The Creatine Manifesto
The Final Word on Creatine Supplementation, Including: Make, Model, Vintage, and Dosing
Executive Summary
It’s safe
It works
Take it
Analysis
Alchemists, Sorcerers, and Creatine Detractors
Arguments and advice to the contrary do not change fundamental facts. I do not often start dietary recommendations with polemics, but the pompous, dogmatic crusade against creatine, which includes, inter alia, New York State’s ban on selling creatine to minors [1] and the NCAA’s ban on providing creatine to athletes [2] necessitates it. If only government officials were to focus their ire on junk food for a day! The safety of creatine is a horse that has been beaten to death and sent to the glue factory elsewhere [3, 4], so I will not elaborate on it here except to say that it is remarkable how fallacies can persist and mock the façade of enlightened scientific thinking.
Ideological persecutions are not quaint relics of the past. The “illusion of progress” [5] is made possible by relegating them to harmless antiquaria: Socrates, Galileo, Jesus of Nazareth, Joan of Arc, the Salem Witch Trials. More recent examples like the McMartin Preschool child sex abuse scare (1983–1990) [6] and other assorted victims of the Satanic Panic of the 1980-1990s crumple the delusion of redemption. Defamed nutritional supplements will never get the sympathy of the falsely imprisoned, but one should think long and hard about the consequences of depriving liberty based on an evidential void.
Physiology and Implications for High Intensity Exercise
For the enlightened, these are the facts about creatine. Creatine is a naturally occurring compound that can be obtained from food or synthesized in the body. Synthesis begins in the kidneys and finishes in the liver, from where it is released into the blood and absorbed by tissues. Approximately 95% of the body’s creatine is stored in muscle with the remainder stored in the kidneys and brain. Its primary function is to form creatine phosphate (CP), which is used in intense, short-duration bouts of activity. In trained and untrained individuals, maximal effort exercise depletes CP to 57% of its base level after six seconds and fully depletes it within 10-30 seconds [7]. Any decent nutrition and physiology text will explain the basics of creatine metabolism. I like Gropper et al. [8]. Creatine supplementation is critical because ingesting the optimal daily dose is impractical with food consumption alone. For example, one would have to consume 1.11-1.67 pounds of herring or 3.33 pounds of beef to get 5 grams of creatine [9].
Implications for Endurance Athletes
Research on creatine’s benefits for endurance athletes is in its comparative infancy. Ben Greenfield notes the fallacy—which I have been guilty of—of discretizing athletic activities into one exclusive energy system [10]. In reality, endurance events require an occasional uphill push or a sprint to get around a pack of slower athletes—or a loose pit bull or an inattentive driver! The empirical benefits for endurance athletes include, as summarized by Forbes et al. [11] and elsewhere where noted: decreased soreness and inflammation [12], accelerated glycogen replenishment after exhaustive bouts of exercise [13], increased recovery from exercise-induced muscle damage [14], increased ventilatory threshold, increased hydrogen ion buffering, and possible increased mitochondrial biogenesis. Other benefits include increased time-to-exhaustion, power output, and work performed in several sports, including cycling and kayaking but not running. Running appears to be an exception, possibly because the body mass increase associated with creatine consumption negates its other benefits in weight bearing sports like running, but more research is needed.
Creatine and General Health
In addition to creatine’s manifold benefits for performance, creatine has shown benefits for many other facets of health: bone, traumatic brain injury (TBI), memory, coping with sleep deprivation, mental health, neurodegenerative disease, metabolic and cardiovascular disease, immunity [15], and increased sleep duration [16]. The beneficial effects for TBIs are so pronounced that there is a growing consensus in the nutrition community that it is negligent not to provide creatine to athletes and otherwise lower barriers to its access.
Supplementation Recommendations
With creatine, as with many supplements, make, model, and vintage matter. Kreider notes the superiority of German manufacturers compared to other currently available sources tested [17]. In practical terms, that means taking creatine supplements made with Creapure creatine. Based on interactions with supplement makers who use Creapure as their source, Creapure is very rigorous about qualifying supplement makers to use its logo. Anecdotally, intellectual property protections outside of the U.S., Canada, and Europe are not as good as those within, so there is less certainty that you are getting what is on the label in those regions, but that goes for every supplement.
Also, Brink discusses possible contamination in creatine supplements and the importance of testing with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) [18-20]. To my knowledge, there is only one brand that both uses Creapure creatine and performs HPLC: AX German Creatine. I requested the testing reports from AX March 13, 2025, reply pending.
Based on the available literature and my own experience of supplementing with Creatine for almost 30 years, these are my recommendations:
Use AX German Creatine
If unavailable or cost-prohibitive, look for a brand with the Creapure logo and verify the QS code on the label with this link:
https://www.creapure.com/en?gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-MjRs4GKjAMVKCNECB22IynDEAAYAiAAEgK0CfD_BwE
Consume 0.1g/kg body weight daily [15]
This supersedes previous guidance by accounting for bodyweight and the cognitive benefits associated with higher doses. Unlike physical performance, the full cognitive benefits of creatine appear to be realized only at higher doses—possibly due to the limited permeability of the blood-brain barrier to creatine.
