Creatine: What You Need to Know
At this point, most of us have heard of creatine. Ten years ago, it was mostly seen as a supplement for bodybuilders or elite athletes. But creatine has come a long way… both in its reputation and in the scientific research supporting its use.
We now understand that creatine plays a fundamental role in cellular energy production, muscle function, and even brain health. Research continues to expand beyond performance, showing potential benefits for cognition, aging, recovery, and metabolic health.
Let’s break down what creatine is, what it does in the body, and why supplementation can be beneficial.
Where creatine comes from
Creatine is a naturally occurring compound made from the amino acids arginine and glycine. Your body naturally produces creatine and uses it to support cellular energy production, particularly in tissues like muscle and brain.
There are three ways your body obtains creatine.
First, your body produces creatine on its own, primarily in the liver, kidneys, and pancreas. On average, this accounts for about 1 gram per day.
Second, some creatine is obtained through the diet, mainly from animal-based foods such as red meat and fish.
Third, creatine can be obtained through supplementation. Supplementation allows creatine levels in the body to increase beyond what natural production and diet alone typically provide, which is where many of the performance and health benefits are observed (more on this later).
Once creatine is produced or consumed, it travels through the bloodstream and is stored primarily in skeletal muscle, where about 90–95% of the body’s creatine is found. Smaller amounts are stored in the brain and other high-energy tissues, where creatine plays an important role in supporting cellular energy availability.
What creatine does in the body
Creatine plays a central role in cellular energy production.
Tissues with high energy demands, particularly skeletal muscle and the brain, rely heavily on creatine. This means these tissues require large amounts of energy to function properly. For example, your muscles need energy to contract when you move or exercise, and your brain needs constant energy to think, focus, and regulate essential functions. Because these tissues are always active or working intensely, they need a fast and reliable energy supply.
Inside cells, creatine is converted into phosphocreatine, which acts as a rapidly available reserve of energy.
Phosphocreatine helps regenerate ATP (adenosine triphosphate), which is the primary energy currency of the cell. ATP is required for nearly all cellular processes, including muscle contraction, nerve signaling, and metabolic function. Because ATP is used quickly, phosphocreatine acts as a backup system, allowing cells to rapidly restore ATP levels during periods of increased demand.
You can think of phosphocreatine as a rechargeable energy reserve that helps maintain energy availability during physical and cognitive stress.
Creatine vs creatinine
Each day, a small percentage of creatine and phosphocreatine naturally breaks down into creatinine. Creatinine is released into the bloodstream, filtered by the kidneys, and excreted in urine.
This process is steady and predictable, which is why blood creatinine levels are commonly used as a marker of kidney function.
Because creatine supplementation increases total creatine stores, it can slightly increase creatinine levels on bloodwork. This does not necessarily indicate kidney damage; it reflects increased creatine availability and turnover. In healthy individuals, creatine supplementation has consistently been shown to be safe and does not impair kidney function.
Benefits of Creatine Supplementation
Body Composition & Exercise Performance
Creatine supplementation may improve muscle strength by increasing intramuscular creatine stores— which can help re-synthesize ATP more quickly during and after muscle contractions. ATP is the primary energy source your muscles use to produce force. However, muscles only store enough ATP to sustain a few seconds of high-intensity effort. When ATP is depleted, muscles fatigue and force production declines.
But when you supplement and increase phosphocreatine stores, creatine allows the body to regenerate ATP more rapidly. This means your muscles can maintain force output for longer and recover faster between contractions.
This translates to practical benefits such as being able to lift heavier weights, perform more repetitions, generate more power, and maintain performance across multiple sets. Over time, this increased training capacity leads to greater strength gains and muscle adaptations.
Research Highlights:
Strength gains: A 2024 systematic review/meta‑analysis (adults <50, creatine + RT vs placebo + RT) found significantly greater gains in 1RM strength: +4.43 kg upper body and +11.35 kg lower body in the creatine groups over 4–12 weeks (2–10 g/day or 0.03–0.22 g/kg/day).
Muscle mass: A 2023 systematic review/meta‑analysis focusing on imaging‑based hypertrophy (MRI/DEXA/ultrasound) concluded that creatine + RT leads to significantly greater regional muscle growth (e.g., limbs) than RT alone, though effect sizes are modest and vary by protocol.
