Is creatine worth taking?
What the studies we have published say — strongest evidence first. Every claim below links to the paper it came from.
Creatine supplementation did not improve recovery of muscle strength, soreness, range of motion or inflammation after muscle-damaging exercise across pooled trials; the only change was a lower blood marker of muscle damage at 48 hours.
well supported · human dataA solid null: results pooled from 13 trials covering 278 people, mostly men aged 20 to 60. The trials disagreed with each other quite a bit, so the authors still want bigger, tighter studies before closing the book.
Pooled data from ten randomised trials in 211 older women show that adding creatine to resistance training improves upper-body strength, with both upper- and lower-body strength improving when programmes lasted at least 24 weeks. Measures of muscle mass did not change.
well supported · human dataPromising but thin: results pooled from ten trials covering just 211 older women, and the authors themselves call for higher-quality studies to confirm it. Strength improved, yet muscle size showed no measurable change.
A meta-analysis of 14 randomised trials (763 women across reproductive stages) found that adding protein, amino acids or creatine to exercise produced no significant improvement in skeletal muscle mass, appendicular lean mass, fat-free mass, bone mineral content or bone mineral density; only bench press (g = 0.279) and handgrip strength (g = 0.412) improved significantly, with no increase in adverse events.
well supported · human dataPooled from just 14 RCTs totalling 763 women, lumping together whole proteins, amino acids and creatine monohydrate, very different compounds, so heterogeneity is high and the null may hide effects of specific supplements. The authors note that trials were mostly shorter than 12 months and lacked site-specific bone measurements, and no head-to-head comparisons exist.
Creatine monohydrate is the most robustly supported sports supplement there is: a large body of human trials and the ISSN position stand agree it reliably improves high-intensity performance and, with training, gains in strength and lean mass.
well supported · human dataPooled results from seven randomised trials suggest beetroot juice supplementation reduces the muscle damage marker creatine kinase and improves strength, jump performance and soreness threshold after damaging exercise, while inflammation markers stay unchanged.
preliminary · human dataPromising but not settled: results pooled from seven trials, and the trials disagreed with each other on several outcomes, so the exact size of the benefit is uncertain. Inflammation markers did not move, which muddies the simplest explanation for how it works.
In 60 recreational CrossFit athletes aged 40 and over, both ischaemic preconditioning and cold compression lowered creatine kinase at 72 hours versus passive rest, but their effects diverged: ischaemic preconditioning showed the clearest skin-level perfusion signal while cold compression improved perceived recovery and short-term reactive strength.
preliminary · human dataSingle 2-week randomised repeated-measures trial, 60 athletes aged 40+ allocated 1:1:1; only tissue perfusion was a confirmatory endpoint and the authors state the results are not evidence of endothelial function or deep muscle perfusion.
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This page collects what our published, cited studies say; it is information, not medical advice. Have a different question? Ask it here.