New Study Suggests Creatine Isn’t Effective for Building Muscle—But Experts Say It’s Complicated

It’s hard to scroll through TikTok without seeing another fitness influencer recommending creatine to build muscle and boost performance. But new research suggests adding the supplement to a lifting routine might not do anything for your lean muscle mass. 

Creatine isn’t just social media famous—there’s plenty of evidence-based research to support its use for everything from boosting recovery to supporting brain health, making the findings borderline shocking. But while it’s easy to write off creatine as a supplement past its prime after reading a headline or two, experts say the reality is a little more complicated than that. 

Here’s exactly what the study found, plus what a creatine researcher and performance-based nutritionist want you to keep in mind. 

What did the study find?

The study, which was published in the journal Nutrients, had 54 healthy people between the ages of 18 and 50 go through a 12-week resistance training program. Some participants were asked to take 5 grams of creatine daily; Others followed the training program but didn’t take a supplement.

People in the creatine group started using the supplement a week before they began the exercise program. However, they didn’t do a creatine-loading phase, which typically means taking 20 to 25 grams a day for up to a week to quickly saturate the muscles’ creatine stores. 

The researchers found that both groups put on an average of 4.4 pounds of lean body mass during the trial.  During the first week, people taking creatine gained more lean body mass, especially women, putting on an average of 1.1 pounds more than the control group. But the gains eventually matched those of the control group with time. 

The researchers say those original gains suggest that this early lead in the creatine group was actually due to fluid retention, not muscle growth.

“There is a lot of evidence that creatine is beneficial for many other different components of health and performance.  So, I wouldn’t recommend people stop taking creatine,” says Amanda Hagstrom, PhD, study co-author and an exercise scientist at University of New South Wales. “I would however recommend people may have to temper expectations.”

Here’s where things get complicated

In the study, the researchers didn’t do something called a “loading phase,” which is when you increase your creatine in an effort to quickly saturate your muscle stores with the amino acid. When you do a loading phase, it allows your body to take in extra amounts of creatine to build up an inventory, explains Richard B. Kreider, PhD, a creatine researcher and director of the Exercise & Sport Nutrition Lab at Texas A&M University. “We always tell people to load with creatine because it’s the quickest way to increase muscle creatine stores,” he says. “That’s when you’re getting quick increases in muscle and you see great gains.” 

Kreider recommends that people do a loading phase for a week (more on that in a sec) to help build up creatine stores and to get muscle-building effects sooner. If you skip that phase, he says it will take longer to see results. That, Kreider says, is likely why the researchers didn’t see big muscle gains within the 12-week study period. 

But Hagstrom says the need for a loading phase is a “myth that just won’t die.” She cites a 2021 summary statement published in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition that says this:  “Accumulating evidence indicates that you do not have to ‘load’ creatine. Lower, daily dosages of creatine supplementation (i.e. 3-5 grams/day) are effective for increasing intramuscular creatine stores, muscle accretion and muscle performance/recovery.”

Not everyone does the loading phase anyway because it comes with a risk of upset stomach, says Albert Matheny, RD, CSCS, nutritionist and co-founder of SoHo Strength Lab. Skipping this phase means it may take a few more weeks to see results—and it may simply be that the study period needed to be longer to see muscle gains, he adds. 

Lead study author Imtiaz Desai, an associate lecturer in the University of New South Wales’ School of Health Sciences also suggested that in a statement. “It would be really interesting to see if creatine has more of a long-term benefit,” he said. “When you start weight training, you have those beginner gains in strength and those start tapering off around the 12-week mark and become slower, so it’s possible the support from creatine might come at a later stage.” 

Previous research supports the use of creatine to build muscle

It’s important to point out that this is just one study, and it’s hard to say that creatine is worthless for muscle-building because of it. “You need a number of studies to show a pattern of effectiveness to have confidence that results are consistent,” Kreider says. “The overwhelming preponderance of evidence is that creatine supplementation increases muscle mass when taken at the proper doses and length of time during resistance training.”

While the findings raise questions, previous research has found that creatine is helpful for muscle growth in healthy young people with adequate training. One scientific analysis of 10 studies published in 2023 found that combining a creatine supplement with resistance training helps support muscle growth in the upper and lower body. And a 2022 review of 35 studies found that taking creatine while doing a resistance training program increased lean body mass by more than two pounds in adults. 

There are other benefits not directly related to muscle gain, too: Creatine may help counteract the muscle and bone loss that post-menopausal women experience due to lower estrogen levels by reducing muscle breakdown and increasing bone formation. Experts say creatine can help with the recovery process, helping you bounce back stronger after hard sweat sessions. Some research even suggests that creatine may help support memory, although that data is less robust. 

So, what’s the takeaway here?

There’s more data than not to support the use of creatine to help build muscles. And, if you want to see results quickly, Kreider suggests using this formula for a loading phase: 0.3 grams per kilogram of body weight per day. That translates to 15 to 25 grams for a 110 – 220 pound person for a week, separated into four doses of 5 grams or so each. 

After that week, shift to taking 0.1 grams per kilograms of body weight a day, which is about 5 to 10 grams a day for a 110 – 220 pound person. “For older folks, we recommend—and are studying—two 5-gram [doses] a day, because it takes more creatine to increase brain levels and enhance cognitive function,” Kreider says. 

But Matheny stresses that you don’t have to go this route. “It’s technically correct that 25 grams a day for a week would help expedite results in terms of saturating your muscles, and 5 grams a day after that would be a reasonable protocol,” he says. “But if you just take 5 grams per day over three to four weeks, you’ll also get to that saturation point in your muscles.” This may also help you bypass bloating and abdominal discomfort, Matheny says. 

Creatine is unlikely to completely make or break your workout gains, regardless. But, if you’re interested in taking it, there’s still no reason not to. “Creatine is one of the most studied amino acids,” Matheny says. “It’s effectively proven that it does work.”