alt.hn

5/31/2026 at 4:19:34 PM

Creatine raises brain energy levels and slows cognitive decline: study

 https://thesciverse.org/scientists-found-that-the-creatine-supplement-millions-take-for-muscle-gains-is-quietly-raising-brain-energy-levels-and-slowing-early-alzheimers-cognitive-decline-by-30/

by MrJagil

5/31/2026 at 5:30:46 PM

The article made up the claim it’s not from the paper itself.

There was some improvement in cognitive scores, but no placebo group. Without a placebo group, there are a lot of explanations for the data.

by WhitneyLand

5/31/2026 at 5:40:12 PM

>> Recently, a pilot study (single-arm) by Smith et al., recruited 20 patients (73 years of age) with AD and provided them with 20 grams/day of CrM for 8 weeks [20]. Serum creatine levels were increased at weeks 4 and 8 (p < 0.001), and total brain creatine levels (as measured by H-MRS) increased by 11% (p < 0.001). Clinically, there were demonstrated improvements in cognition on global (p = 0.02) and fluid composites (p = 0.004), as well as List Sorting (p = 0.001), Oral Reading (p < 0.001) and Flanker tests (p = 0.05).

Yeah 20 patients is not a lot. I'm inferring this is a pre-post test. However some of those p-values are pretty good (.001 on reading and and sorting). Very promising pilot study but not conclusive imo.

by zug_zug

5/31/2026 at 5:53:11 PM

19 patients completed, according to the article.

And List Sorting, Oral reading, and Flanker only? The first and last are part of global and fluid composites, so those have to be excluded from comparison. That leaves us with 3 improved scores out of 12 tests. So 9 did not improve, or got worse. Figure 3 (of the original article) shows that the changes aren't big. Just "significant". Since the participants were in the early stages of dementia, this seems well within expectations.

So I can't see those numbers as impressive.

by tgv

5/31/2026 at 6:02:42 PM

Sounds like something we should study more rather than dismiss.

by rzz3

5/31/2026 at 6:17:50 PM

This study holds little promise at first sight. Remember that there is a lot to study, and only limited research capability.

> Sounds like something we should study more rather than dismiss.

Ignoring the implication of your use of "dismiss", why? How is this pilot promising?

by tgv

5/31/2026 at 8:11:09 PM

Interesting that you are hearing "dismissal" in the antecedent response. I read it as the poster "studying more" the data, and finding a lot of flaws in both the experimental design and the data analysis.Typically things a reviewer would do when a publication was submitted (or in our case posted here). The author, then goes back and answers the questions raised to show that the effect they are suggesting is durable in face of the flaws. Or perhaps they run an additional experiment and augment their data. After a bunch of back and forths either the effect is sufficiently well expressed in the data or the paper is withdrawn for more work.

When I go through the process of reading the entire paper, analyzing the data myself, and the experimental design. That is the opposite of dismissing the claim. That is me, positing that the claim as stated is 'true,' and then asking the questions if the claim is supported by the provided evidence. If it isn't, then doing the work to express what evidence would be needed to support the claim is the feedback needed to help prove the science.

by ChuckMcM

5/31/2026 at 6:39:05 PM

Sounds like something that should fly under a different headline until then.

by jstummbillig

5/31/2026 at 7:02:50 PM

I wouldn't even call it "promising but inconclusive" so much as "not conclusively a dead-end for further research". In a single-arm open-label study, with no blinding, both the participants and the researchers know who's getting what. You need a placebo and double-blinding for comparison against the active group and to adjust for any ways in which the researchers may have unwittingly influenced the results. (Or perhaps even wittingly, when there are conflicts of interest. I spent half a minute looking up this study and didn't see any statement attesting that there were none.)

by trehalose

5/31/2026 at 7:42:59 PM

Worse: go look at the MMSE. I bet that, at least for patients with reasonably functional memory, taking the MMSE and then taking it again a few weeks later from the same examiner will tend to improve the score the second time.

by amluto

5/31/2026 at 6:24:51 PM

.001 for creatine levels isn't surprising; that's a lot of creatine. I'd explain the cognitive tests with the practice effect, because it is unlikely that creatine had such a massive effect and we only discover it now.

by fer

5/31/2026 at 7:07:26 PM

I hear about tech bros taking creatine these days with the tone of voice that they use to talk about microdosing. So I can’t imagine it having zero effect.

What I worry about more is that it has more to do with fixing a deficiency. That being deficient in creatine causes a cognitive loss more than supplementing causes a boost.

by pitched

5/31/2026 at 6:34:31 PM

FWIW creatine is "one of the most studied supplements for muscle and strength".

But at the same time "creatine’s brain benefits aren’t as exciting as social media makes them out to be. The research at this point just doesn’t support the hype".

Source: https://physiqonomics.com/creatine-cognitive-performance/

by baxtr

5/31/2026 at 6:51:08 PM

Yes, I can't find a 30%-slowdown number either.

I'll add to this: the referenced trial occurred over 8 weeks, so even if we stipulate that the improvements in cognition (which are dubious, as tgv points out in this comment: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48347906) are due to treatment rather than some other effect, we don't know that the effect is disease-modifying as opposed to symptomatic. As with acetylcholinesterase inhibitors, it may just be having a cognition-enhancing effect which, nevertheless, does not alter the underlying disease trajectory (i.e. just shifting the declining trajectory up vertically by a constant amount), and might revert shortly after discontinuing use of the drug.

A controlled trial, over a much longer duration, and ideally with a wash-out period, would be necessary to identify a disease-modifying effect.

by DavidSJ

5/31/2026 at 7:58:04 PM

I think you're right.

Confusingly they reference a 2026 article (which isn't included in their citation list) that allegedly includes "placebo-controlled trial", but I think it might just be [0], which is based on the same single-arm trial. If they do have a paper using a placebo-controlled trial, they should definitely include that citation.

[0] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12927926/

by lkbm

5/31/2026 at 7:37:45 PM

They also quote a follow up study that sounds more compelling:

> The 2026 multicenter placebo-controlled trial extending this work enrolled 240 participants with early Alzheimer’s... The intervention group showed slower decline on standard cognitive scales by about 30% versus placebo.

But there's no such study in the references section. Not sure what's going on there but I want to see the data before I believe this.

by qnleigh

5/31/2026 at 7:45:28 PM

[flagged]

by kleinishere

5/31/2026 at 7:51:51 PM

Normally I wouldn't ask this, but having seen the effects of Alzheimer's I must ask: is there any evidence that taking creatine will harm my brain?

Let's be real: I take a lot of edibles. I smoke sometimes on a hike. Every once in a while I get a Guiness and a gyro. My health is by no means perfect, and if I'm willing to take in literal poison (yes, alchohol is that dangerous that I say such things even about my precious Guiness).

Anyways, for years I've been mostly skeptical of vitamins. I've heard a megadose of Vitamin C can shorten the symptoms of a cold, but a "megadose" is relatively small enough that just some OJ can do that, no need for pills.

But if I'm not giving up my Guiness and gyros, I probably should be willing to be more flexible about my "no vitamins or weird supplements rule".

So TL;DR: Let's flip this around: What are the risks of creatine, presuming a safe supply chain? (It's legal where I am as far as I know, which I'm a fan of for most things since then you can get a receipt and there will be some authority that investigates if you're unlucky to get a "bad batch".)

by firefax

5/31/2026 at 7:59:03 PM

There are scattered reports from people who take it and feel worse. Some don’t notice until they run out or forget to take it for a few days and realize their mood improves.

This happens with a lot of popular supplements. I don’t know how common it is, but it’s a thing that happens. There are proponents of every supplement who will tell you it’s perfectly safe and any negative effect is due to impurities or your imagination, but there are a lot of reports from people who believe it’s helping until they stop, and are surprised that they feel better without.

by Aurornis

5/31/2026 at 7:56:57 PM

Creatine is one of the most studied supplements in fitness and i don't think there ever was evidence it was harmful.

