700+ studies, one of the strongest safety records in sports science.
For strength, muscle, and increasingly for brain health, has the best risk-reward ratio of any supplement on the market.
TL;DR
3–5 g of daily, taken with water, produces small but reliable gains in strength, work capacity and lean mass. No loading phase needed. Cost: pennies per day.
What the study found
The ISSN position stand pooled hundreds of trials and concluded that is the most effective legal ergogenic aid for high-intensity exercise. on upper-body is around 0.5–0.8 — larger than most training tweaks people obsess about.
How to apply it
Take 3–5 g daily, any time of day, with a glass of water. Consistency matters more than timing. Skip loading — it just fills your stores a week faster and can cause bloating.
Caveats
Expect a 1–2 kg jump on the scale in the first two weeks — that's water inside the muscle, not fat. If you have kidney disease, check with your doctor first; for healthy adults, decades of data show no harm.
International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: safety and efficacy of creatine supplementation
Kreider RB et al. · 2017 · Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition
Consensus review: 3–5g/day of creatine monohydrate is the most effective and safest ergogenic aid for high-intensity exercise, increasing strength, work capacity and lean mass.
Read the full paper