7 Creatine Myths Your Gym Buddy Still Believes

Walk into any gym in India and within a month somebody will warn you about creatine. It will thin your hair. It will wreck your kidneys. You have to cycle off it or your body stops making its own. The advice is always delivered with total confidence and almost never with a source.

Creatine is the most extensively studied supplement in sports nutrition. That is precisely why the myths are worth taking apart properly: for most of these questions we are not guessing, and the answers are sitting in journals anyone can read. Here are the seven you will hear most, checked against what has actually been published.

First, what creatine actually does

Your muscles run on ATP. For an all-out effort — a heavy set, a sprint, a jump — stored ATP lasts only a few seconds. Phosphocreatine is the reserve your body draws on to regenerate it fast. Supplementing raises the size of that reserve.

This is worth being precise about, because it explains most of what follows. Creatine does not build muscle. It is not a stimulant and you will not feel anything when you take it. What it does is let you get two more reps at a weight you would otherwise have failed at, and recover a little faster between sets. Do that consistently for months and the extra work adds up to more muscle and more strength. The supplement is upstream of the result, not the result itself.

Myth 1: You have to cycle it

This is the one with the least behind it. The International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand reviewed the literature and found no evidence that cycling creatine provides any benefit — not for effectiveness, not for safety, not for preserving your body's own production.

The logic of cycling also works backwards. Creatine's effect depends on muscle stores staying saturated. Stop for four weeks and your stores drift back toward where they started, so you spend the first month of every cycle rebuilding ground you already had. Take 3–5 g daily, indefinitely. Our Micronised Creatine is dosed at 3 g per level scoop with 83 servings in the 250 g tub, which is a little under three months of daily use.

Myth 2: It causes hair loss

This is the myth that stops the most people, so it deserves the most detail.

What the 2009 study actually measured

The entire concern traces back to one paper: van der Merwe, Brooks and Myburgh, published in the Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine in 2009 (19(5):399–404). Twenty college-aged rugby players took 25 g of creatine a day for seven days, then 5 g a day for fourteen more. Testosterone did not change. DHT rose 56% after the loading week, and the DHT-to-testosterone ratio was up 36% after loading and still 22% above baseline during maintenance.

DHT is the androgen implicated in male pattern baldness, so the inference people drew is not unreasonable. But note what the study did not do: it never measured hair. Not hair density, not shedding, not follicle miniaturisation. The researchers were studying hormone ratios in athletes. The leap from "a hormone ratio moved in twenty rugby players" to "creatine makes you bald" was made by the internet, not by the authors. It is also worth noting the loading dose was 25 g a day — five to eight times a normal maintenance dose.

What happened when someone finally measured hair

In April 2025, the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition published a 12-week randomised controlled trial that did measure it. Forty-five resistance-trained men aged 18–40 were randomised to 5 g of creatine monohydrate or 5 g of maltodextrin daily; 38 completed. The researchers tracked androgens and hair outcomes together.

There were no significant differences between the creatine and placebo groups in DHT, in the DHT-to-testosterone ratio, or in hair growth parameters. Total testosterone rose over time and free testosterone fell in both groups — including placebo — which is exactly the pattern that tells you something other than the supplement was responsible.

Being straight about the limits: 38 people over 12 weeks is a modest trial, it did not screen participants for genetic predisposition to hair loss, and its hair assessment methods have been criticised as dated. It does not settle the question permanently. But it is the first study to look directly at the outcome everybody is actually worried about, and it found nothing. That is a meaningfully stronger position than the myth ever had.

Myth 3: You need a loading phase

Loading works — it is just optional. The ISSN position stand describes roughly 20 g a day split into four doses for 5–7 days as a way to saturate muscle stores quickly. The same stand notes that 3 g a day reaches the same saturation in about 28 days.

So the choice is speed, not outcome. If you have a competition in a fortnight, load. If you are training normally, skip it — 20 g in a day gives some people stomach cramping and loose stools, and you are paying for four weeks of patience you probably have. Either route ends in the same place.

Myth 4: Creatine is a steroid

It is not, and the two are not structurally related. Creatine is made from three amino acids — glycine, arginine and methionine. Your liver and kidneys already produce roughly a gram of it a day, and you get more from meat and fish. Anabolic steroids are synthetic derivatives of testosterone that bind androgen receptors and alter gene expression. Creatine is a substrate for energy regeneration in the muscle cell. Different molecule, different mechanism, different effect size entirely. Creatine is not a banned substance in sport.

Myth 5: It damages your kidneys

Why your blood test looks alarming

This myth survives partly because of a genuinely confusing lab result. Creatinine is the breakdown product of creatine, and standard kidney panels estimate filtration rate from serum creatinine. Take more creatine, produce more creatinine, and your eGFR looks like it dropped — without anything happening to your kidneys at all. When studies use markers that are not derived from creatinine, such as cystatin C or directly measured GFR, the apparent decline disappears.

Reviews of the literature, including a narrative review published in 2023, have found no evidence that creatine impairs renal function in healthy people at studied doses. The alarm largely traces to a small number of isolated case reports, at least one of which involved a patient with documented pre-existing kidney disease.

Two practical points. Tell your doctor you take creatine before a kidney panel, so a raised creatinine is read correctly. And if you already have kidney disease, or you are pregnant or breastfeeding, the evidence base does not cover you — ask your doctor rather than a supplement label.

Myth 6: It only works for bodybuilders

Creatine helps with repeated short, near-maximal efforts and the recovery between them. That covers a lot more than lifting: sprint repeats, football, badminton, combat sports, HIIT intervals, any field sport with stop-start bursts.

