What is creatine?
Something your muscles use to refuel during short, hard efforts like lifting or sprinting. Your body makes some, and meat and fish add more. A supplement tops up the stores in your muscles.
What is the best creatine supplement in the UK?
We don't crown one product, but this is how we would choose: plain creatine monohydrate, 3 to 5 g in a day's serving, independently tested for what is inside (most of all for gummies and chews), and the lowest price for 3 g a day. Of the 7 we have checked, 4 count as putting enough monohydrate in a day's serving (a gummy or chew counts only with a passed lab test), and 1 has an independent lab result. The checklist above the table goes through each point.
What are the benefits of creatine?
More strength, power and muscle when you take it alongside resistance training. That is one of the best-proven results in supplements. For the brain, the evidence is weak; for energy, bone and menopause symptoms, it was not shown or not tested. The strip at the top goes through each one.
How much creatine should I take a day?
The trials used 3 to 5 g of creatine monohydrate a day. Most gave it every day, and nothing we hold says you need to cycle off. A loading week is optional. That is the amount studied, not advice for you personally.
How long does creatine take to work?
Muscle stores fill in about a week with a loading phase, or about four weeks at 3 g a day. The strength trials then ran for weeks to months alongside training, so expect any change to show in your training over that time, not overnight.
Will creatine work if I do not go to the gym?
Not for muscle. Across 35 trials, people who did resistance training gained about 1.1 kg more lean mass with creatine; people who did not train gained almost nothing.
Do I need creatine if I eat meat?
Meat and fish contain creatine, so meat-eaters start with fuller stores than vegetarians and vegans. The strength trials worked in both. The memory results show up mainly in vegetarians, because they start lower.
Is creatine good for women?
Yes, for the same thing it does for men: strength and muscle alongside resistance training. The strength trials included women, and a 2026 review in women after the menopause found the same pattern, though the longest trial in that group, two years in 237 women, found no extra strength.
What is the best creatine for women?
The same plain creatine monohydrate as anyone else, at 3 to 5 g a day. Packs sold for women often cost more per gram for the same molecule. For women over 50, the trials paired it with resistance training, and that pairing is where the gains showed.
Is creatine good for menopause?
Not for symptoms. A 2026 review of 7 trials in postmenopausal women found a little extra strength and lean mass when creatine was taken at 5 g a day or more alongside resistance training. 3 g a day without training showed nothing, and bone density did not change. The longest trial, two years in 237 women with weight training, found no extra strength. Hot flushes, sleep, mood and "brain fog" were not measured, and several of the authors have creatine-industry ties.
Is creatine good for the brain, ADHD or brain fog?
The memory results come mainly from older adults and vegetarians. We hold no trial in ADHD, "brain fog" was not measured, and there is no placebo-controlled trial in Alzheimer's disease. The note on brain adverts above has the detail.
Can I take creatine with coffee?
Yes, as far as the trials show. An early small study suggested daily caffeine might cancel out creatine's benefit, but later trials, including one using coffee, did not confirm it, and caffeine taken before exercise still helped after creatine. One trial saw mild stomach upset when caffeine was added to a 20 g loading dose.
Does creatine help with anxiety?
No trial has tested it. Two small trials that measured anxiety alongside other things found no change.
Is Creapure worth paying more for?
Creapure is monohydrate from one German maker that says it tests every batch for impurities. It is not stronger. That testing is the maker's own statement, and no independent test has compared it with unbranded creatine. A 2011 Italian survey found about one creatine product in seven over EU limits for two manufacturing impurities, but it did not compare brands. Whether the testing is worth the extra is your call; a Verifier Lab result on a plain powder answers the same question for that tub.
Does creatine affect blood test results?
Yes, one of them. Creatine raises creatinine, the number a kidney blood test uses, by a small amount on average, simply because you are taking it. That can make your kidneys look as if they are working less well when they are not: in trials that measured kidney filtration directly, it did not fall. Tell the doctor you take creatine before a blood test.
Who should not take creatine without advice?
Anyone with kidney disease, anyone pregnant or breastfeeding, and anyone under 18 should talk to a GP or pharmacist first. The trials were in healthy adults.
