Somewhere between the World Cup summer, the longevity-podcast industrial complex and your For You Page, creatine had its image rehabilitated. A supplement that spent three decades shrink-wrapped in gym-bro branding now exists in completely different universes at once – folded into the business plans of hyper-masculine megastars like Cristiano Ronaldo and Mark Wahlberg, endorsed by somewhat unlikely evangelists like the Kardashians and becoming its own content genre within female-led wellness and lifestyle discourses online.
The science, at least, was always there. Supplementing with creatine has long been a favourite of athletes and bodybuilders, being one of the most scientifically validated supplements for increasing lean muscle mass. Whilst 95% of the natural creatine produced by our liver, pancreas and kidney becomes a natural source of energy for our skeletal muscles during exercise, those who work out a lot – or don’t get enough natural creatine in their diet via red meat, animal milk or seafood – can supplement it in powders, liquids and gels.
A 2026 report demonstrates that the global creatine market is growing at an annual rate of around 26%, and part of that shift comes down to the fact that creatine’s benefits were always far broader than the bulk branding suggested. Though supplement forecasts vary between firms, every estimate points the same way, that demand is spilling out of the athlete-and-bodybuilder niche and increasingly towards women, older adults and people who simply want to stop feeling the afternoon slump. Here’s what you need to know about creatine, its benefits and who can take it.
What Are the Benefits of Creatine?
Creatine is, essentially, your body’s power bank. It tops up the phosphocreatine stores in your muscle, which means the battery refills faster between exercise efforts and you can go hard again, sooner. “Mechanistically, it helps your muscles regenerate faster under load, which translates into more strength, more power and more lean mass over time,” says Ali Hashemi, cofounder and CEO of Metabolic, the UAE-born health care platform. “There’s also a solid signal on recovery and on preserving muscle as you age. This is replicated, consensus science, not a trend.”
And none of it requires intense, long periods of weight training to see the benefits. Studies show that short-term creatine loading has been reported to increase intramuscular creatine stores by 20-40% and exercise performance capacity by 5-10%. A 2024 review also pulled together early evidence that creatine may help with depression – not as a replacement for antidepressants, but as an add-on that appears to improve the response to serotonin inhibitors, with the strongest signals in women, adolescents and people with treatment-resistant depression.
Does Creatine Have Side Effects?
For healthy people, there are essentially no primary side effects to worry about. The most common real-world issue is mild GI discomfort, and that only tends to happen if you take a large dose all at once. The other thing people worry about is their kidneys, usually because a blood test shows a bump in serum creatinine. But as Hashemi explains, that’s “a by-product of creatine metabolism, not evidence of damage,” and recent reviews have found no evidence that creatine harms kidney function in healthy adults. Though, if you already have kidney disease, talk to your doctor first, as you should before starting any supplement. Research also indicated that creatine isn’t advised for people with bipolar disorder, where it has been linked to manic episodes.
