Creatine is not just for muscle — the brain, ageing and the women’s case

Creatine has an image problem: most people file it under "bodybuilder supplement" and move on. That is a mistake. It is the single most-studied performance supplement in existence, with one of the strongest safety records — and a growing body of work suggests its benefits extend to the brain, to healthy ageing, and to groups who have historically been told it was not for them.

The muscle case is settled

Start with what is beyond dispute. Creatine monohydrate, at 3 to 5 g per day, reliably increases strength, power and lean mass when paired with resistance training — the International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand (Kreider 2017) and decades of meta-analyses (Branch 2003) are unambiguous. You do not need a "loading phase" or expensive forms; plain monohydrate, taken consistently, is what the research supports.

The brain is where it gets interesting

Your brain is metabolically demanding and uses creatine to buffer energy, just like muscle. A meta-analysis by Avgerinos and colleagues (2018) found that supplementation improved aspects of memory and cognition, with the clearest benefits in older adults and in people who were stressed or sleep-deprived — states where the brain’s energy supply is taxed. It is not a nootropic miracle, but the signal for cognitive support, especially under strain, is real.

Ageing and the women’s case

Two groups have the most to gain and have been the most overlooked. In older adults, creatine combined with resistance training enhances gains in lean mass and strength and may support bone (Chilibeck 2017) — directly relevant to fighting sarcopenia. And in women, who tend to have lower natural creatine stores, the evidence supports benefits for strength and potentially mood and cognition, including across the menstrual cycle and menopause (Smith-Ryan 2021). The old idea that creatine is only for young men does not match the data.

One lab quirk Misi accounts for

Here is a detail that trips up even doctors: taking creatine raises your serum creatinine — the blood marker used to estimate kidney function — without harming the kidneys at all. It is a measurement artefact, because creatine breaks down into creatinine. If you do not know the person is supplementing, a slightly high creatinine and a slightly lower eGFR can look like a kidney problem when nothing is wrong. Because Misi tracks your creatinine and CKD-EPI eGFR over time alongside your habits and supplement stack, it has the context to read that number correctly rather than raise a false alarm.

Creatine is not a gym supplement that happens to be safe. It is one of the best-evidenced, safest compounds we have — for muscle, and increasingly for the brain and healthy ageing.

This is general information, not medical advice. If you have kidney disease or any medical condition, talk to a clinician before supplementing, and tell your doctor you take creatine before any blood test that includes kidney markers.