Then again supplements mostly create expensive pee.

by omnimus

5/31/2026 at 8:01:43 PM

if you're worried about Alzheimers why do you take Marijuana? that would be the first thing to do in prevention

by coreyburnsdev

5/31/2026 at 8:23:45 PM

No sure about brain harm. But I used creatine for a few months and I got cramps in an intensity like I never experienced before. I then decided it was not worth it for a few watts of cycling FTP increase. So I would not consider it harmless for everbody, but this sideeffect seems pretty rare.

by mulle_nat

5/31/2026 at 7:53:24 PM

I can't speak for the Alzheimer piece, but there are other studies about supporting the brain.

Worth looking at the range of studies as well.

by j45

5/31/2026 at 5:12:41 PM

Direct link to the study: https://jpbs.hapres.com/htmls/JPBS_1766_Detail.html

I wanted to check the dosages they used. Looks like the review includes studies ranging from 5g/day to 20-25g/day.

(Typical dosage you'll see for daily use is 5 grams)

by cj

5/31/2026 at 5:30:50 PM

Just in case anyone is thinking about trying it: 25g seems pretty high. It’s worth it to review what that means for the rest of your body before starting this regime. Kidneys are really useful organs to have working.

by gardnr

5/31/2026 at 5:39:51 PM

This is a myth, its not bad for your kidneys. The reason this gets spread is because you will have higher levels of creatine in your urine if your Doctor tests your urine for kidney function, which indicates kidney disease.

However, If you reveal to that doctor that you're supplementing Creatine it will not be concern them.

by ai_fry_ur_brain

5/31/2026 at 6:09:25 PM

Creatinine not Creatine

by chakintosh

5/31/2026 at 6:19:55 PM

I've even had doctors unaware that the regular eGFR tests needs to be adjusted for body mass to be remotely accurate if you're bigger than average - e.g. lifting weights or obese. Couple that with creatine and you get some "fun" moments when your doctor tries to gently break to you how messed up they think your kidneys are. The first time I had that I'd warned my doctor ahead of time to expect elevated creatinine, and he still freaked out.

by vidarh

5/31/2026 at 5:50:06 PM

This has been my understand as well. I have CKD and my doctors have always been chill about it as long as I stop taking it about a week before having blood work done.

EDIT: I don't do 25g though... sounds like a lot...

by laszlojamf

5/31/2026 at 6:20:49 PM

You're lucky your doctor is aware of it. I've had several who did not understand, and insisted creatine must be dangerous if it elevated creatinine levels, and/or didn't understand the effects.

by vidarh

5/31/2026 at 6:24:19 PM

At the risk of sounding stupid. Doesn’t this mean it would mask actual kidney disease? So you’d be ignoring potential warning signs.

by Insanity

5/31/2026 at 6:31:41 PM

IF you tell your doc, they can adjust their interpretation of the test.

Edit: see comment below (i.e. better to stop taking creatine at least a week before a test).

by radley

5/31/2026 at 6:39:45 PM

There is a much more accurate test called Cystatin C that can be used instead, and it isn't subject to being thrown off by creatine, muscle mass, etc.

by llm_nerd

5/31/2026 at 5:51:16 PM

creatinine != creatine

by s3graham

5/31/2026 at 6:07:03 PM

It's pretty clear they understand that. Creatinine is, however, the waste product of creatine. So the more creatine you consume, the more creatinine is in and discharged from your system.

Precisely and correctly as they said, normal eGFR presumes average musculature and average creatine consumption. If either of these out of the norm, eGFR becomes inaccurate and potentially flagging false positives for damage. Creatinine, the waste product of creatine, raises in a way that can get confused with kidney damage, which is precisely how the confusion about it causing kidney damage or being bad if you have a compromised kidney came about.

In some studies, people with CKD actually improved with creatine supplementation, though notably this was not people with PKD where it could increase cyst growth.

by llm_nerd

5/31/2026 at 8:29:45 PM

Also if you want to try creatine, after a week or so you'll probably gain 2-6 pounds of water weight. Don't be afraid of it, it's not real weight, and will go away within a week or two after stopping it.

by asdfman123

5/31/2026 at 6:17:32 PM

I'm not aware of any evidence that creatine harms the kidneys if your kidney function is remotely normal. You'd probably want to check with your doctor if your kidney function is already compromised.

Creatine supplementation will freak out a lot of doctors if they're not warned of it ahead of time, though, and sometimes you'll even need to explain to them that they will see elevated levels of creatinine on the tests and it won't be an accurate predictor of kidney function.

If you're supplementing with creatine and need your kidneys tested it's easiest to stop a couple of weeks before, or ask for a Cystatin C test and make sure they use the relevant adjustments for body mass as well if you e.g. lift weights - I've more than once had doctors imply they were worried I had kidney disease because they were entirely unaware of the effects both creatine and large body pass has on the regular tests.

by vidarh

5/31/2026 at 5:34:01 PM

Yes, the labeling does caution against using it if you have kidney disease. Not sure how much of a risk there is if your kidneys are functioning normally. Maintaining good hydration is always a good idea.

by SoftTalker

5/31/2026 at 5:42:13 PM

I can second this, do NOT start at 25g of creatine. If you're too lazy to read the literature a friendly AI tool will summarize it.

by zug_zug

5/31/2026 at 8:04:07 PM

If your intention is to take creatine long term, skip the loading phase.

It might take longer to see full effects, but who cares if you’re intending to take it indefinitely.

by cj

5/31/2026 at 6:18:19 PM

Most guidance I’ve seen says to start with a loading phase of 25-30g per day for several days, then go down to 5g per day maintenance.

by cobolcomesback

5/31/2026 at 7:33:54 PM

This sounds intense... I'm a small female and I recently started at 5g a day and now I've dropped down to 2g a day because even at just 5g I was getting signs of dehydration, despite tripling my water intake. It does seem to make a difference in my physical performance so I'm overall happy with it.

Also the NIH fact sheet for creatine specifically recommends against higher starting doses.

by skyberrys

5/31/2026 at 7:42:12 PM

I did the 25g a day loading phase and I could not tell any sort of effect at all one way or another. I do lift either more weight or do more reps pretty much every time I work out now. What was repping to failure a month or two ago is not even a working set now.

by asdff

5/31/2026 at 7:04:01 PM

Per day being a key part of that. 30g at once is going to give a good chunk of people pretty severe cramping or a trip to the bathroom.

by basch

5/31/2026 at 7:44:50 PM

I don't think you can even do 30g at once in terms of mixing it. Even 5g in water it seems like theres some that will just stay crashed out of solution no matter what. I have done 25g over the course of a day though for a week long loading phase, and didn't notice any ill effects.

I think a lot of the anecdata on creatine is probably from people misplacing confounding issues to the creatine use. People in this thread are talking about heart palpitations or trouble sleeping. Stressful days at work are enough to trigger that.

by asdff

5/31/2026 at 6:09:57 PM

If you're too lazy to read the literature, then just don't take it.

Going to something that frequently hallucinates or misstates things to the point where it's "trust, but verify by reading the source" means you may as well just read the literature you'd have to verify the summary against anyway.

by jjulius

5/31/2026 at 8:20:55 PM

if you take it right before bed it'll make you dreams loads and sleep haaard, if you can get to sleep; the restless legs are a motherfucker.

by squishy47

5/31/2026 at 6:20:20 PM

Hei more than that - as an avid weed consumer - drugs are not dangerous by themselves especially when you don't like them - they are dangerous when you create space for them and get along with them. I like to believe weed is my little "cheat" - but i'd argue that any product is an abuse on a daily basis - so taking creatine once in a while might be fun to try out - but i would warn about anything on the spectrum of "regime" that plan for a daily basis etc... especially as you rightfully justified, without a doctor or an expert being able to know what effect this is going to have on a said person.

by 6r17

5/31/2026 at 5:27:33 PM

I use it as a supplement because I do weightlifting. 5g/day. I did 20g/day for a week once, and didn't notice it made any difference, so I'm back to 5g now. In terms of stuff like memory, mood, etc. I can't say it's made any improvement but the idea that it might be helping prevent decline is nice.

by SoftTalker

5/31/2026 at 7:49:26 PM

I've found it helps cognitively if under a lot of stress and/or sleep deprived. If I'm not especially stressed and am well rested, I don't know that I notice any difference.

by wtetzner

5/31/2026 at 6:34:23 PM

For lifting you hit a saturation point quickly where your muscles will only hold so much of it. Not sure if there is an equivalent for any brain related effects.

by radial_symmetry

5/31/2026 at 7:49:42 PM

I'm sure there's something for the brain too. The thing is, there's a floor for the brain. If your muscles aren't saturated already and you don't "megadose" (from a muscle perspective) then you won't see any cognitive effects it seems.

by insanitybit

5/31/2026 at 5:42:43 PM

Its changed my life. Im also a long time vegan with MTHFR gene mutations and sleep issues though.

by ai_fry_ur_brain

5/31/2026 at 5:46:53 PM

I've heard others say it helps with mood, energy, depression, etc. and if that's the case for some people then great. I don't notice it myself but that's just me. Not everyone has the same body chemistry.

by SoftTalker

5/31/2026 at 6:10:45 PM

That’s a pretty amazing acronym if real

by iwontberude

5/31/2026 at 6:25:58 PM

Say MTHFR one more time, I dare you.

