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\n Those compelling cognitive health claims have pushed creatine to the top of the pantheon of supplements promising to fix whatever\u2019s broken in you or turbocharge whatever\u2019s good in you. On Amazon, creatine sales were expected to grow 18% in 2024 to more than $424 million, according to data from Jungle Scout.\n <\/p>\n
\n Just to clear the air: Creatine is not a steroid, though you\u2019d be forgiven for thinking so.\n <\/p>\n
\n When I told my husband I was buying creatine, he responded with a tinge of alarm: \u201cThe stuff Mark McGwire was doing?\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n (Doing, like a drug. Not taking, like a vitamin.)\n <\/p>\n
\n Yes, McGwire, the former home run king with many asterisks to his name, did tell the media in 1998, in the midst of his race with Sammy Sosa to break Roger Maris\u2019s single-season record of 61 home runs, that he\u2019d been consuming creatine to help with muscle recovery. Sportswriters could see it right there in his locker, he wasn\u2019t hiding it. He also copped to taking an over-the-counter testosterone-producing pill called androstenedione, or \u201candro,\u201d which was marketed as a natural alternative to steroids.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cEverything I\u2019ve done is natural,\u201d McGwire told the Associated Press that year, attempting to quiet the scuttlebutt around who was juicing and who wasn\u2019t in Major League Baseball. \u201cEverything\u201d and \u201cnatural,\u201d the public would later learn, wasn\u2019t exactly the truth. As the two suspiciously swollen sluggers closed in on, then demolished, the once-unreachable record \u2014 with McGwire hitting 70 homers to Sosa\u2019s 66 \u2014 the words \u201candro,\u201d \u201ccreatine\u201d and \u201csteroids\u201d circulated almost interchangeably.\n <\/p>\n
\n Andro, which increases testosterone levels, is now banned by virtually every professional sports body, though MLB was one of the last to do so, in 2004. Anabolic steroids, similarly, increase testosterone to build muscle, and are banned by virtually every athletic organization.\n <\/p>\n
\n Creatine, the least controversial and most \u201cnatural\u201d component of McGwire\u2019s smorgasbord of performance enhancers, became a victim by association. But in the decades since, as athletes have kept using it and more research has been published on it, creatine has made a comeback.\n <\/p>\n
\n It might have been a good idea to call a doctor before I started ingesting a supplement I only sort of understood. But I \u2014 and I can\u2019t stress this enough \u2014 did not feel like it. Summer had begun, and there was no time to waste as I achieved Linda-Hamilton-in-Terminator-2 biceps.\n <\/p>\n
\n By the time my creatine arrived, I\u2019d done enough internet research to feel confident in my plan: 5 grams daily, even on rest days, stirred into water or a smoothie. (I declined to try the method peddled by at least one YouTuber who advocated spooning the dry powder directly into your mouth, a suggestion that recalled the viral, profoundly ill-advised cinnamon challenge of the 2010s.)\n <\/p>\n
\n To my relief, a teaspoon of creatine stirred into a glass of water is mostly tasteless. A little gritty, slightly metallic \u2014 nothing compared with the sickly sweet, chalky experience of protein powders I\u2019ve suffered through in the past. It wouldn\u2019t be hard to work into my morning routine (which I\u2019m going to tell you about, but I want you to know in advance: I know that it\u2019s annoying as hell.)\n <\/p>\n
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\n My alarm goes off at 5:12 a.m., Monday to Friday. I get dressed. I\u2019m at CrossFit by 5:55 for an hourlong class that starts at 6. After that, I head into the office. That\u2019s been my schedule more or less for the past three years, when I got tired of running ultramarathons and took up weight-lifting.\n <\/p>\n
\n A week into the creatine experiment, my arms looked about the same as before, which is to say, not quite Hamiltonian. But I did feel something. A little bit of ease while cranking out one or two extra push-ups during a workout. A little less fatigue, perhaps, by the time Friday rolled around and my body would normally be crying uncle. Was the creatine working, or was it just my brain telling me the creatine\u2019s working?\n <\/p>\n
\n Probably a bit of both, according to Michael Fredericson, a doctor of sports medicine and professor of orthopedic surgery at Stanford University. While I couldn\u2019t be bothered to consult my own doctor before this journey, once I\u2019d started, I did want to learn more by talking to a physician who wasn\u2019t some TikTok creator trying to build their brand.\n <\/p>\n
\n When I called Fredericson, about a week into my new habit, I half expected him to tell me that creatine was, like so many other supplements out there, a scam. Or, at best, a vector for a benign placebo effect that convinces me I\u2019m getting stronger.\n <\/p>\n
\n I was wrong.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cI\u2019m a big, big proponent of creatine,\u201d Fredericson said. \u201cI mean, it\u2019s safe, it is effective for all age groups \u2026 There\u2019s just not really any downside to it.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n While the supplement no silver bullet, the hype is, to some extent, accurate.\n <\/p>\n
\n I\u2019d initially dismissed the GymTok talk of creatine\u2019s alleged cognitive benefits: a better memory, a sunnier mood, less brain fog.\n <\/p>\n
\n Creatine boosts athletic performance<\/a> because muscles convert it into a compound that generates energy, especially during intense bursts of activity like sprinting or weightlifting. I assumed the creatine cult\u2019s reported mental health improvements were just a function of working out more.\n <\/p>\n \n But it turns out there\u2019s some real science backing the cognitive claims.\n <\/p>\n \n One study<\/a> published in 2023 found that creatine supplementation \u201cmay confer beneficial effects on cognitive function in adults, particularly in the domains of memory, attention time, and information processing speed.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Another study Fredericson mentioned focused on creatine\u2019s effect on women<\/a>. It found evidence that \u201cindicates positive effects from creatine supplementation on mood and cognition, possibly by restoring brain energy levels and homeostasis.\u201d Two of the study authors disclosed they\u2019re scientific advisers to a company that makes creatine, which paid the publication fee for the research.\n <\/p>\n