If you know of creatine, you probably associate it with big, muscular physiques. And you wouldn’t be wrong: Supplementing with creatine can be very beneficial for regular gymgoers. However, the health benefits of creatine extend far beyond the weight room. Here’s a refresher on creatine’s role in our bodies, as well as the different groups of people who should consider getting more of it.
Creatine Basics
Creatine is an amino acid-like compound that we naturally store in our muscles (as well as in the brain, liver, and kidneys in small amounts). Creatine has a pretty important job: It’s necessary to produce ATP (adenosine triphosphate), the body’s energy source, says Arizona-based dietitian, Laura Kunces, Ph.D., R.D. In fact, it’s an essential player in fueling short, high-intensity bursts of work—including anything you do in about 10 seconds. For some people, that may just be getting in and out of a car or lifting a child. But for athletes, that may be swinging a bat, kicking a soccer ball for a penalty kick, or doing a backflip, Kunces explains.
Think of creatine like a backup battery for your cells. When your muscles need quick energy—whether that’s climbing stairs, carrying groceries, or pushing through a workout—creatine steps in to keep things running smoothly.
Our body produces some creatine on its own, but we also get it through protein-rich foods such as beef, chicken, salmon, fish, and pork, according to dietitian Sarah Koszyk, R.D.N., author of 365 Snacks for Every Day of the Year. Smaller amounts are also found in milk and cheese.
The thing is, you have to eat significant amounts of these foods for optimal creatine intake, which is why supplementation can be so effective, explains Virginia-based dietitian Caroline Thomason, R.D. To get the same amount of creatine as one five-gram scoop of creatine powder, you’d need to eat about a pound of raw beef—and let’s be honest, that’s not exactly practical for most of us.
People Who Should Supplement With Creatine
While we all benefit from proper intake of creatine, supplementing may be particularly essential for certain groups of people.
1. Athletes
No surprise here: Athletes can benefit from supplementing with creatine since it improves athletic performance by increasing energy and power for high-intensity training and promoting muscle repair, says Koszyk. Athletes who participate in powerlifting, hockey, wrestling, baseball, football, and lacrosse, in particular, can benefit because of the need for intense energy and power boosts in those sports. Likewise, weightlifters and sprinters are also great candidates for creatine supplementation as they require the highest power output from their muscles, which creatine supplies, Thomason adds.
Why Athletes Need More
When you’re pushing your body to its limits, your muscles burn through their energy reserves fast. Creatine helps by:
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- Giving you that extra rep or two when you’re pushing heavy weight
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- Supporting quicker recovery between sets or sprints
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- Helping maintain power output when you’re fatigued
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- Promoting lean muscle development over time
Since they have more significant creatine needs than the average person, Koszyk recommends that athletes consume between five to 10 grams of creatine a day.
2. People Who Are After Muscle Gains
Creatine can help you reach your bodybuilding goals more quickly and easily by enhancing lean muscle mass development, boosting performance, and providing additional power and strength during your workouts, according to Koszyk.
The fact that creatine holds water also makes it particularly beneficial for bodybuilders since they engage in vigorous resistance training, Kunces adds. Optimizing creatine intake helps power muscle contraction and maintains hydration throughout the body. What’s more, recent research suggests that when combined with resistance training, creatine might help increase lean body mass by an average of about 1 to 1.5 kilograms over several months.
3. People Who Eat a Plant-Based Diet
“Since we get creatine strictly from animal protein, [plant-based eaters] tend to have lower stores built up,” explains Thomason. That’s why supplementation can be so incredibly helpful for this group of people—especially if they’re looking to increase muscle mass, muscle strength, and endurance.
The Vegetarian Advantage
Here’s something interesting: Vegetarians and vegans actually tend to respond better to creatine supplementation than meat-eaters. Because they start with lower baseline stores (about 20-30% lower, according to recent studies), their muscles can absorb more creatine when they supplement—kind of like how a nearly empty water bottle fills up faster than one that’s already half full.
Read More: The Best Supplements For Plant-Based Eaters
For plants-only eaters, Kunces recommends supplementing with a baseline of five grams of creatine per day. From there, you may want to talk to a healthcare provider about making adjustments based on your specific health and fitness goals. The good news is that creatine monohydrate is completely plant-friendly—it’s synthesized in labs and contains no animal products.
4. People Looking to Boost Brain Function
“Creatine has been shown to have an improved cognition response and is now being studied within the [older] population who suffer from cognitive decline,” says Thomason.
How Creatine Supports Your Brain
Your brain uses a lot of energy—about 20% of your body’s total energy expenditure, even though it only makes up about 2% of your body weight. Just like your muscles, your brain relies on ATP for energy, and creatine might help keep those energy levels topped up. Recent research has looked at how creatine might support:
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- Memory and recall, especially when you’re tired or stressed
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- Processing speed when you’re working on complex tasks
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- Mental clarity during sleep deprivation (think new parents or shift workers)
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- Overall cognitive function as you age
Read More: Keep Your Brain Sharp As You Age With These 6 Simple Tactics
5. Seniors
All seniors, in fact, may want to hop on the creatine train, since muscle degeneration is prevalent among older adults, with many losing about 30 percent of their muscle mass by the age of 80, explains Koszyk. This leads to decreased strength and mobility, which can result in loss of independence.
Fighting Age-Related Muscle Loss
Starting around age 30, we begin to lose muscle mass naturally—a process that speeds up after 60. This isn’t just about looking fit; losing muscle affects your ability to:
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- Get up from a chair without using your arms
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- Carry groceries or grandchildren
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- Maintain your balance and prevent falls
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- Keep your metabolism running efficiently
Creatine supplementation can increase the stores found in the muscles and promote greater lean muscle mass retention, Koszyk says. A major plus for overall well-being and strength. And here’s the good news: When combined with even moderate resistance training two to three times a week, creatine might help preserve that muscle mass and keep you active and independent longer.
