Creatine Benefits and Why It Is One the Most Trusted Supplements in Sports

Creatine is one of the most trusted and well-researched sports supplements available today. It’s used across disciplines — from bodybuilding and powerlifting to team and even combat sports — where performance, strength, and recovery are everything but optional. Most people have heard of creatine and its supposed benefits, but often in vague, general terms.

I’ve been writing about health and supplements for years, and as someone who’s used creatine regularly to support my own training, I’ve seen firsthand what it can do. So here, I’ll break down what creatine actually is, how it works in your body, and what the latest research says about its potential benefits. I’ll also walk you through how to take it safely, what side effects to watch out for, and some of the most common concerns people have when just getting started.

What is creatine?

Creatine is a naturally occurring organic compound made from the amino acids glycine, arginine, and methionine, and is found in relatively high concentrations in skeletal muscle. Your body naturally produces around 1 g of it per day — mainly through the liver, kidneys, and, to a lesser extent, pancreas. You also take in small amounts through food, especially meats and seafood, though at levels far below what’s found in a typical supplement dose.

Once in your system, creatine is converted into phosphocreatine (PC) and stored primarily in your muscles; small amounts of creatine are also found in the brain and testes. That stored form acts as an energy reserve during short bursts of intense physical activity, helping regenerate adenosine triphosphate (ATP) — the body’s primary energy-carrying molecule in cells.

While it’s technically possible to get your daily dose of dietary creatine through foods alone, hitting the same levels found, say, in a 5-gram supplement would mean consuming large quantities of meat or fish every day — which isn’t realistic or sustainable for most people. That’s one reason creatine supplementation has become such a popular and reliable way to saturate your muscle stores and support exercise performance more consistently.

How does creatine work?

Creatine’s main role in the body is to help produce quick, usable energy for your muscle cells. This role in energy production becomes most evident during short, high-intensity efforts where speed and force output are essential.

When you consume creatine, either through food or supplementation, most of it is stored in your muscle cells as PC. This form of stored creatine holds high-energy phosphate bonds.

During high-intensity physical activity, the body turns to the phosphagen system — its most immediate energy source. This system plays a monumental role during explosive efforts such as sprinting, jumping, throwing, or heavy lifting.

The term ‘phosphagen system’ refers to the combined activity of PC and ATP (the energy-carrying molecule). The ATP stored in your muscles is limited, enough to fuel maximal effort for only about one to two seconds, and muscles can’t pull in ATP from the blood or other tissues — they must manufacture it.

Since PC holds a high-energy phosphate bond, it’s broken down, and the energy released by its breakdown is used to reconstitute ATP from adenosine diphosphate (ADP), a precursor molecule. When ATP is restored, the phosphagen system — both ATP and PC — is back in effect.

And if ATP alone can sustain peak output for just a second or two, the phosphagen system, which depends on creatine (as PC), can extend that window of maximal effort up to around 10 seconds.

So, to make all this molecular detail easier to understand — this entire recycling mechanism, which depends on creatine, allows the muscles to sustain short, powerful efforts for a little longer. In other words, the more creatine your muscles store, the longer they can maintain high-intensity output before fatiguing.

The benefits you might see with creatine supplementation

So we know that the body can produce only so much creatine on its own, and some diets don’t provide enough to fully saturate muscle stores. That’s part of the reason why creatine supplements have been — and continue to be — taken by many and commonly endorsed in sports contexts. Let's now move beyond the theory and take a closer look at the effects of creatine supplementation — and the health benefits you can realistically expect.

Improved physical performance

Creatine is one of the most extensively studied dietary supplements in sports nutrition, with decades of consistent findings behind it. Research has shown that creatine can positively affect single and multiple bouts of short-duration, high-intensity exercise activities.

The effects of creatine supplementation have been most consistently observed in performance outcomes such as increases in maximal strength, maximal work output, power production, sprint performance, and fat-free mass. There’s also evidence suggesting that creatine may support faster recovery between intense efforts by reducing muscle damage.

An example of this can be seen in a 2022 study published in the Journal of Science in Sport and Exercise, which looked at how creatine supplementation affected young weightlifters. In this double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, participants saw significant increases in one-rep max (1RM) strength across multiple lifts and gains in body mass. More importantly, these improvements occurred without any adverse health effects.

Studies like this reinforce what many have observed firsthand — myself included: creatine can make a measurable difference in performance when used consistently and appropriately, without evident health risks.

I’ve personally been taking creatine supplements for close to three years now as part of my regular training routine. Since most of my workouts revolve around resistance training — which relies heavily on short, powerful efforts — the difference with and without creatine has been night and day for me. Now, creatine is not something that makes you instantly stronger, but as your muscles gradually saturate with it, the effects start to show. Depending on your dosing strategy, loading your muscle stores with creatine can take anywhere between one to four weeks.

The first things that come are more energy and a general sense that your body handles workout strain better than it normally would. All of that translates into your performance. You are able to train at a greater volume and perform more repetitions under fatigue. Then, after some time, the numbers start to reflect it, too — your working weights increase, and so do your max lifts.