Never heard of the acronym though so not sure what the mutation implies.

by Insanity

5/31/2026 at 6:14:46 PM

I also have MTHFR gene mutations and sleep issues.

What exactly helped you?

by throwmeowaway

5/31/2026 at 6:03:15 PM

High dosage is not for your daily intake

It’s called a loading phase to quickly saturate the tissues i.e for a week or so for someone who never took the creatine. You can absolutely skip this.

I wouldn’t go higher than 10g daily on a regular basis.

I personally take 7.5g for the last couple of years.

by piskov

5/31/2026 at 7:50:48 PM

The entire point is that >10G is justified if you're going for cognitive effects. For muscles you don't need to go above 5G. For brain, >15G.

by insanitybit

5/31/2026 at 7:08:29 PM

Not something to worry for the general population, but persons with genetic likelihood of getting Parkinsons should be wary of taking both Creatine and Coffee together. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4573899/

by ven0m

5/31/2026 at 8:18:28 PM

Wow I have been mixing 5g of creatine in my morning for the past several months, this is terrifying.

by hilsdev

5/31/2026 at 7:23:01 PM

The 30% figure seems to be completely made up and this whole article is adfarm-bait.

The CABA trial is an 8-week single-arm pilot (no placebo). The study measured cognitive improvement over 8 weeks in a single group — not "slowing of decline versus placebo." There is no 30% figure anywhere in the paper.

I'm glad we have AI to quickly read this kind of stuff and check these kinds of claims for us.

by jwr

5/31/2026 at 5:17:23 PM

The article's entirely AI-generated; not necessarily untrue but may not have been fully reviewed by an editor.

by bmmurphy

5/31/2026 at 5:25:50 PM

What did you use to determine this?

Ask because many of the online tools I've tried, they will sometimes tag what I've written at 30-40% AI written and sometimes purely AI written stuff is flagged as 60-70% AI

by narmiouh

5/31/2026 at 6:13:30 PM

"Quietly". Also, the first paragraph. If this wasn't actually 100% LLM generated, one has almost certainly been used to imbue it with the flavour.

by tom_

5/31/2026 at 6:19:13 PM

As of now there are only two somewhat reliable tools.

First one is Pangram. Other available detectors are varying level of bad, with some of them entirely shit (eg zerogpt something).

The second one is human mind. Read enough of that slop and your brain hopefully will start detecting AI patterns.

And this article is totally AI, both to Pangram, and to my mind.

by relevant_stats

5/31/2026 at 6:22:49 PM

My experience in testing actual AI written content on willing participants is that people are entirely useless at detecting AI written content with any reliability whatsoever.

by vidarh

5/31/2026 at 6:29:14 PM

I don't know what your experience is, according to mine there are some people who are better than chance at picking this up.

And I believe my experience is something expected. People are also certain kind of a neural network. If an LLM system is trainable to be a decent detector, I don't see a reason why at least some people couldn't be.

by relevant_stats

5/31/2026 at 6:33:16 PM

I haven't seen any evidence an LLM is trainable to be a decent detector for anything people have made any kind of attempts at trying to get past them. Which is as expected as access to a detector effectively makes the problem equivalent to the halting problem (you can tweak the output using a detector as judge until you have a process to bypass it). Some of them are somewhat able to recognised "raw" output.

by vidarh

5/31/2026 at 6:44:12 PM

Yes, and the problem we are having here is 'raw' output. LLMgenerated slop is zero-effort bullshit, not an elaborate scheme to prove a philosophical thesis. There is no economy for mediaworkers doing the latter.

Similar as with coding, yes, halting problem!, but we've been always reviewing code nonetheless.

by relevant_stats

5/31/2026 at 5:30:24 PM

To be clear you're not alleging the journal article published in Journal and Brain Psychiatry is ai-generated right.

by zug_zug

5/31/2026 at 5:46:22 PM

they're talking about the article that was posted

by ajkjk

5/31/2026 at 5:43:32 PM

You'd be surprised

by airstrike

5/31/2026 at 7:16:37 PM

Feedback about creatine often seems mixed. Many love it, but many also report problems. Just in this thread there are people talking about heart palpitations and sleep problems. I have the theory that these side effects and mixed experiences come from impurities of lesser quality products. Apparently there are mostly two sources: Creatine mono-hydrate which mostly comes from China and "creapure", which is a patented formula known for its purity. Does anyone have insight into how substantiated this theory is? How likely are negative effects because of pollutants/impurities?

by kherud

5/31/2026 at 8:22:11 PM

> Creatine mono-hydrate which mostly comes from China and "creapure", which is a patented formula known for its purity.

Creapure sells Creatine Monohydrate not a proprietary form of creatine [1]. The higher end in creatine is Creatine HCL which is more expensive but more water soliable, easier on the stomach, and requires a smaller dose.

In terms of creatine manufactured in the Western World:

* CON-CRĒT manufactures creatine in the US, they produce Creatine HCL.

* Creapure manufactures creatine in Germany. They produce Creatine Monohydrate.

There are also a variety of brands that import creatine and run various tests to ensure quality.

[1] https://www.creapure.com/en/creapure/what-is-creapure/

by bhelkey

5/31/2026 at 7:29:29 PM

On the sleep deprivation topic, adenosine buildup in the brain is, along with melatonin, one of the brain's core sleep mechanisms. As you expend energy during the day, adenosine builds up, so your brain has an idea of how long you've been awake.

Creatine recycles adenosine back into ATP, so less adenosine builds up. The amount of creatine you find in foods naturally is way less than the amount people are supplementing with.

So it makes sense physiologically why mega doses of creatine might negatively affect sleep.

by dempedempe

5/31/2026 at 8:24:28 PM

So creatine adds the phosphates back to the adenosine? However, it's a good reason to exercise. Burn the phosphates from ATP and be left with adenosine, which as you say promotes sleep.

However, I don't think it is so much of a signal of your brain having an idea of how long you've been awake, that's the circadian cycle. I always looked at adenosine as a driver of sleep need. If you burned this much ATP, we're going to need to recover. Seems like an elegant process.

by pedalpete

5/31/2026 at 7:49:12 PM

As with anything in medicine, if it was that straightforward, someone would've already discovered that right now. Human physiology (and biology in general) is such a messy field that the simple act of using isolated facts very rarely gives useful insights.

by Etheryte

5/31/2026 at 7:39:40 PM

Some people simply don’t digest the monohydrate form well. I get all of the symptoms you list.

The HCL form is more expensive, but does wonders for me. None of the negative side effects.

by SkyPuncher

5/31/2026 at 8:30:16 PM

> "creapure", which is a patented formula known for its purity

You mean known for its branding. Most people have never heard of creapure and those who do haven't tested it for purity.

by markdown

5/31/2026 at 5:36:50 PM

Curious if anyone has had hair issues while taking it. I’m aware that there’s no positive evidence for an effect, but there is an at least plausible mechanism. I’ve gone through two periods where I took it and liked the effects, but felt like I shed way more hair and stopped due to that.

by el_benhameen

5/31/2026 at 6:34:42 PM

My personal experience has been dramatic:

5/6g a day.