Bone Health Benefits
For postmenopausal women in particular, creatine might offer an extra benefit: Some research suggests it may help support bone strength when combined with resistance training. As Koszyk notes, this is especially important since bone density tends to decline after menopause, increasing fracture risk.
6. People with high blood sugar
Here’s an unexpected one: “Creatine increases the function of a glucose molecule (GLUT-4) that brings blood sugars into the muscles,” says Koszyk. This is important for maintaining healthy blood sugar, she says. As a result, creatine may play a role in blood sugar management for those experiencing dysfunction or regulation issues.
For this reason, Koszyk recommends pairing protein foods (which are good sources of creatine) with carbohydrates to help your body process those carbohydrates effectively. Think of it like this: When you have a meal with both protein and carbs—say, chicken and rice—the creatine from the protein might help your muscles pull glucose out of your bloodstream more efficiently.
How To Add Creatine To Your Diet
If you find yourself in one of these groups, you’ll want to increase your creatine intake to support your individual health and fitness goals.
Getting Creatine From Food
Experts recommend getting creatine from food whenever possible. According to Koszyk, we need about one to three total grams per day. Our bodies produce half that, meaning we need to consume up to 1.5 grams. The best way to do it: by eating animal proteins. “For example, 3.5 ounces of meat (chicken, steak, fish) provides about 0.9 grams of creatine,” says Koszyk.
Here’s what that looks like in real life:
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- A typical chicken breast (about 6 ounces) = roughly 1.5 grams creatine
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- A serving of salmon (4 ounces) = about 1 gram creatine
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- A pork chop (5 ounces) = approximately 1.2 grams creatine
The challenge? Getting optimal amounts for the benefits we’ve discussed—especially for muscle building, brain health, or if you’re vegetarian—would require eating a lot of meat daily.
Choosing a Supplement
On top of food, you can incorporate a creatine supplement. Look for a product that undergoes third-party testing to help ensure safety and quality, recommends dietitian Brittany Poulson, R.D.N., C.D.C.E.S. From there, look for “creatine monohydrate” on the ingredient list, since this is the most well-studied form of creatine, says Kunces.
Why monohydrate? It’s been used in hundreds of studies, has excellent bioavailability (meaning your body absorbs it well), and it’s typically the most affordable option. Other forms like creatine HCL or buffered creatine haven’t shown clear advantages over good old creatine monohydrate, despite often costing more.
Best Practices For Supplementing With Creatine
Got your quality supplement in hand? Use these tips to reap the benefits.
1. Consider Your Dose
Generally, supplementing with five grams of creatine per day can support hydration, protein and carbohydrate metabolism, and brain health, says Kunces. This is about one rounded teaspoon of powder, making it super easy to measure.
To Load or Not to Load?
Some people begin supplementing with a practice called “creatine loading,” in which you take four to five five-gram doses per day for your first week to jumpstart levels, Thomason explains. From there, you take the usual five grams per day. (BodyTech 100% Pure Creatine Monohydrate is an unflavored powder that offers five grams of creatine per serving.)
Here’s the reality: Loading gets you to full muscle saturation in about a week, while taking five grams daily gets you there in about four weeks. Both approaches end up at the same place—it’s really about whether you want results faster (and can tolerate the higher dose) or prefer to ease in.
However, taking in high levels of creatine can cause stomach pain, bloating, or GI discomfort, so those with more sensitive stomachs may want to skip any loading. Similarly, “older or elderly adults may want to start with three grams a day to make sure they tolerate it from a GI standpoint, as their stomachs have slightly different acid-base profiles as younger adults,” recommends Kunces.
2. Take It Before Or After Workouts
If you work out, experts recommend taking creatine supplements shortly before or after exercise. (Research suggests that post-exercise is the truly ideal time.) “I usually tell athletes I work with to take it around exercise time—either within 60 minutes before or after, whichever works better for their nutrition regimen depending on the exercises, intensity, or duration they are planning on doing,” Kunces explains.
Why post-workout? Your muscles are like sponges after training—more receptive to absorbing nutrients, including creatine. Plus, if you’re having a post-workout meal or shake anyway, it’s an easy addition.
If you don’t have a workout to time your creatine around, just add it to your morning routine. Consistency matters more than perfect timing, so pick a time that works for you and stick with it.
3. Pair It With Protein And Carbohydrates
Some studies show that creatine is better taken up by the muscles when consumed with carbohydrates, so Poulson recommends pairing your creatine supplement with a carb- and protein-rich snack or meal whenever possible.
Easy ways to do this:
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- Mix your creatine into a protein shake with a banana
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- Add it to your morning oatmeal with some berries
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- Stir it into yogurt with granola
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- Take it with your post-workout meal of chicken and sweet potato
The insulin spike from the carbs might help shuttle more creatine into your muscle cells—think of it like opening the door wider for creatine to enter.
4. Stay Hydrated
When supplementing with creatine, you may have to become better friends with water. Creatine causes the muscles to hold onto water, so it’s possible you’ll need to get more H2O into your system in order to stay hydrated, Koszyk says. While the eight-to-10 glasses-per-day recommendation still holds water, talk to a dietitian if you’re supplementing with creatine and are concerned about your hydration status.
Here’s a simple way to check: Look at your urine color. Pale yellow means you’re well-hydrated; dark yellow suggests you need more water. Keep a water bottle handy throughout the day, and don’t wait until you’re thirsty to drink—by then, you’re already mildly dehydrated.