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So, seeing how well-supported creatine’s performance benefits are — both in theory and in practice — you may naturally wonder whether it’s allowed in competitive settings. And the answer to that is yes, creatine is completely legal. It’s not listed on the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) banned list and is widely considered one of the safest and most effective ergogenic aids available for supporting sports and athletic performance.

Building and maintaining muscle mass

Another consistently supported benefit of creatine supplementation is its ability to help increase muscle mass when combined with resistance training. The connection here is pretty logical. Creatine has been shown to improve performance and training outcomes, allowing for a greater total body of work and intensity over time. This improved training volume facilitates the kind of progressive overload that drives muscle growth. As a result, people supplementing with creatine generally see measurable increases in strength, performance, and skeletal muscle mass.

This was demonstrated in a 2020 study published in the International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism. Over the course of eight weeks, 27 resistance-trained men followed a creatine protocol that began with a five-day loading phase, followed by a maintenance dose. By the end of the study, those taking creatine had increased their skeletal muscle mass — and had done so to a greater extent than the placebo group.

Now, while adding muscle may be a personal goal for recreational lifters or a competitive edge for athletes, maintaining muscle mass becomes especially important as we age.

Age-related muscle loss, termed sarcopenia, is a progressive musculoskeletal condition marked by declining muscle mass, strength, and function. Sarcopenia can interfere with everyday activities and has been linked to poorer outcomes after surgery, higher rates of complications, and increased risks of falls and fractures.

Given creatine’s known effects in younger, healthy adults, it’s often looked to as a potential way to counteract muscle loss and the associated health risks in older adults as well. But the evidence here is conflicting. Only a handful of studies have observed even modest improvements in muscle mass, while others have found no significant benefits over placebo groups. So for now, it remains unclear whether creatine can increase muscle mass and strength in the elderly. More targeted research is needed before any firm conclusions can be drawn.

Potential brain health benefits

Most people link creatine to muscle and exercise performance — and rightly so, as that’s where most of the research has focused. But there’s also an emerging interest in how it might affect the brain.

Preliminary studies suggest that creatine supplementation has the ability to increase brain creatine content in humans, which has led researchers to explore whether this might translate into benefits for brain health.

Some small-scale studies have found that creatine may support certain aspects of cognitive function, particularly short-term memory and reasoning tasks. It has also shown early promise in helping to ease symptoms related to concussion, mild traumatic brain injury, and even depression. However, when it comes to neurodegenerative diseases like Parkinson’s, creatine has not shown significant benefit so far.

That said, these are still early findings. While the implications for brain health are encouraging, more robust studies with larger sample sizes are necessary to validate these findings. Still, given creatine’s strong safety profile, it’s an area worth keeping an eye on.

Common creatine supplement forms

Before deciding to try creatine, it’s important to confirm that it’s suitable for you. Once you’ve done that, the next step is figuring out which form to go with. There are several forms of creatine supplements available, and although they all serve the same basic purpose, there are subtle differences between them.

Form	Why choose this form	Best for	Considerations
Creatine monohydrate	Most researched form of creatine, effective, affordable	Most people	May cause mild bloating in some
Micronized creatine monohydrate	Finer particles, mixes better, may reduce stomach discomfort	Those who want easier mixing or gentler digestion	Slightly more expensive than regular monohydrate
Creatine hydrochloride (HCl)	Highly soluble, may be easier on the stomach	People with sensitivity to monohydrate	Less research behind it, pricier
Buffered creatine (kre-alkalyn)	Marketed as gentler on the stomach	People who struggle with digestion	Conflicting evidence, pricier
Creatine ethyl ester	Claims better absorption — not well supported by studies	Rarely recommended	Shown to be less effective than monohydrate

For the vast majority of people, creatine monohydrate is the recommended form. It’s been extensively researched, shown to be effective for most users, affordable, and easy to find. If you’re concerned about bloating or stomach discomfort, you might want to try micronized monohydrate, or you can experiment with HCl. The rest — while marketed with buzzwords — tend to lack strong evidence or come at a higher cost without proven benefits. I personally have always used creatine monohydrate and, even when experimenting with higher doses of up to 25 g a day, have never experienced any adverse effects, including bloating.

Is it safe to take creatine daily?

As already mentioned, creatine has a long-standing history of use among athletes and recreational users alike — and there’s currently no conclusive evidence that oral creatine supplementation poses significant long-term health risks when used responsibly and as directed.

To date, more than 500 peer-refereed publications have explored creatine supplementation. According to the collective data, both short- and long-term creatine supplementation is considered safe and well-tolerated in healthy people, as well as in a number of clinical populations — ranging from infants to the elderly. All in all, research makes it pretty clear that creatine is safe for most people to use.

Studies have shown that creatine supplements taken in doses of up to 30 g per day for periods as long as five years have been found to be safe and well-tolerated. Additionally, it’s also been suggested that consistent, low-dose creatine intake — 3 g per day, for instance — may offer meaningful health benefits when maintained throughout the lifespan.

That said, just because creatine is generally safe doesn’t mean it’s the right fit for everyone. It’s always a good idea to consult with a healthcare provider before starting any supplement regimen, especially to account for individual health conditions or medication use.

