This article was reviewed by Felix Gussone, MD.
Key Takeaways:
There’s no evidence creatine directly increases testosterone levels.
Creatine has been linked to other potential benefits for exercise performance, such as aiding strength, power, and muscle gain.
Creatine is generally considered safe, but people with underlying kidney disease or other chronic medical conditions should talk to a doctor before taking it.
Creatine is a popular supplement for improving athletic performance. It’s especially popular among bodybuilders and other people undergoing regular strength training. But does creatine increase testosterone?
To answer that, it’s important to understand what creatine actually is and how it works in your body.
Many people mistakenly believe that creatine is an anabolic steroid. Anabolic steroids are drugs that contain synthetic testosterone (also called testosterone analogs).
Creatine doesn’t contain any hormonal analogs. It’s naturally found in some foods, and your body also makes creatine from a combination of three amino acids (the building blocks of protein).
Taking a creatine supplement increases the amount of this compound in your muscles, which may enable you to exercise longer before getting tired.
Creatine doesn’t directly or indirectly increase testosterone, but it may help you train harder, which can give you a modest testosterone boost. However, you get a testosterone boost from exercise whether or not you use creatine.
Keep reading for a deeper look at the research on creatine and testosterone levels, how creatine may support your workouts, and how to best take it as a workout aid.
What Is Creatine and How Does It Work?
Creatine is a molecule found primarily in animal products. Dietary sources of creatine include:
Dairy (in smaller amounts than meat and fish)
Your liver, kidneys, and pancreas can also make creatine from three amino acids:
The most common form of creatine supplementation is creatine monohydrate. “Monohydrate” means that each creatine molecule is bound to a water molecule. Other forms of creatine are usually more expensive and often marketed as being more effective. They include:
There’s little evidence that these forms are more effective than creatine monohydrate.
How Creatine Helps Your Body Make Energy
Your muscles and nerves need energy to function. This energy comes from the breakdown of a molecule called adenosine triphosphate (ATP). You likely learned about ATP in your high school science or biology classes, but here’s a refresher.
Your body can produce energy in three primary ways to support exercise. All three of these energy systems are active at any given time in your body, even at rest. The most effective method of energy production depends on the duration and intensity of your activity.
Sustained efforts. During longer bouts of exercise, your body primarily relies on aerobic (meaning requiring oxygen) processes to break down fats and carbohydrates.
Short bursts of activity: High-intensity efforts lasting from 15 seconds to 2–3 minutes rely on a process called anaerobic glycolysis to produce energy. This process doesn’t require oxygen and produces lactic acid as a byproduct.
Very, very short bursts of activity: For efforts lasting less than 15 seconds, your body primarily uses the phosphagen system to produce energy, the system creatine supplements are said to enhance.
Creatine and the Phosphagen System
For very short bursts of activity, your body primarily relies on the breakdown of a molecule called phosphocreatine to create usable energy for your muscles in the form of ATP.
Your muscles contain another molecule called adenosine diphosphate (ADP). This molecule is the same as ATP, except it’s missing a phosphate group.
Your body transforms creatine that you get through your diet or that it makes itself into another molecule with a phosphate group called phosphocreatine or creatine phosphate. Taking creatine as a supplement or through your diet helps increase the amount of phosphocreatine available in your muscles.
During short bouts of intense exercise, your body rapidly breaks down phosphocreatine to combine the phosphate group with ADP to form ATP, which your body almost immediately breaks down to fuel your muscles.
The potential benefits of creatine supplements for exercise come from saturating your muscles with phosphocreatine. This allows your body to utilize this energy system for a bit longer before relying on the slower breakdown of fats and carbohydrates.
Creatine and Testosterone
Anybody who tells you that creatine is a “testosterone booster” probably doesn’t understand the science behind creatine (or they’re trying to sell it to you).
Creatine is one of the most studied supplements for improving exercise performance, and research on its effects is generally positive.
That said, there’s no evidence that creatine supplementation has a direct effect on testosterone production. There’s also no plausible pathway in the body where creatine would interact with the production of testosterone.
In a 2021 article in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, researchers reviewed the available evidence on creatine and testosterone. Overall, the review concluded that the available studies do not show that creatine supplementation reliably or meaningfully increases testosterone levels. Most of the studies available examined up to 12 weeks of creatine supplementation.
Indirect Effects of Creatine
Some people speculate about a link between creatine use and higher testosterone levels, but research hasn’t shown a strong link so far.
People who start taking creatine supplements are often either currently exercising regularly or starting a new exercise program. It’s well-established that regular strength training can cause short-term increases in testosterone levels, but lasting increases in baseline levels are less consistent. Theoretically, taking creatine might indirectly improve testosterone levels by encouraging them to exercise more, but there’s no good evidence to prove that yet.