Exercise Performance: A 2023 review showed that creatine extends time-to-exhaustion in efforts ~90–300s (e.g., +20s at near-max power, +4 min post-sprint endurance); improves repeated sprints, hill climbs, and interval power by 6–18% via better energy shuttling and fatigue resistance.
Sarcopenia
Sarcopenia is the gradual loss of muscle mass, strength, and function that happens as we age. Starting as early as our 30s, we slowly begin to lose muscle. This process accelerates with age, especially after 50, and can significantly affect how strong and capable we feel over time.
When muscle mass declines, it can lead to:
Reduced strength, making everyday tasks like carrying groceries or climbing stairs harder
Increased fatigue, because muscles help support energy metabolism
Slower metabolism, which can contribute to weight gain and metabolic issues
Higher risk of falls and injury, due to reduced stability and strength
Loss of independence later in life
Resistance training remains the most important intervention for preserving muscle mass as we age. However, research shows that creatine supplementation can provide additional benefits.
Creatine helps support muscle strength, energy production, and muscle function by improving the muscle’s ability to regenerate ATP, which is required for muscle contraction. In older adults, creatine supplementation, particularly when combined with resistance training, has been shown to improve muscle strength, increase lean muscle mass, and enhance physical function.
These improvements are clinically meaningful, as greater muscle strength is associated with a lower risk of falls, frailty, and functional decline. By supporting muscle energy production and helping preserve muscle mass, creatine may play a role in maintaining strength, mobility, and independence with aging.
Cognitive Health
Creatine is not only stored in muscle — it is also stored in the brain, where it plays an important role in supporting energy production in brain cells.
Your brain has high energy demands. It requires a constant supply of energy to support focus, memory, mood regulation, and overall cognitive function. Creatine helps support this process by assisting in the rapid regeneration of ATP, which is the primary energy source used by brain cells.
Research suggests creatine supplementation may support several aspects of cognitive function, particularly in situations where the brain’s energy demands are increased.
Improved memory
Studies have shown creatine may improve short-term memory and cognitive processing, with the strongest effects observed in older adults. This is thought to be due to improved cellular energy availability in brain tissue.
Support during sleep deprivation and mental fatigue
Sleep deprivation significantly increases the brain’s energy demands and can impair cognitive performance. Creatine has been shown to help support mental clarity, reaction time, and cognitive performance when sleep is limited or mental fatigue is high.
Research Highlights:
Memory: This 2023 review pooled 8 human studies on creatine's effect on memory in healthy people. It found small but real memory improvements overall, with bigger benefits in older adults (66–76 years) using 3–20 g/day for 5 days to 24 weeks.
Sleep deprivation: This smaller study had 15 adults take one big dose of creatine (0.35 g/kg, ~25g) or placebo during 21 hours without sleep. Creatine kept brain energy steady, sped up thinking/processing, boosted short-term memory, and cut fatigue vs placebo.
Emerging Benefits
Concussions/TBI
Although research in humans is very limited, research suggests creatine may have neuroprotective potential following concussion or traumatic brain injury (TBI), primarily due to its role in supporting brain energy metabolism. After a concussion, the brain enters a temporary “energy crisis,” where ATP demand increases while energy production is impaired. Creatine helps regenerate ATP and may also support mitochondrial function, reduce oxidative stress, and help stabilize cellular processes involved in recovery.
Neurodegenerative Disorders
Neurodegenerative disorders are conditions characterized by the progressive damage and loss of nerve cells in the brain, which can impair memory, cognition, and movement.
Emerging research suggests creatine may have neuroprotective potential due to its role in supporting cellular energy production and reducing oxidative stress. In vitro and animal studies have shown that creatine may help protect brain cells, improve cellular energy metabolism, and reduce neuronal damage in models of conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, and ALS. However, results from human clinical trials have been inconclusive, and more research is needed to determine whether creatine provides meaningful therapeutic benefits in these conditions.
Takeaways
Creatine plays a fundamental role in how your body produces and uses energy, particularly in tissues with high energy demands like muscle and brain.
Supplementation can increase creatine stores beyond what your body produces on its own, helping support strength, recovery, cognitive function, and muscle preservation over time. This becomes especially relevant with aging, periods of high physical or mental demand, or when maintaining muscle and energy levels becomes more challenging.
While research continues to explore its broader clinical applications, creatine remains one of the safest and most well-studied supplements available. Its benefits extend far beyond performance, supporting the fundamental energy systems that allow your body and brain to function optimally.
Disclaimer:
The information in this article is for educational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice.
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