Side effects and who should be cautious

Even though creatine is generally considered safe and oral creatine supplements are generally well-tolerated, like any compound, it may still cause side effects or warrant more caution in certain cases.

Some of the more common side effects of creatine supplementation may include:

• Gastrointestinal (GI) disturbances
• Muscle cramping
• Bloating
• Diarrhea

These side effects, though relatively rare, have been reported mostly in those cases where high doses of creatine were consumed — typically during the loading phase when people attempt to up the muscle creatine levels quickly.

If GI discomfort is something you are sensitive to, there are a few ways to potentially reduce these side effects. Dividing the dose throughout the day, gradually saturating your muscle stores over time rather than loading quickly, or choosing a micronized creatine monohydrate could potentially help minimize — or even avoid — these unwanted effects altogether.

Furthermore, some have theorized that creatine could affect kidney function due to increased creatinine — a by-product of creatine metabolism that’s filtered through the kidneys into urine. However, current research in healthy individuals shows that creatine supplementation, within recommended doses, does not impair kidney function. Despite the fact, people with pre-existing kidney disease or liver issues, should approach creatine supplementation with more caution.

Creatine use has also been studied in children and adolescents, including in both clinical and athletic settings, but due to the limited long-term data available, its use in these age groups remains a bit more nuanced and somewhat controversial.

The American Academy of Pediatrics, for instance, has stated that it does not recommend creatine supplementation for individuals under 18.

More recent research reviews, however, suggest that under appropriate medical supervision and with informed decision-making, creatine monohydrate supplementation in children and adolescent athletes can be considered acceptable.

Then again, it’s very important that young users, along with their parents and/or coaches, understand the evidence-based recommendations related to safety and efficacy when considering using creatine. Many misconceptions still surround creatine, which is why expert advice remains so highly recommended.

Addressing common concerns

Despite creatine’s strong safety profile and proven effects, there are still a few concerns that tend to come up repeatedly — particularly among those new to the supplement.

One of the most common concerns with creatine is weight gain. And yes — a few extra pounds are very likely, but this is mainly due to water being drawn into the muscle cells as creatine stores build up. In fact, this type of weight gain is typically a sign that the supplement is working. It’s neither fat gain nor immediate muscle growth.

The scale going up was actually one of the first things I noticed myself. A slightly fuller look and feel in the muscles followed not long after. But it’s a subtle shift — nothing like the exaggerated accounts of bloating or looking 'puffy' you might come across online. Personally, I’ve never seen that water retention as a downside — quite the opposite, actually. And if you ever stop supplementing with creatine, that water is gradually drawn out of the body anyway, and rather quickly.

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Another common concern is whether you need to 'cycle' creatine or take breaks. At this point, no strong evidence suggests that cycling creatine provides any added benefit. Likewise, the idea that you should pause creatine use periodically lacks scientific backing. In fact, as mentioned earlier, long-term daily use has been observed for up to five years in healthy individuals without adverse effects. And to reiterate, early research has also suggested that maintaining a steady creatine intake throughout one's life may offer additional health benefits.

Creatine has also long been tied to hair loss. This idea largely stems from a small 2009 study, which found an increase in dihydrotestosterone (DHT)—a hormone linked to male pattern baldness—in a group of rugby players supplementing with creatine. However, the study involved just 20 participants and hasn’t been replicated since. Despite that, the theory stuck.

This long-standing hypothesis was directly addressed for the first time in a randomized controlled trial published online on April 23, 2025 — just days before the writing of this article. Conducted in resistance-trained males aged 18–40, the study found no significant differences in DHT levels, DHT-to-testosterone ratios, or hair growth markers between creatine and placebo groups. In other words, the findings offer a direct rebuttal to earlier speculation — and likely the most reliable data point we have to date on the topic.

In short, the weight of current evidence does not support the idea that creatine causes hair loss.

At the end of the day, most of these concerns — or ones like them — stem from misunderstandings or anecdotal evidence. If you're generally healthy and stick to a standard dose, creatine is about as low-risk as it gets for a performance supplement that has indeed been shown to bring tangible benefits.

The bottom line

Decades of research have positioned creatine as one of the most thoroughly studied and trusted supplements in sports nutrition. Its safety profile is well-documented, and creatine monohydrate, in particular, is generally regarded as one of the most effective ergogenic nutritional supplements currently available to athletes for improving high-intensity exercise capacity and supporting lean muscle mass development.

Additionally, long-term daily use of creatine monohydrate has been shown to be safe and well-tolerated in healthy populations, with studies extending up to five years. However, individual variability is very much a thing, so medical consultation is still recommended prior to starting supplementation.

For me, creatine has been a staple in my daily routine for a long time. I've found it easy to incorporate, and I've never experienced any of the side effects that sometimes come up in conversation or research papers. What I have noticed, though, is a clear difference in how I perform and recover — it's helped me improve my physical output and, in turn, make serious progress toward my personal fitness aspirations.

That being said, I always recommend looking into the research yourself and deciding whether it aligns with your priorities and context.