Where it does less is steady-state endurance. If your training is an even-paced 10 km, creatine is not the lever that moves your time — you are working in a different energy system. Match the tool to the demand. If your sessions are built around energy and focus rather than repeat power output, Voltage Pre-Workout is the more relevant product, and it is a different job entirely.

Myth 7: Vegetarians do not need it

This one is backwards, and it matters more in India than almost anywhere else.

Dietary creatine comes almost entirely from meat and fish. Cut those out and your muscle stores sit lower. Burke and colleagues measured this directly in a 2003 trial published in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise (35(11):1946–1955): vegetarians averaged 117 mmol/kg of total muscle creatine at baseline against 130 mmol/kg in omnivores. When both groups supplemented alongside resistance training, the vegetarians showed the larger increases — they had further to climb.

If you are vegetarian, creatine is not the supplement to skip. It is arguably the one most likely to give you something you were not already getting from food.

What to actually do

The protocol is unglamorous, which is part of why people distrust it:

• 3–5 g of creatine monohydrate, every day. Monohydrate is the form with the research behind it; the exotic variants cost more and have not outperformed it.
• Any time of day. Consistency beats timing. Take it when you will remember.
• Rest days too. You are maintaining saturation, not fuelling a session.
• Give it three to four weeks before judging it, if you are not loading.
• Drink enough water. Creatine draws water into muscle cells.

About the weight gain

Most people gain something like a kilo or two in the first few weeks. That is intracellular water — fluid drawn into the muscle, not fat, and not the puffy under-the-skin look people mean by "bloat". If you are weighing yourself daily, expect the scale to jump early and then behave normally.

Where creatine fits with the rest of your nutrition

Creatine is a good second supplement and a poor first one. Protein comes first, because it is the raw material rather than the accelerator.

The ISSN position stand on protein and exercise puts 1.4–2.0 g per kg of bodyweight per day as sufficient for most people training to build or maintain muscle. For an 80 kg lifter that is 112–160 g a day. It is worth knowing that the ICMR-NIN Recommended Dietary Allowance for Indians is 0.83 g/kg/day — but that figure is the intake that covers the requirements of nearly all healthy sedentary adults. It is a public health floor, not a training target, and the two numbers get confused constantly.

Hitting the higher figure on a typical Indian diet takes planning, which is where a protein supplement earns its place — our Whey Protein provides 24 g per 30 g scoop. If you are working out what to buy in what order, Build Your First Supplement Stack covers the sequencing, and The 10-Minute Guide to Choosing Whey Protein covers how to read a protein label without being sold to.

Frequently asked questions

How much creatine should I take per day?

The ISSN position stand recommends 3–5 g of creatine monohydrate daily for maintenance. A loading phase of roughly 20 g a day split into four doses for 5–7 days saturates muscle stores faster, but 3 g a day reaches the same saturation in about 28 days. Loading is optional, not required.

Do I need to cycle creatine on and off?

No. There is no published evidence that cycling creatine improves results or is needed for safety. Muscle creatine stores fall back toward baseline when you stop, so stopping simply undoes the saturation you spent weeks building.

Does creatine cause hair loss?

The concern traces to a single 2009 study of 20 rugby players that measured hormone ratios, not hair. A 12-week randomised controlled trial published in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition in 2025 was the first to measure hair outcomes directly, and found no significant difference in DHT, the DHT-to-testosterone ratio, or hair growth parameters between creatine and placebo groups.

Is creatine safe for your kidneys?

In people with healthy kidney function, reviews of the published literature have found no evidence of renal damage at studied doses. Creatine does raise serum creatinine, which can make a routine blood test look abnormal, because creatinine is creatine’s breakdown product rather than a sign of reduced filtration. Tell your doctor you take creatine before a kidney panel. If you have existing kidney disease, or you are pregnant or breastfeeding, speak to your doctor first.

Should vegetarians take creatine?

Dietary creatine comes almost entirely from meat and fish, so vegetarians start with lower muscle stores. In a 2003 trial, vegetarians averaged 117 mmol/kg of total muscle creatine against 130 mmol/kg in omnivores, and showed larger increases when supplemented. A vegetarian is likely to notice more from creatine than a regular meat eater, not less.

When is the best time to take creatine?

Timing matters far less than consistency. Creatine works by keeping muscle stores saturated, which is a function of taking it every day rather than of taking it at a particular hour. Take it whenever you will actually remember, including on rest days.

Sources

• Kreider RB, et al. International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: safety and efficacy of creatine supplementation in exercise, sport, and medicine. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2017;14:18. PMID 28615996
• van der Merwe J, Brooks NE, Myburgh KH. Three weeks of creatine monohydrate supplementation affects dihydrotestosterone to testosterone ratio in college-aged rugby players. Clin J Sport Med. 2009;19(5):399–404. PMID 19741313
• Does creatine cause hair loss? A 12-week randomised controlled trial. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2025. PMID 40265319
• Burke DG, Chilibeck PD, Parise G, Candow DG, Mahoney D, Tarnopolsky M. Effect of creatine and weight training on muscle creatine and performance in vegetarians. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2003;35(11):1946–1955. PMID 14600563
• Is It Time for a Requiem for Creatine Supplementation-Induced Kidney Failure? A Narrative Review. Nutrients. 2023. PMC10054094
• Jäger R, et al. International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: protein and exercise. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2017;14:20. PMC5477153
• ICMR-NIN. Nutrient Requirements for Indians, Recommended Dietary Allowances and Estimated Average Requirements, 2020. nin.res.in

This article is general nutrition information, not medical advice. If you have a health condition, are pregnant or breastfeeding, or take prescription medication, speak to a doctor before starting any supplement.