatine Supplementation Beyond Athletics: Benefits of Different Types of Creatine for Women, Vegans, and Clinical Populations—A Narrative Review. Nutrients. 2025; 17(1):95. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu17010095

2. Ostojic SM. Establishing Dietary Reference Intakes for Creatine in Adults. Nutr Rev. Published online February 14, 2026. doi:10.1093/nutrit/nuag009

3. Chen HR, DeGrauw T, Kuan CY. (Phospho)creatine: the reserve and merry-go-round of brain energetics. Neural Regen Res. 2023;18(2):327-328. doi:10.4103/1673-5374.346470

4. Wallimann T. Creatine history: discovery and first trials with creatine supplementation. Creatine For Health. Published March 27, 2023. Accessed September 13, 2026. https://creatineforhealth.com/creatine-history/

5. Machado M. A historical approach to creatine supplementation research over the last decades: from athletes to everyone. SciELO Preprints. Published April 16, 2026. doi:10.1590/SciELOPreprints.15619.

6. Glaister M, Rhodes L. Short-Term Creatine Supplementation and Repeated Sprint Ability-A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab. 2022;32(6):491-500. Published 2022 Aug 30. doi:10.1123/ijsnem.2022-0072

7. Tokuyama E. Why everyone’s talking about creatine. UCLA Health. Published October 22, 2025. Accessed September 13, 2026. https://www.uclahealth.org/news/article/why-everyones-talking-about-creatine

8. McMorris T, Hale BJ, Pine BS, Williams TB. Creatine supplementation research fails to support the theoretical basis for an effect on cognition: Evidence from a systematic review. Behav Brain Res. 2024;466:114982. doi:10.1016/j.bbr.2024.114982

9. Candow DG, Ostojic SM, Chilibeck PD, et al. Creatine monohydrate supplementation for older adults and clinical populations. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2025;22(sup1):2534130. doi:10.1080/15502783.2025.2534130

10. Marshall S, Kitzan A, Wright J, Bocicariu L, Nagamatsu LS. Creatine and Cognition in Aging: A Systematic Review of Evidence in Older Adults. Nutr Rev. 2026;84(2):333-344. doi:10.1093/nutrit/nuaf135

11. Naddafha S, Antonio J, Kreider RB, Stout JR. Creatine monohydrate for lean mass, strength, and bone density in postmenopausal women: a systematic review and meta-analysis. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2026;23(1):2668435. doi:10.1080/15502783.2026.2668435

12. Korovljev D, Ostojic J, Panic J, et al. The effects of 8-week creatine hydrochloride and creatine ethyl ester supplementation on cognition, clinical outcomes, and brain creatine levels in perimenopausal and menopausal women (CONCRET-MENOPA): a randomized controlled trial. J Am Nutr Assoc. 2026;45(3):199-210. doi:10.1080/27697061.2025.2551184

13. Ostojic SM, Ostojic J. Brain creatine, estradiol and neurocognitive complaints in perimenopausal women: an exploratory cross-sectional study. Neurosci Lett. 2026;880:138616. doi:10.1016/j.neulet.2026.138616

14. Eckert I, Lima J, Dariva AA. Creatine supplementation for treating symptoms of depression: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Br J Nutr. 2025;134(11):947-959. doi:10.1017/S0007114525105588

15. Syrotuik DG, Bell GJ. Acute creatine monohydrate supplementation: a descriptive physiological profile of responders vs. nonresponders. J Strength Cond Res. 2004 Aug;18(3):610-7. doi: 10.1519/12392.1. PMID: 15320650.