Very demanding job with lots of ‘thinking’

3 times a week gym

Pre creatine I would struggle to maintain ability to do the hard thinking around 3pm. Just like, fog or I could feel my brain didn’t have capacity.

Now, I am capable till the end of the day. Feels like a well trained athlete at the end of a game being able to deliver rather than just holding on.

by RHSman2

5/31/2026 at 8:20:25 PM

This mirrors my experience. Very significant increase in prolonged focus.

by q1w2

5/31/2026 at 5:43:34 PM

Do you work out?

If so creatine is supposed to help people push themselves harder and thus build more muscle. As a side-effect of intense exercises you'll create more testosterone. Increased testosterone leads to balding.

by zug_zug

5/31/2026 at 5:49:32 PM

Sometimes when I see muscular guy with a head full of hair, I wonder what is counteracting that increased testosterone.

by noisy_boy

5/31/2026 at 6:25:41 PM

Sometimes people just have good hair and spend a lot of time in the gym.

Even early 90s famous era mass monsters were not all bald.

Baldness is known to be related to a bunch of things: testosterone levels, something to do with blood delivery to the scalp, deeper genetic factors.

Surprsingly, for some of the cases scalp massage is known to help.

by vkazanov

5/31/2026 at 7:50:00 PM

Arnold still has a full head of hair for example.

by asdff

5/31/2026 at 5:56:15 PM

Not what you want to hear, but genes, probably ...

by amelius

5/31/2026 at 6:20:03 PM

Yeah I think that is the biggest factor. I got family members that are built like brick shithouse from a life since childhood of physical labor that still have their hair into their 70s, there is no way they weren't maintaining high levels of testosterone their entire life but it didn't seem to matter.

by AngryData

5/31/2026 at 5:59:15 PM

Probably. Money seems to help too, though. A few Hollywood actors have miraculously reversed their male pattern baldness.

by globular-toast

5/31/2026 at 6:13:00 PM

Hair transplants are probably affordable enough for 90% of people on HN.

by Auracle

5/31/2026 at 6:06:10 PM

Along with at least one tech billionaire.

by larrywright

5/31/2026 at 6:20:13 PM

increased testosterone from working out is probably around 10-30% long time, which is a far lower variance than natural level variance in healthy adults. i think i heard from several (claimed natural) strength and bodybuilding athletes that their total testosterone is at the lower end of the scale.

that said, natural free test levels are at a fraction of what enhanced pro bodybuilders tend to supplement, and there are mass monsters with hair. cutler, yates, ferrigno and golden era bodybuilders like schwarzenegger, zane, columbu all had full heads of hair.

by stefs

5/31/2026 at 6:29:59 PM

Yeah, wanted to point this out. I have mid-range natural test levels, more than my dad, and don't have any signs of balding. My dad lost half of his hair by the time i was born.

Steroid consumers have al least ten times my leves, and while this is a factor indeed, in is not necessarily decisive.

by vkazanov

5/31/2026 at 6:09:48 PM

Probably some combination of Minoxidil, Finastride, PRP injections, and hair transplants.

by Taek

5/31/2026 at 6:18:51 PM

Scalp massages. No seriously

by mohamedkoubaa

5/31/2026 at 6:30:45 PM

What kind of massages? I'm curious of this really works.

by maiti_ma

5/31/2026 at 7:56:45 PM

Not sure about the "kind", but minoxidil works by increasing blood flow to hair follicles. So if massages can have a similar effect, I don't see why it couldn't help.

I've also read that maybe massaging the muscles around the scalp to loosen it might help. E.g., a scalp that's too tight can have detrimental effects on the hair follicles.

That being said, I don't know what kind of evidence there is to support either of those things. Seems like a safe enough thing to try though.

by wtetzner

5/31/2026 at 6:19:03 PM

It’s not increased testosterone in general that causes balding, it’s increased concentrations/sensitivity of testosterone byproducts in the hair follicles. There is no correlation between testosterone itself and baldness.

by appplication

5/31/2026 at 6:18:56 PM

The effect of creatine is measurable but in no way is related to balding.

Using steroids does have the effect. And a bunch of others, most of them unhealthy.

These things might look correlated as steroid ppl often consume creatine as well as some other things.

by vkazanov

5/31/2026 at 7:38:36 PM

I tried getting on it several times, I would feel energized at first but after a two or three days it would do the opposite and I would get very lethargic.

My body has a strange reaction to comonly used substances, though. For instance, even a single soda's worth of caffeine causes me to have an extreme 18-24 hour mania phase and then a two day crash afterwards. So, your mileage will definitely vary.

by foo12bar

5/31/2026 at 7:52:34 PM

Fun fact! that's most likely caused by your DNA having both the CYP1A2 gene and the ADORA2A gene. Means you can buy a bottle of soda and only drink a shot of it and get the same benefit as others without those genes set.

by fragmede

5/31/2026 at 5:56:05 PM

I bumped mine from 5g daily to 15 and noticed way less anxiety. It's a must have for me now. Besides that is the regular benefit of being able to squeeze out a few more reps during my kettlebell workouts

by shoobiedoo

5/31/2026 at 5:45:00 PM

There's evidence creatine may raise DHT levels, and DHT causes hair thinning: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19741313/

by calibas

5/31/2026 at 5:56:17 PM

I think male baldness is a bit more complex than creatine->DHT->loss of hair.

But if you want to go down that road, there's also indications that the oil in pumpkin seeds reduce the enzymatic process that turns testosterone into DHT - so just eat some pumpkin seeds with your creatine and the problem goes away! It's that simple!!!

by daneel_w

5/31/2026 at 5:49:51 PM

This is one study with 20 subjects and has never been replicated. There have since been multiple studies and reviews that have found no effect on hair loss or follicle health

by medler

5/31/2026 at 6:21:44 PM

that study is widely regarded as unreliable and outdated.

by stefs

5/31/2026 at 6:37:25 PM

I take 10g a day, have for a couple years now. Started mostly because of training but it does wonders in sleep deprived states.

5g would probably be fine without a lot of training ( I train about 10hrs a week). Seems like I need 10g to both get the physical and mental benefits, especially during peak training blocks (running 50-60 mpw with strength training).

by almost_usual

5/31/2026 at 6:30:24 PM

No but every time I try to take creatine supplements I get heart palpitations. Everyone says I am crazy and that it’s impossible but I have proof from my Apple Watch, one time it was so bad it said I had atrial fibrillation. I went to a cardiologist and he acknowledged it is a possibility but he hasn’t seen it before.

by jliptzin

5/31/2026 at 8:03:51 PM

Just out of curiosity, were those creatine supplements pure creatine? Or were they workout supplements that might have also included caffeine or other things?

by wtetzner

5/31/2026 at 7:22:49 PM

n=1 here, I noticed considerable shedding and thinning when taking creatine. I've taken it alone for 3 months and noticed thinning and shedding. I took it with Minoxidil and Finasteride for six months and noticed reduced shedding. At one point I stopped Mino and Fin, but kept the creatine and the shedding increased rapidly.

I am now on Minoxidil and Finasteride, with no creatine, and no longer have shedding.

by avensec

5/31/2026 at 8:02:16 PM

TBH this sounds like it could be entirely unrelated to creatine. It just sounds like you have shedding and thinning without Minoxidil and Finasteride, and it stops when you start taking them again.

> At one point I stopped Mino and Fin, but kept the creatine and the shedding increased rapidly.

I think it's a common for shedding to accelerate after stopping Minoxidil.

by wtetzner

5/31/2026 at 5:37:42 PM

I take 10 g a day and have maybe noticed muscles seem to bulk more after a hard strength workout. But other than that I feel about the same.

by softwaredoug

5/31/2026 at 7:19:53 PM

I've recently started taking it and I've definitely noticed improved cognitive function. obviously all anecdotal and likely other contributing factors too (have been exercising more)..

by frez1

5/31/2026 at 6:57:37 PM

More water in the muscles is another effect. Also placebo. I do notice I'm a bit heavier when I'm on creatine.

by YZF

5/31/2026 at 6:33:11 PM

Creatine is known to give you some more energy. Like, 3%-5%. That's just an extra rep, hardly noticeable.

by vkazanov

5/31/2026 at 8:04:45 PM

And extra rep seems like it could be a big deal when strength training.

by wtetzner

5/31/2026 at 8:31:23 PM

Yeah, sure.

