What you should know about creatine
What is Creatine?
Creatine is a naturally occurring compound found in muscle tissue and the brain. The body naturally produces a small amount of creatine, and we also get it from foods like red meat and seafood. The difficulty lies in reaching high muscle creatine levels through diet alone to fully saturate muscle stores, which is why supplementation is popular. To achieve optimal stores, you’d need to consume roughly a kilogram of beef or fish every single day—an impractical amount that you won’t hear our dietitian recommend!
What does creatine do in the body?
Energy Production: Creatine plays a key role in generating adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the body’s energy currency. In muscles, creatine helps regenerate ATP by donating its phosphate group to ADP (adenosine diphosphate) to make ATP. By enhancing your ability to rapidly restore energy, it helps you stay energised throughout the day. Whether you’re pushing through a tough workout like sprinting or heavy lifting, juggling a demanding schedule, or aiming to reduce fatigue, creatine can support the extra energy your body needs to perform at its best.
Muscle Strength and Recovery: Creatine enhances muscle strength by increasing the energy available for muscle contractions. It also supports faster recovery by helping to reduce muscle cell damage and inflammation. These benefits can be particularly important during key hormonal phases such as menstruation, pregnancy, postpartum, perimenopause, and menopause, when the body’s demands on muscle health and recovery may be heightened.
Cognitive Function and Mood Regulation: By replenishing ATP in brain cells, creatine provides crucial energy support during times of mental stress or fatigue, when the brain’s energy needs are elevated. Emerging evidence suggests that supplementation may improve cognitive performance, including memory, focus, and mental clarity, by optimising energy use in brain cells. Creatine may also play a role in supporting neurotransmitter activity, helping to stabilise mood and build resilience to stress.
Creatine Supplementation:
By supplementing with the right amount of creatine, your muscle stores rise to a saturation point, giving you more readily available energy for high-intensity exercise.
In simple terms: creatine fuels your muscles during training, but it gets depleted as you work out. While it can be replenished during rest between sets, having higher stores means you can sustain intense effort for longer before fatigue sets in. Meaning more energy = better training = better results including muscle strength. Achieving full muscle creatine saturation through diet alone is challenging, which is why supplementation has become a widely used and effective option.
Who Could Benefit?
Creatine is often seen as a gym supplement for weight training—and it certainly boosts performance—but its benefits can go beyond exercise. Since creatine is only found in animal foods, vegetarians and vegans typically have significantly lower muscle stores because there is no naturally occurring plant-based alternative. Instead, synthetically made in a lab, vegan-friendly supplements creatine make it accessible for those following plant-based diets.
What You Should Consider Before Taking Creatine?
Creatine is safe and well-tolerated by most people, but side effects can happen, including:
- Digestive discomfort (bloating, nausea, diarrhoea)
- Mild allergic reactions —some individuals may be sensitive to creatine, experiencing skin irritation, itching, or mild respiratory discomfort
- Creatine can lead to weight gain, because:
- Creatine increases the amount of water stored within muscle cells. In practice, this could be a 1-3kg rapid increase, typically gained during the first week or loading phase.
- Creatine also supports the development of new muscle tissue, contributing to lean mass growth. However, if calorie intake exceeds requirements, fat gain is still possible—regardless of creatine use.
There are a few situations where taking Creatine may not be appropriate, so you should consult a healthcare professional before using creatine if you:
- Have pre-existing kidney or liver disease
- Are pregnant or breastfeeding or trying to conceive
- Take medications that affect kidney function (e.g., diuretics, NSAIDs like ibuprofen, or certain blood pressure medications).
- Have a history of allergic reactions to supplements—though rare, some individuals may experience mild skin irritation or digestive discomfort.
Summary:
Creatine is generally a safe, evidence-based supplement that can enhance performance, recovery, and muscle health. But like any nutrition strategy, it should be tailored to your individual needs and what works for one person may not work or be appropriate for you. If you’re considering adding creatine to your routine, speak with an Accredited Sports Dietitian to ensure the right dosage and approach for you. Find an Accredited Sports Dietitian here.