Benefits of Creatine | Effects of Creatine Supplementation
Creatine can potentially help delay fatigue during exercise. Some people notice a larger increase in exercise performance than others when taking creatine, so it may not work for everybody.
Increased Muscle Strength and Power Output
One of creatine’s most consistent and well-documented effects is its ability to enhance strength, power, and high-intensity exercise performance. This effect can potentially lead to improvements in activities like weightlifting, sprinting, and jumping.
It’s important to remember that creatine primarily works by increasing phosphocreatine stores in muscle, which helps you sustain high-intensity efforts a bit longer before fatiguing. Taking creatine without exercising isn’t going to improve physical performance.
Enhanced Muscle Growth
Over time, creatine’s potential to delay fatigue may lead to greater muscle mass gains when combined with resistance exercises. Numerous studies show that individuals supplementing with creatine gain more lean muscle mass compared to those using a placebo.
Cognitive and Neurological Benefits
In recent years, researchers have become interested in the effects of creatine on mental health. It’s thought that creatine could delay fatigue of neurons in your brain and enhance brain function in capacities such as:
Improved memory in some people
Increased information processing speed
Research on the cognitive benefits of creatine is still in the early stages, and more studies are needed to fully understand these potential benefits.
How to Take Creatine
You don’t need to take creatine at any particular time of day or specifically before or after working out.
First, choose the form you prefer. Creatine monohydrate is the most studied and least expensive form of creatine. There’s little evidence that other types offer additional benefits, but you might choose them for other reasons, such as dissolving better in liquids. Creatine powders are generally cheaper than capsules, but capsules might be more convenient for some people.
Some people start with a creatine loading phase. This involves taking a higher dose of 20 grams of creatine for the first 5–7 days of supplementation. This may help shorten the amount of time until your muscles are saturated with creatine. However, in the long term, whether or not you start with a loading phase doesn’t seem to make much of a difference in the effects of creatine.
If you’re skipping a loading phase, you can go straight to a maintenance dose. A typical maintenance dose is 0.014 grams per pound of body weight (about 3–5 grams per day for an adult). While you’re taking creatine, make sure to stay hydrated. Your body stores creatine in your muscles with water, so you may need to drink more fluids than usual.
Risks of Creatine
Creatine is widely regarded as a safe dietary supplement, but like with any supplement, it may cause some potential risks, particularly when misused.
The most common short-term side effect is water retention and weight gain, because your body stores creatine with water in muscle cells.
Some people taking creatine experience gastrointestinal symptoms, such as nausea or diarrhea. If you develop these symptoms, you may find it more comfortable to take creatine capsules rather than powders.
Concerns have been raised about kidney and liver function in people taking creatine. However, research refutes the idea that creatine is harmful for most people when taken at recommended doses of about 3–5 grams per day. Individuals with preexisting kidney disease or other metabolic disorders, however, should consult a healthcare professional before taking creatine.
The FDA doesn’t approve dietary supplements the same way it does medications. Supplements, especially from less reputable brands, come with a risk of being mislabeled or containing ingredients other than what’s listed on the label. This may be a particular concern for athletes who undergo drug testing.
It’s always a good idea to seek medical advice before starting any new medication or supplement.
The Bottom Line
Taking creatine supplementation can potentially help improve your body composition and athletic performance when combined with regular resistance training or exercise. It works by saturating muscle creatine levels and allowing you to exercise longer before fatiguing, which in turn may increase testosterone in the short-term.
But creatine alone doesn’t increase testosterone levels. It’s always a good idea to talk to your doctor before starting any new supplement.
FAQsDoes creatine cause hair loss?
One very small study of college rugby players found creatine supplementation increased dihydrotestosterone (DHT) levels compared to a glucose placebo, but these results haven’t been found in follow-up studies. DHT is another androgen hormone related to testosterone. It’s closely related to male pattern baldness.
A small 2025 study found creatine did not contribute to hair loss. Larger and longer-running studies are needed to fully understand this potential link. In the meantime, learn more about creatine and hair loss.
Which amino acids are creatine made from?
Some people think creatine is an amino acid. It’s more accurate to say your body can make creatine from three amino acids: arginine, glycine, and methionine. You also get creatine through your diet, primarily through meat.
Is creatine good for weight loss?
It’s best to think of creatine as a tool that may slightly enhance your training program once you have already established exercise and nutrition habits. Taking creatine is unlikely to significantly alter your body weight by itself. In fact, it may slightly increase weight due to water and muscle gain.
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This article originally appeared on Hims.com and was syndicated by MediaFeed.org.