The point is that it doesn't work like those Witcher potions. Nothing changes here and now.

by vkazanov

5/31/2026 at 5:38:12 PM

Interesting, I also noticed thinning

by koinedad

5/31/2026 at 5:56:53 PM

The plausible mechanism is for male pattern baldness, but increased shedding is not MPB. MPB shrinks the size of the hairs on the top of your head over time. It isn't really affected by shedding which is normal and happens to everyone.

by globular-toast

5/31/2026 at 5:41:38 PM

Same. Not clumps, but a definite uptick in hair shed. Stopped taking it.

by brador

5/31/2026 at 7:02:36 PM

I'm 56 and have been experimenting with it. It definitely helps me stay laser focus on a task. I take between 10 to 15 grams a day in multiple doses. It does help with brain fatigue if you don't sleep well either. I'm also on keto diet and it helps me at the gym. Here is the thing everyone's DNA is different - keto works for me because I have tried it on and off. I have way more energy off carbs. I can also tolerate creatine, some people can't.

by kbrisso

5/31/2026 at 7:15:48 PM

I’m still in the 30s but have found it to lower how much energy it takes to start something, rather than helping me stay focused. Same sort of idea, being in a higher-energy state, just pointing out that age doesn’t seem to be a requirement to get any benefit. I do also respond well the low-carb diets and heat that a lot from pro-creatine people so maybe there’s a connection to diet.

by pitched

5/31/2026 at 7:58:06 PM

if it helps, i did keto fasting for weight loss monitored using a blood ketone meter, ate close to zero calories of korean konjac jelly and zero sugar drinks. and the drastic mental health benefit was a welcome surprise for me. even my physical energy felt infinite. but i experienced exactly what you described after hitting my target weight, very roughly at 15% body fat. at that point the fat burning noticeably slows down and my blood ketone levels drop. important to note that this is at a miraculously stable nondiabetic 70mg/dL glucose level, and zero intake of anything that may induce insulin production. a bite of chicken breast made me lose ketosis and felt the energy loss after a bit so there is that, the biggest confounding var will always be anything you eat that triggers insulin release that instantly halts ketosis, that can only be reactivated hours later. some other "paradoxical" benefit is control of appetite/absence of hunger pangs: https://brainresilience.stanford.edu/news/unlocking-secrets-...

by mrsvanwinkle

5/31/2026 at 8:39:59 PM

My weight dropped 10%, and my blood lipids and "bad" cholesterol dropped to levels I hadn't seen in 35 years, after 2 years with creatine. Do not overthink this. Just try it, especially if you are 40+

by DaveZale

5/31/2026 at 5:19:18 PM

Feels like a sign of the times that I expect half the comments here to be paid astroturfing about how amazing creatine is.

by cheschire

5/31/2026 at 5:26:10 PM

Creatine is $10 at Walmart, I don't think they are paying for astroturfing. It's a chemical like salt.

by beacon294

5/31/2026 at 5:29:53 PM

I work out but I've never taken it. I feel like not everything has to be minmaxed, sometimes some things are better left to nature. Easy come easy go as they say

by king_zee

5/31/2026 at 5:50:39 PM

That's a big odd - because creatine seems to be the universally beloved thing and that it's a bit natural and has positive effects with zero negative side effect. Not a criticism but aside fro proten, creatine seems to be 'the natural thing'. Pun intended.

by bluegatty

5/31/2026 at 7:59:11 PM

There's two sides to this.

1. That's because it's true. Creatine is extremely well studied and the studies pretty much all tell you that Creatine is safe, it's great at what we know it's great for, and it turns out it might be good for things we didn't expect. So when people all say "wow it's so amazing" they're right.

2. Because of (1) being so blatantly true, if you want to push some other supplement, it adds a lot of legitimacy to say "Creatine is the number one supplement, but here's something that takes things to the next level". Since the Creatine claim is well supported and you're already marketing to a group that's taking a supplement (Creatine), it is likely good marketing to piggyback on that.

But this doesn't change the fact that Creatine is shockingly well supported as a supplement.

by insanitybit

5/31/2026 at 6:26:50 PM

[dead]

by cindyllm

5/31/2026 at 5:44:22 PM

If you dont eat meat nature will not help you here. It will change your life if you're vegan.

by ai_fry_ur_brain

5/31/2026 at 6:23:31 PM

Also a lot of peoples diets have a high amount already. And certain things like energy drinks have a lot if you drink a those.

I think a lot of the minmaxed stuff people do working out is mostly placebo because very few people are actually pushing the limits of natural human physiology and hitting some nutrient bottleneck.

by AngryData

5/31/2026 at 8:00:05 PM

You're probably not getting much Creatine from your diet, definitely not supplement levels. I don't think energy drinks have it, maybe pre-workouts. Creatine doesn't dissolve well afaik so it's rare in energy drinks.

by insanitybit

5/31/2026 at 5:46:26 PM

That's definitely the good attitude to have for that type of things

by dgellow

5/31/2026 at 5:36:17 PM

A few thoughts

1) It annoys me whenever anybody mentions literally anything (whatever baking soda, potassium, any vitamin) you get a million unhinged comments about how this was a personal panacea.

2) Creatine definitely does stuff, that's scientifically been established by numerous studies for decades. It's been recommended as a supplement for vegetarians for mental reasons and for people trying to build muscle-mass (sort of niche). I'm actually a bit surprised how few people talk about it when it's a standard blood test thing (possibly because it can't be patented).

3) It's dirt cheap and made by tons of difference places. I don't think there's a "big creatine." It's probably like < 25 cents a serving.

by zug_zug

5/31/2026 at 6:06:35 PM

Even quite a bit cheaper than that, I buy 1000g of creatine for $30 USD, which is 15 cents per 5g serving. I think it's a no-brainer for most people.

by superhuzza

5/31/2026 at 6:19:43 PM

Creatine is very uncontroversial and the scientific consensus is that it's an all around good thing, so I wouldn't be surprised

by sebstefan

5/31/2026 at 5:26:25 PM

That strikes me as a really poorly calibrated expectation. Who benefits? Who's paying? How could I get this job?

by computerphage

5/31/2026 at 7:22:18 PM

I don't know who would be paying, but there are many comments here that are semantically indistinguishable from paid shill comments. I don't have a great explanation for it other than people tend to attribute way too much power to whatever random supplements they're on about (you'll see it in vitamin D or B12 threads too, and especially nootropics (which includes creatine) discussions).

by Jach

5/31/2026 at 5:28:49 PM

You tend to see that more for the more high margin and branded supplements.

The profit margins on creatine are not high.

by pydry

5/31/2026 at 5:30:09 PM

Do you?? Show me an HN thread where half the comments are paid for

by computerphage

5/31/2026 at 5:40:49 PM

How can you accurately detect what is and isn't a not?

You seem very confident you can tell the difference so I thought I'd ask first.

by pydry

5/31/2026 at 5:11:22 PM

Creatine is one of the few supplements I actually notice a difference if I quit taking. Happy to see it’s benefits extend to beyond performance in the gym.

by adamking

5/31/2026 at 5:26:38 PM

Funny because I'm not sure I quite notice it immediately when I stop taking it, presumably since the body retains a certain amount of it. But I definitely notice a difference when taking it the first day after not having had it a little while, especially when taking 20+ grams a day. It gives me so much mental energy and alertness that I won't get a whole lot of sleep, but the next day I end up feeling just fine. If I remember correctly, there have been at least 2 studies that suggested high doses of creatine reduce the side effects of suboptimal sleep, and that definitely seems to be the case in my experience.

by ravenstine

5/31/2026 at 5:34:38 PM

Isn't 20+ grams a day a lot for the kidneys? genuine question

by boredemployee

5/31/2026 at 5:54:45 PM

Elevated creatinine levels (in absence of supplementation) is a sign of kidney issues. There are many studies showing no reverse link i.e. supplementing creatine damaging kidneys

https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1186/s12882-025-045...

by yesb

5/31/2026 at 7:08:45 PM

Okay but logically kidney issues leading to high creatine does suggest that creatine is not all that good for the body, no? else why would the kidney keep it under control?

by dev1ycan

5/31/2026 at 8:37:33 PM

Would you suggest that white blood cells are "not all that good for the body" because they're amped up during a bout of sickness?

