Walk into almost any supplement store today, scroll through social media or listen to a fitness podcast and you’ll almost certainly hear about creatine.
It’s often described as one of the most researched supplements available and that’s true. Decades of research have shown that creatine monohydrate can improve high-intensity exercise performance and increase muscle creatine stores. For athletes and individuals with specific performance goals, it may offer measurable benefits.
But there is another question worth asking.
Does being effective mean everyone needs it?
At Eirholt, I believe it’s important to distinguish between what a compound can do and whether it belongs in every healthy person’s daily routine.
What is Creatine?
Creatine is a naturally occurring compound made from the amino acids arginine, glycine and methionine.
Your body produces around one gram each day, primarily in the liver, kidneys and pancreas. You also obtain creatine naturally from animal foods such as beef, lamb, pork and fish.
Around 95% of your body’s creatine is stored in skeletal muscle, where it helps rapidly regenerate ATP—the primary energy currency used during short bursts of intense activity such as sprinting, jumping or lifting heavy weights.
Creatine is not a vitamin, mineral or protein. It is simply one of thousands of compounds that contribute to normal human physiology.
How Creatine is Made?
The creatine molecule found in meat and the creatine molecule in creatine monohydrate powder are chemically the same.
The difference lies in the package.
A piece of beef contains creatine alongside protein, vitamins, minerals, fats and countless other naturally occurring compounds that evolved together within food.
Creatine monohydrate, on the other hand, is an isolated, highly purified compound manufactured through industrial chemical synthesis rather than extracted from meat.
Production usually begins with sarcosine (N-methylglycine) and cyanamide. Under carefully controlled industrial conditions—including precise temperature, pH and reaction time—these compounds react to form crude creatine. Some manufacturing methods also use additional processing chemicals or sodium salts during synthesis or purification, although the exact process varies between manufacturers.
The reaction mixture is not pure creatine. It also contains water, dissolved salts, traces of unreacted starting materials and small amounts of by-products. To obtain a high-purity product, the mixture undergoes several purification steps. It is dissolved, filtered, treated to remove impurities, and concentrated before being crystallised as creatine monohydrate, the stable form sold as a supplement.
The crystals are then separated from the remaining liquid, washed, dried under controlled conditions and milled into the fine white powder found in supplement containers. Manufacturers typically analyse the finished product for purity, moisture content, heavy metals and microbial contamination before packaging.
Open the container and you’ll find an odourless, almost tasteless powder with little resemblance to the foods from which humans have traditionally obtained creatine.
That doesn’t automatically make it harmful.
But it does remind us that we are no longer eating food; we’re consuming a single isolated molecule.
Why Has Creatine Become So Popular?
Part of the answer is simple: the research supporting creatine for improving high-intensity exercise performance is stronger than it is for many other supplements.
But science isn’t the only reason.
The supplement industry has grown into a multi-billion-dollar global market. Social media, podcasts, influencers and advertising have helped transform creatine from a niche sports supplement into something many people now view as a daily essential.
Some creatine studies are funded independently through universities and government grants, while others involve industry funding or researchers with financial relationships within the supplement industry. This doesn’t invalidate the science but it’s a reminder to always consider who funded a study and to interpret research within its broader context.
The Eirholt Perspective
Personally, creatine is not a supplement I choose to take nor is it one I generally recommend to healthy individuals simply because it has become popular.
Why?
Because I prefer to look at the body as an interconnected system rather than through the lens of one isolated compound.
Every single day your body depends on thousands of nutrients, metabolites and bioactive compounds working together in extraordinary complexity.
Creatine is only one of them.
Take a look at our Compounds Guide, and you’ll discover just how many molecules participate in human biology from amino acids and fatty acids to polyphenols, carotenoids, flavonoids and countless other naturally occurring compounds.
This raises an interesting question.
How do we know your body would benefit more from extra creatine than from additional glycine, choline, taurine, copper, quercetin, lutein, sulforaphane or hundreds of other compounds involved in normal physiology?
For most healthy people, we don’t.
That’s why my philosophy has always been simple:
Build the foundation before chasing individual compounds.
A varied diet rich in whole foods naturally provides an enormous diversity of nutrients and bioactive compounds working together as they occur in nature.
Our bodies didn’t evolve around isolated powders.
They evolved around food.
A Thought Experiment
Imagine you’re planning to launch a supplement company.
There are thousands of biologically active compounds in the human body.
You choose one, perhaps ergothioneine, glycine or another promising molecule.
Early research suggests it may play an important role.
More studies are funded.
More attention follows.
Articles appear.
Influencers begin discussing it.
Podcasts feature experts.
Brands release products.
Gradually, a compound that few people had heard of becomes something many feel they should supplement daily.
This doesn’t mean the science is false.
Nor does it mean companies are acting dishonestly.
It simply illustrates how commercial incentives naturally concentrate attention on compounds that can be isolated, manufactured and sold.
Meanwhile, thousands of equally fascinating molecules continue doing their jobs inside the body without ever becoming household names.
Do You Actually Need Creatine?
The answer depends on your circumstances.
If you’re an athlete performing repeated high-intensity exercise, creatine supplementation may help improve performance.
If you’re vegetarian or vegan, supplementation may increase creatine stores because dietary intake is naturally lower.
If you’re generally healthy, eat a varied diet including animal foods and have no specific medical or performance reason to supplement, it’s worth asking whether another isolated compound is truly necessary.
That question rarely appears in advertisements.
A broader way to think about supplements
Supplements certainly have a place.
They can help correct deficiencies, support specific medical conditions under professional guidance, or meet defined performance goals.
But they should remain exactly what their name suggests; a supplement.
Not the foundation.
At Eirholt, I believe health begins with whole foods, dietary diversity and thoughtful choices rather than chasing whichever isolated compound happens to be trending this year.
Because long before creatine became a bestseller, the human body was already thriving on something far more complex than a single white powder.
It was thriving on real food.
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