STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Creatine supplements aren't just for gym bros, apparently. Social media influencers promote benefits for your muscles and even your brain. So let's use our brains. What's the evidence show about the hype? Here's NPR's Maria Godoy.
MARIA GODOY, BYLINE: On wellness TikTok, there's a lot of enthusiasm around creatine.
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BOBBY PARRISH: Raise your hand if you're taking creatine right now. It's the supplement of the year.
GODOY: Like this video from influencer Bobby Parrish.
PARRISH: Creatine is legit. You talk about muscle strength, muscle power, muscle recovery. They even say that if you have a horrible night's sleep, if you do a 20-gram dose of this, it reverses the effect of it for that day.
GODOY: So what is creatine? It's a compound made from three amino acids, says Jose Antonio. He teaches exercise and sports science at Nova Southeastern University in Florida.
JOSE ANTONIO: Think of creatine as a source of energy.
GODOY: It's stored in our muscles, and it can help provide energy to power through harder workouts. The body makes some creatine, and it also comes from food.
ANTONIO: So beef, chicken, pork. But really, the food that has the most creatine is fish.
GODOY: Research shows that increasing the amount of creatine stored in muscles can help to add lean muscle mass and improve athletic performance and speed recovery from workouts. You could get extra creatine through diet, but you'd have to eat a lot.
ANTONIO: We're talking, like, two pounds of raw beef every day, and not many people are willing to do that.
GODOY: Some people turn to creatine supplements. And when it comes to adding lean muscle mass, the evidence for creatine is pretty strong. It works, but Antonio says there's a caveat.
ANTONIO: It's always coupled to exercise.
GODOY: Studies have shown that when you combine creatine supplements with resistance training, adults can add around two to three pounds of lean muscle mass. For older people especially, since we tend to lose muscle mass as we age, it can be significant, says Abbie Smith-Ryan.
ABBIE SMITH-RYAN: Two pounds of muscle for me as a middle-aged woman is actually really valuable versus a young person.
GODOY: Ryan is professor of exercise and sports science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She says studies have shown that middle-aged women who take creatine supplements and do resistance training can also maintain bone, and that's important because women tend to lose more bone mass than men with age.
SMITH-RYAN: I love that every woman is talking about creatine right now.
GODOY: As for other potential benefits, like improving memory, helping your brain function better when you're sleep-deprived and maybe even boosting cognition, she says the research is interesting, but...
SMITH-RYAN: I would say, as a scientist, I would love more data.
GODOY: Still, she says, if you want to try creatine supplements, go for it.
SMITH-RYAN: Creatine is not going to be the magic bullet, but I do think that it's a low-hanging fruit that has minimal side effects that has potential benefit that could be helpful.
GODOY: Generally, experts recommend taking three to five grams a day to see the muscle-building benefits of creatine supplements. Dr. Pieter Cohen of Harvard Medical School studies supplement safety. He recommends buying supplements that contain creatine monohydrate, the most widely studied form, as the only ingredient.
PIETER COHEN: When someone wants to use supplements, we need to know exactly what ingredient we're getting and exactly the precise dose.
GODOY: He says, make sure it's certified by a third-party certification program, like NSF Certified for Sport.
Maria Godoy, NPR News.
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