Maybe they aren't! But you can't infer that from the mere correlation. Hence that phrase about its relationship to causation.

by niam

5/31/2026 at 8:11:17 PM

No, elevated creatinine levels is only a sign of kidney disease if all else remains equal. Consuming more creatine will naturally increase production of creatinine because creatinine is a byproduct of the kidneys processing creatine.

In other words, it's not a very reliable signal for kidney disease. There is a more reliable blood test called a "Cystatin C" test.

by wtetzner

5/31/2026 at 7:00:48 PM

The only thing I notice is the impact to my weight. I think it makes me marginally stronger but not a huge effect. I take it because research seems to indicate it's a net positive with a small effect and it seems very safe...

by YZF

5/31/2026 at 5:21:07 PM

What sort of differences beyond gym related?

by unshavedyak

5/31/2026 at 5:23:37 PM

After 10g or so, the excess starts going to the brain which helps quite a bit with brain energy.

by j45

5/31/2026 at 5:55:24 PM

What exactly does it do? What is brain energy?

by cryptoegorophy

5/31/2026 at 6:33:59 PM

A good question, but we don't know what anti-depressants do or how they do it, same with anti-psychotics, mood stabilizers, psychedelics, etc. I think we can say we have good theories for creatine.

We do know that it does do something at certain doses.

by the_sleaze_

5/31/2026 at 7:42:27 PM

[flagged]

by j45

5/31/2026 at 5:31:22 PM

I feel like it makes me feel like crap and my brain weird every time I try it and searching my spreadsheet shows this effect many times when I forget and read something like the above article and try it again. Anyone else feel like this?

by Mistletoe

5/31/2026 at 5:55:52 PM

Are you increasing your water intake when you do? That sounds like dehydration. Creatine takes a large amount of water to appropriately process, and during the loading phase, your body is pushing substantially more water into your muscles. Anecdotally, if I don't drink something like an extra half gallon of water a day while loading at 15g/day, I show symptoms of dehydration. And I'm already drinking somewhere between a half gallon to a gallon a day.

by Silagi

5/31/2026 at 6:20:09 PM

I think I do but I guess I could try.

by Mistletoe

5/31/2026 at 5:50:53 PM

Yes I can definitely “feel” it when I take it, especially so at 10g+. And it makes me overly reactive and somewhat irritable, and gives me a ton of energy that needs to be let out lest the former two get worse.

by willy_k

5/31/2026 at 5:38:35 PM

> searching my spreadsheet

What does this mean?

by davidmurdoch

5/31/2026 at 5:48:41 PM

They likely keep a journal of their mental state in a spreadsheet? Generally a good idea

by dgellow

5/31/2026 at 6:22:42 PM

I keep a spreadsheet about my health, blood work, any supplements I take, how they make me feel etc. The summary would be that I take zero supplements now haha. I have tried so so many.

by Mistletoe

5/31/2026 at 8:23:06 PM

Creatine also has a benefit to reducing the symptoms of sleep deprivation

by shdh

5/31/2026 at 7:50:18 PM

How do you get to the point A to point B if you don’t study do research and development there are no instantaneous solutions most of the time it’s just long and slow hard grunt work?

by Danox

5/31/2026 at 7:02:37 PM

Since we are throwing in random N=1, it is very well tested and safe yes. But in my personal experience it does limit my creativity somehow. It seems to have like slightly calming/lower anxiety effect, and to me it comes with me coming up with fewer interesting things. Kind of lowering the model temperature if you will. Curious if anybody had a similar experience.

by comboy

5/31/2026 at 7:13:06 PM

N=1 P=0.5

by HumanOstrich

5/31/2026 at 6:27:55 PM

I feel like for me it would be thwarted by the fact creatine seems to completely mess up my sleep. I don't remember that from when I was younger, but recently tried adding it to my diet and had to bail.

by cadr

5/31/2026 at 7:44:13 PM

I discover the sleep issues were related to my inability to digest the monohydrate form. I’d get sweats, chills, all of the nasty side effects.

I switched to HCL and tolerate it massively better.

by SkyPuncher

5/31/2026 at 6:35:18 PM

I counteract it with Magnesium Glycinate. Works well for me.

by almost_usual

5/31/2026 at 7:39:45 PM

Magnesium has a crazy effect on my sleep, very very noticeably deeper.

Not necessarily more restful, but deep and I don't remember anything. With B6 it's deep but more interspersed with vivid dreams.

I take zinc with them too, my own zma stack basically. I'm not sure the zinc has a direct effect on sleep, I take it for testosterone benefits.

These made me realize that legal vitamins and supplements can have much more than a subtle effect.

by jcul

5/31/2026 at 7:05:18 PM

Magnesium Taurate is the form of magnesium I settled on. I take 1500mg of it (300mg elemental Mg) every evening before sleep, but I feel that even half of this dose has a noticeable effect on my sleep.

Magnesium Glycinate was destroying my sleep even when I took it in the afternoon. I'd wake up after 4-5h of sleep and would feel completely alert as if it was midday and then tiredness would slowly ascend on me over the next few hours but I'd still be unable to fall asleep.

by rpozarickij

5/31/2026 at 7:25:47 PM

Is taking a creatine supplement bad for people who had heart attacks and related surgery? I had four recently and I can't eat a lot of meat. May explain why my brain seems foggier than usual (could also be post-surgery stress but not sure).

by falsaberN1

5/31/2026 at 5:39:49 PM

Side question: I've always been a recreational runner, running 3/4x a week, completed a few half marathons, and recently decided to _also_ go to the gym to do strength training as it has a lot of benefits for runners too. Should I consider/take creatine, is it useful?

by brunooliv

5/31/2026 at 7:06:29 PM

I run and do strength training. I think the consensus is that it's not that beneficial for running. You're going to gain a bit of weight which presumably is going to make you slower.

If you were a competitive runner then you'd probably want to cycle it so that you get the strength training benefit but also optimize for your races.

I take it. I did a 10k race and stopped for two weeks. I'm also not super consistent but I try to take about 5-10g a day.

In terms of optimizing overall health I would say take it + running + strength training is a good combination. The effects are not huge and vary person to person.

by YZF

5/31/2026 at 6:56:40 PM

I’m an ultra runner, I’ll do 50-60 mpw weeks during peak weeks with strength training.

I take 10g creatine, it did wonders for me. More energy and mental sharpness.

Strength training is essential for runners to avoid injury at high mileage. Sleep, strength, and nutrition. It can’t be ignored or you will get injured.

Some folks mention cutting it out to lose weight but at higher mileage I find it hard to keep on weight anyway.

by almost_usual

5/31/2026 at 6:40:10 PM

Used to do something similar.

If you intend to have any benefits of going to the gym then protein (and overall calorie consumption) would have to be monitored.

Running sort of conflicts with working out: it wants you to be light and burns plenty of energy.

Gym wants you to gain mass. No mass gains -> gym us useless.

Creatine is kind of an afterthought in this bigger picture. Might give you an extra rep or two but that's it.

by vkazanov

5/31/2026 at 7:10:16 PM

Agree on getting enough protein (and sleep, and recovery time).

Strength training isn't all about mass. You can get stronger without gaining mass. There is a neural component and an efficiency component. At some point though you do need a bigger muscle to be stronger. There is also the question of whether you're optimizing for faster (fast twitch) or slower movements.

by YZF

5/31/2026 at 7:40:10 PM

Strength training is not only about mass but for most intents and purposes it is about gaining as much muscle as possible while not gaining too much extra.

It's not like one can move from squating 100kg to squating 150kg without extra 2-3 kgs of meat.