Dissolve the creatine in a hot liquid (morning coffee works perfect)
The only side effect ever reported with creatine in healthy individuals is mild gastric distress, and this step appears to mitigate that problem.
Folk Tales and Urban Legends
Timing
It does not matter when you take it: morning, night, before exercise, after exercise, etc.
Creatine forms other than creatine monohydrate
Creatine monohydrate is the most studied and most economical form of creatine and it fully saturates the relevant tissues within 30 days after beginning the recommended dosing. There is no reason to look elsewhere: creatine HCL, creatine nitrate, creatine citrate, etc.
Loading
Supplementing with higher doses will expedite full tissue saturation, but it is not necessary. The tissues should saturate within 30 days of beginning the recommended dosing.
Cycling
It is not necessary to intersperse periods of consumption with periods of abstinence. Doing so will require one to re-saturate the tissues and one will not enjoy the benefits of creatine while abstaining.
Consuming with carbohydrates (or anything else)
The insulin response accompanying carbohydrate consumption might expedite creatine absorption, but it is unnecessary with the recommended dosing over 30 days.
References
[1] "Senate Bill S5823C," ed. New York, 2023.
[2] NCAA. "THE NCAA'S ADVERTISING AND PROMOTIONAL GUIDELINES." https://www.ncaa.com/sites/default/files/public/files/Advertising_Promotional_Standards_2019.pdf (accessed April 7, 2025).
[3] J. Antonio et al., "Common questions and misconceptions about creatine supplementation: what does the scientific evidence really show?," (in eng), J Int Soc Sports Nutr, vol. 18, no. 1, p. 13, Feb 8 2021, doi: 10.1186/s12970-021-00412-w.
[4] ISSN, "Creatine supplementation is safe, beneficial throughout the lifespan,and should not be restricted ", ed, 2025.
[5] H. Zinn, A People's History of the United States: 1492-Present. HarperCollins, 2003.
[6] Wikipedia. "McMartin preschool trial." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McMartin_preschool_trial (accessed March 11, 2025).
[7] Strong Endurance. Power by Pavel, Inc., 2020.
[8] S. S. Gropper, J. L. Smith, and T. P. Carr, Advanced Nutrition and Human Metabolism. Cengage Learning, 2016.
[9] S. Forbes, "Creatine supplementation: new findings in health, performance and quality of life " presented at the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 2022. [Online]. Available: https://www.sportsnutritionsociety.org/ArchivePDFS/ArchivePDFS-653.pdf.
[10] B. Greenfield, Boundless: Upgrade Your Brain, Optimize Your Body & Defy Aging. Victory Belt Publishing, 2020.
[11] S. C. Forbes et al., "Creatine supplementation and endurance performance: surges and sprints to win the race," Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, vol. 20, no. 1, p. 2204071, 2023/12/31 2023, doi: 10.1080/15502783.2023.2204071.
[12] R. V. T. Santos, R. A. Bassit, E. C. Caperuto, and L. F. B. P. Costa Rosa, "The effect of creatine supplementation upon inflammatory and muscle soreness markers after a 30km race," Life Sciences, vol. 75, no. 16, pp. 1917-1924, 2004/09/03/ 2004, doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lfs.2003.11.036.
[13] P. A. Roberts, J. Fox, N. Peirce, S. W. Jones, A. Casey, and P. L. Greenhaff, "Creatine ingestion augments dietary carbohydrate mediated muscle glycogen supercompensation during the initial 24 h of recovery following prolonged exhaustive exercise in humans," (in eng), Amino Acids, vol. 48, no. 8, pp. 1831-42, Aug 2016, doi: 10.1007/s00726-016-2252-x.
[14] M. B. Cooke, E. Rybalka, A. D. Williams, P. J. Cribb, and A. Hayes, "Creatine supplementation enhances muscle force recovery after eccentrically-induced muscle damage in healthy individuals," Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, vol. 6, no. 1, p. 13, 2009/06/02 2009, doi: 10.1186/1550-2783-6-13.
[15] D. G. Candow, "Evolution of Creatine Supplementation Research," presented at the International Society of Sports Nutrition, 2024. [Online]. Available: https://www.sportsnutritionsociety.org/ArchivePDFS/ArchivePDFS-696.pdf.
[16] A. J. Aguiar Bonfim Cruz et al., "Creatine Improves Total Sleep Duration Following Resistance Training Days versus Non-Resistance Training Days among Naturally Menstruating Females," (in eng), Nutrients, vol. 16, no. 16, Aug 20 2024, doi: 10.3390/nu16162772.
[17] J. Antonio, D. Kalman, J. R. Stout, M. Greenwood, D. S. Willoughby, and G. G. Haff, Essentials of Sports Nutrition and Supplements. Humana Press, 2009.
[18] W. Brink, "What’s In Your Creatine?!," vol. 2025, ed, 1998.
[19] W. Brink, "What’s Really in Your Supplements? – An Update on Creatine," vol. 2025, ed, 1999.
[20] W. Brink, "What's In Your Creatine? (Part III!)," vol. 2025, ed, 2015.