Research
Energy balance
Creatine supplementation improves performance in strength and power events by increasing muscle creatine and creatine phosphate, but not all athletes benefit equally.
If you do strength or power sports, creatine is one of the few supplements with strong evidence for improving performance. Take 20g per day for 4-6 days, then 2-5g daily. It is safe and legal. Vegetarians may see greater benefits. Combine with carbs to enhance uptake.
StrongQualifiesHIGH confidence
There is substantial evidence to show that creatine supplementation can increase the amount of creatine and creatine phosphate in the muscles and can improve performance in strength and power events... but not all athletes will benefit.
Why this rating
The paper cites 'substantial evidence' and 'sound theoretical basis'.
Source
The use of dietary supplements by athletes
Ronald J. Maughan et al. · Journal of Sports Sciences · 2007
DOI 10.1080/02640410701607395
narrative_review · n=310Cited 307×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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