And there is NO WAY of growing meat in a calorie deficit. And running often leads to that.

by vkazanov

5/31/2026 at 5:43:14 PM

Check this video, that gives you a good overview and the description has a good amount of references you can look at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxZB3Q6EFJU

In short: seems to help with high intensity exercises and post-exercise recovery, helps with muscle development, and a bunch of other benefits.

by dgellow

5/31/2026 at 8:24:29 PM

In a similar situation, I do take creatine. However vo2max will reduce simply due to the waterweight gains.

by k4rli

5/31/2026 at 7:13:29 PM

Most of the human moods, energy levels, immunity, recovery, consciousness can be controlled by chemicals. It is no surprise that continuous use of a chemical will have impact.

The worry always is what does that extra chemical destroy as the body doesn't produce it naturally.

by chopete3

5/31/2026 at 7:18:45 PM

Creatine has been tested over long time spans already so this comment is not applicable here.

The better rebuttal is that the paper didn’t follow RCT protocols.

by citadel_melon

5/31/2026 at 7:32:45 PM

Creatine is one of the most studied substances that humans consume.

by diego_sandoval

5/31/2026 at 5:37:51 PM

I wonder how long it’ll take this thread to become a proxy of r/creatine.

by traviswingo

5/31/2026 at 6:37:55 PM

I don't take it. But to the best of my knowledge there are basically only three things with any body of evidence that they work with few/any downsides: protein supplements, fish/algae oil, and creatine. That's it. It's kind of weird that people get so hyped up about it, but at least they're not getting hyped up about some random wellness influencer supplement.

by site-packages1

5/31/2026 at 8:01:55 PM

I honestly have no idea if it works.

First time I took it was for working out. I was a lot sharper, mainly due to working out.

Then I took it when I wasn't working out. I had issues with muscles, brain fog, etc.

Now I don't use it and have signs of brain fog, I'm going to start taking again, this time without coffee. I do not expect much of a difference, and I expect the same muscle spazms to happen. I have a feeling that stress creates these spazms, and creatine pushes it further

by ramon156

5/31/2026 at 6:04:58 PM

The first time I took creatine (6g IIRC), I actually felt the mental effect just 2 minutes later. A pleasurable sensation of augmented presence and (mental) relaxation.

I paused taking that momentarily out of precaution while I wait some physical issue to normalize, but I plan to resume it in some weeks. Also it is considered a very safe supplement.

by tacone

5/31/2026 at 6:29:17 PM

How can you be sure you weren't placebo'ing yourself into feeling it?

To my knowledge creatine has no significant effects until your levels rise after, say, a week of taking daily

by merlindru

5/31/2026 at 8:06:48 PM

Well.. I can't, nobody can. Perhaps it was a placebo effect or perhaps I had low levels of creatine and felt the difference. I often felt better right after taking it though, not consistently but often.

by tacone

5/31/2026 at 6:57:05 PM

I've felt dehydrated while I'm in loading phase, it's very noticeable from that perspective. But the mental effects only come after at least a week (for me: longer attention span, less impacted by poor sleep).

by snovv_crash

5/31/2026 at 6:06:45 PM

I get seizures more often when I use creatine. I wonder if it's related to "raised brain energy levels."

by solenoid0937

5/31/2026 at 6:35:51 PM

All Men should be on creatine daily and lift weights a few times a week.

by t1234s

5/31/2026 at 7:09:41 PM

While this is true, but to my understanding this applies to women as well. Even one of these things has lots of benefits, but both are even better.

by rpozarickij

5/31/2026 at 5:53:00 PM

Just beware that for some people (myself included), it causes stomach issues (quite intense in my case). There are mitigation strategies (slowly build up the dose, use more water, take with food, split up the doses across meals, and consider using the less studied HCL variant).

by Scene_Cast2

5/31/2026 at 6:07:44 PM

Try the micronized (even finer powder) version — never had an issue with 7.5g daily

by piskov

5/31/2026 at 6:09:22 PM

Did you dissolve it in hot water before consumption?

by jonex

5/31/2026 at 7:44:51 PM

Mods can you take this down? This is psy-ops and/or marketing BS.

Daniel Okoro is NOT a science journalist - there are no other references to him online except for some Nigerian dude who doesn't match the article's profile. I also saw this on reddit - please keep Hacker News a safe spot :(

by moussore

5/31/2026 at 6:23:58 PM

I usually throw my 5g scoop on my morning coffee where I don’t notice it exists. Any reason not to take it with coffee or am I doing it right?

by jshaqaw

5/31/2026 at 6:38:08 PM

that should be perfectly fine

by saint_angels

5/31/2026 at 6:49:59 PM

Where does the 240 number come from? Can anyone tell?

by jstummbillig

5/31/2026 at 5:15:44 PM

Unfortunately, I get terribly tired and brain-fogged from even small quantities. Anyone else experienced this?

by pillefitz

5/31/2026 at 5:19:39 PM

I haven't heard of that but I know creatine causes loads of water absorption. I wonder if you're borderline dehydrated and creatine pushes you over the limit.

by xeromal

5/31/2026 at 5:25:33 PM

The water retention can be avoided with low-dose creatine which still has some benefits in studies

Instead of 5grams/day like 2grams/day

You can also spread it out during the day to avoid retention, 1000mg x 4 or x 2

Creatine is also a precursor to SAM-e which is a natural antidepresant

by ck2

5/31/2026 at 7:38:01 PM

I have the same response. I had it with lots of water but had to stop taking it after a couple of days every time I tried because it made me feel completely zoned-out. Maybe I should try again with a different brand.

by slymax

5/31/2026 at 5:22:47 PM

Be sure it’s pure creatine, they often mix in all kinds of shit. I take creapure just to be sure.

by dc_giant

5/31/2026 at 5:31:25 PM

I use Creapure (a/k/a "German Creatine")as well. Always hard to know with supplements but Creapure seems to be legit. Also use creatine monohydrate not creatine HCL. Monohydrate is harder to disolve so use warm water (I put mine in my coffee) but it's the one that's been studied the most and has the most documented evidence.

by SoftTalker

5/31/2026 at 5:27:55 PM

Just buy 95% creatine monohydrate. This is the most common formulation, but others do exist.

by beacon294

5/31/2026 at 5:36:43 PM

I have bad central sleep apnea, and regardless of CPAP I still end up with poor quality sleep unfortunately. I was on stimulants like Modafinil and Ritalin for over a decade, which comes at a huge cost physically, mentally. Its the only supplement I take other than Vitamin D, I'm not some freak biohacker.

I've completely replaced stimulant use with 15g of Creatine a day, and 25-30g on days when I feel especially sleep deprived. It has actually changed my life. I decided to try this after reading this paper and will never go back: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-54249-9

There's lots of interesting literature on Creatine starting to be published.

EDIT: Also Creatine destroying your kidneys is a myth (unless you already have kidney issues). This myth is spread because people go to their doctors and get their kidney function tested while supplementing creatine. The doctor will initially be concerned because there will be higher levels of creatine in your urine, which is a sign of kidney disease. However, they will not be concerned if you tell them you're supplementing creatine.

If you have excess creatine in your urine while not supplementing creatine then that would be of concern. If you are worried about this stop supplementation a week prior to getting kidney function testing.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10999421/

by dakolli

5/31/2026 at 5:28:25 PM

not sure if I got it from here or reddit but someone made an automated site that gathers all published creatine studies

https://creatine-sandy.vercel.app/

by ck2

5/31/2026 at 5:14:38 PM

How do you take Creatine ? And how much for what age group and weight?

by manishsharan

5/31/2026 at 5:23:28 PM

It’s a flavorless powder you mix into a drink. It unfortunately doesn’t really dissolve, so it can be a little grainy if taken with water but it’s mostly flavorless so outside of that you wouldn’t notice it.

5g/day is the general recommendation and most packaging will come with an appropriately sized scoop, notably this is one of the rare ones where dose doesn’t seem to be adjusted by age or bodyweight. I presume because it’s cheap, well-studied, and there don’t appear to be downsides for overdoing it. They’re testing it at up to and possibly above 25g/day for Alzheimer’s.

Some people recommend a higher “loading” dose for the first two weeks to build up reserves in your body more quickly, but if the goal is to start taking it daily, this is really unnecessary.

by stouset

5/31/2026 at 5:30:58 PM

> there don’t appear to be downsides for overdoing it

There may or may not be a downside depending on what one considers a downside.

