Creatine, debunked

Creatine is everywhere right now. But are the claims around this classic supplement actually based in real science? Or are they just more marketing hype?

For decades, creatine has been sold to fitness buffs, as a way to build more muscle, faster. Now it’s being pitched to almost everyone, with influencers, podcasters and celebrity doctors claiming it can sharpen your mind, lift your mood, offset sleep deprivation, and even reverse the effects of Alzheimer’s disease. And these wellness claims are driving a real surge in profit — US sales topped half a billion dollars in 2025.

So what is creatine actually doing in your body? Will it really help you build muscle, or are those dramatic before-and-after photos telling a different story? And when it comes to your brain, is there real evidence behind the claims about memory, mood, and Alzheimer’s, or is the hype getting ahead of the science?

We dug into the research on creatine, from the muscles to the mind, and spoke with exercise scientist Nick Tiller and associate professor Matthew Taylor, whose team at the University of Kansas studied creatine’s effects on people with Alzheimer’s disease.

Read more about the real science behind creatine:
– Influence of age, sex and exercise type on creatine and lean body mass, Nutrition (2022): https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0899900722002040

– The effects of creatine supplementation on cognitive performance — a randomized controlled study, National Library of Medicine (2023): https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10647179/

– Single dose creatine improves cognitive performance and induces changes in cerebral high energy phosphates during sleep deprivation, Nature (2024): https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-54249-9

– The birth of modern sports nutrition: tracing the path from muscle biopsies to creatine supplementation — A narrative review (2025): https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15502783.2025.2463373#abstract

– Effects of creatine supplementation with and without exercise and diet intervention on body composition, cognitive function, and markers of health in middle-aged and older adults (2026): https://doi.org/10.1080/15502783.2026.2716273

– Creatine monohydrate pilot in Alzheimer’s, Alzheimer’s & Dementia (2025): https://alz-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/trc2.70101

– The Effect of Creatine Monohydrate on Mental Disorders: A Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials, the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry (2026): https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/07067437251408171

– The Right Chemistry: Creatine, a supplement with a rare commodity: Evidence, Montreal Gazette (2026): montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/the-right-chemistry-creatine-is-a-supplement-with-a-rare-commodity-evidence/

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