In one of my other comments I just made in this thread, I mentioned my experience taking relatively large doses of 20g a day. While I found it has cognitive benefits, it did interfere with my sleep, though not catastrophically. If a person happens to enjoy sleep, then it's probably best they stick to 5 or 10 grams. On the other hand, if you need to pull an all-nighter, the sleep interference (as well as the better recovery the following day) may not be seen as a downside but beneficial.

But yeah, from a toxicological perspective, creatine does seem very safe even at those doses.

by ravenstine

5/31/2026 at 5:38:55 PM

Yes, there is always going to be someone somewhere that sees some sort of issue. My point wasn’t that nobody anywhere has ever experienced a negative consequence, but that at scale, it is overwhelmingly safe and so it isn’t really worth advising the general public to tailor their dose.

Any of the rare issues that people do experience—especially at the 5g/day level across age and weight—are minor, acute, and easy to resolve by simply lowering the dose.

by stouset

5/31/2026 at 5:31:19 PM

search the micronised version, it is so fine it looks like it disolves completely.

by empiricus

5/31/2026 at 5:47:20 PM

Others mentioned dissolving it. I find just getting it over with is easier for me. I dump the whole scoop into my mouth and wash it down with a mouthful of water or two. It is flavorless, after all.

by twodave

5/31/2026 at 5:52:34 PM

Is this a joke? I hope? A) drinking a glass of water is 'the lowest bar' and 2) using creatine means you have to up your water intake. If you don't drink the water, it won't work.

by bluegatty

5/31/2026 at 5:17:31 PM

It's often a powder you can mix in to a drink. 5g a day for an adult is pretty normal.

by CalRobert

5/31/2026 at 5:18:03 PM

Im 34, 72kg, I take 5g a day. White powder I mix in water, tastes like nothing and has a sandy texture I dislike a bit, but you get used to it.

There is the build up period where you take a higher dose for a week, 8g, in order to saturate the body faster.

by gchamonlive

5/31/2026 at 5:18:30 PM

I dissolve it in my coffee every morning, it’s flavorless. I believe 5 grams is the standard dose, it’s about a teaspoon.

I wouldn’t bother with the “loading phase” you often see recommended online. Just be consistent.

by cmckn

5/31/2026 at 5:52:26 PM

I do this sometimes with 5g creatine monohydrate and I can definitely tell my coffee is more bitter than usual. Not undrinkable but it does spoil the experience of good coffee somewhat.

My favourite mixer is something slightly acidic or sharp tasting, like kefir which also holds the crystals in suspension and somehow is a little less gritty as a result, and masks the bitterness quite well.

by danw1979

5/31/2026 at 5:51:23 PM

I just add to whatever food I'm cooking, I don't notice it

by dgellow

5/31/2026 at 5:24:14 PM

In water, with a bit of regular or pink salt added for general absorption.

Creatine requires you to increase your daily water intake, and actually do it.

by j45

5/31/2026 at 5:17:17 PM

I take 3-5g of creatine monohydrate in a glass of water. People usually take it with their protein shake, which for me contains a 30g serving of Organic low-sodium pea protein powder.

If I take creatine too late in the day, it definitely wrecks my sleep. It is good when taken as early in the day as possible.

As for the age group, I think it could be fine for anyone who is 18 or older.

As for a second dose, that's of possible value for intense exercise, but again be mindful of insomnia.

Note that some sensitive brains, e.g. those with excitotoxicity/inflammation pressure/headache/migraine issues, may not always tolerate creatine well. Such people need to fix their underlying brain issue first before using creatine.

by OutOfHere

5/31/2026 at 5:16:40 PM

[dead]

by dominojab

5/31/2026 at 5:35:59 PM

Peter Attia is a crap human being for being buddies with Epstein after most of his crimes were already known.

But I still trust his analysis more than anyone else at dissecting this kind of stuff and separating the wheat from the chaff. I'll be curious to see if he covers this.

by suzzer99

5/31/2026 at 7:08:51 PM

His website https://peterattiamd.com returns several direct creatine articles, podcasts, and AMAs with him and others.

by WaitWaitWha

5/31/2026 at 7:39:56 PM

“a 30% slowing of cognitive decline in early Alzheimer’s patients in controlled trials. None of this is in the marketing on the tub sitting in most gym bags”

Why would it be? I’m so sick of reading AI slop.

by edoloughlin

5/31/2026 at 6:17:18 PM

This looks like research just three months too late, to be honest. In the Agentic Timeline I’m not worried about Alzheimers. My Google Glasses paired with ChatGPT can tell me where the power button is.

by keybored

5/31/2026 at 6:10:14 PM

What is TheSciVerse.org? The domain was registered 8 weeks ago. Although The Guardian also covered the study...

___

More recently, attention has shifted beyond the gym. Early research suggests creatine could have a role in cognitive function, with some studies pointing to protection from cognitive decline.

“A few bigger studies have brought it into focus,” says [Bethan Crouse, a sports nutritionist at Loughborough University].

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2026/may/25/is-it-t...

by MilnerRoute

5/31/2026 at 5:43:21 PM

Has anyone else had GI issues from creatine? Even at low doses?

by SilverElfin

5/31/2026 at 5:47:21 PM

Isn't that, like, the most common side effect of it? I was just googling for side effects, and different sources vary a bit, but almost all list digestive discomfort

by yjftsjthsd-h

5/31/2026 at 6:38:51 PM

Yes from what I’ve read. But I wonder if some people simply can’t take any amount of it at all. The low doses are SUPPOSED to fix discomfort.

by SilverElfin

5/31/2026 at 6:00:16 PM

I kind of hate it when people "explain" what happens in Alzheimer's disease. Because we actually don't know that.

by oh_my_goodness

5/31/2026 at 6:43:58 PM

i’ll pass on the hair loss.

besides i’d rather just avoid brainrot and substances in general

by moomoo11

5/31/2026 at 5:22:06 PM

I feel like crap when taking creatine... Actually most of these purported supplements are a no go. Preworkouts would work first session then make me ultra tired, caffeine is fine as long as I 'cycle' it...

Wondering strongly if those studies are not just to sell more cheap supplements... As long as for some reason we find that it has some level of effect on most people.

It has some effect for sure but not sure it is that positive... Besides, I don't know if it helped jump start the process or not but I build muscle either way, on little protein, no creatine... Carbs seem to be more important actually.

Anyway, let me take a scoop of creatine to try again, even though I am unconvinced... Hope sells... :s

(I think hydration levels are more important and that is not solved by drinking low mineralized water although I find it has better taste, it gets rid of tiredness)

by aatd86

5/31/2026 at 5:27:11 PM

Try micronised (even finer powder, maxxwell has them) or even in jelly gummy form.

I take 7.5 g every day for a couple of years now and what I definitely noticed is much lower sugar cravings during hard programming days: previously I would eat almost one chocolate every day.

Though YMMV, as I also bench press 140 kg.

by piskov

5/31/2026 at 5:30:55 PM

I had a lot of issues with stomach when taking creatine until I tried the micronised version. Bucked up makes a good product you can find at Walmart.

by mfro

5/31/2026 at 5:25:18 PM

What precisely does it mean to "feel crap"? Is that how you would describe it to a doctor? You seem to also be making broad generalizations. Overall your comment is providing zero insight whatsoever wrt creatine.

In my experience, those with creatine intolerance, especially if assuming it's not taken late in the day, have unresolved excitotoxicty/inflammation/pressure/headache/migraine issues in their brain.

Also, be mindful with blends as they can be fairly dangerous. It's best to get an isolated creatine monohydrate product that is not a blend.

Check your blood pressure. It is very possible that there is something else in your blend that is raising your BP.

by OutOfHere

5/31/2026 at 5:37:19 PM

Creatine is great regardless, just dont get sold by whatever the nonsense article is pushing if anything. Generic creatine the cheapest you can find is likely your best bet.

I have the same struggles with preworkout, they are just overkill for me and make me crash and i feel they impact my sleep because i usually work out at a random time so the caffeine timing may be terrible. Certainly had success with them for a while, but it was when i didn't really care when i went to sleep because when i was younger I'd just sleep for 8-10 hours straight regardless of time of day/night.

by sidrag22