What Does Creatine Do?

13 May 2025 13:30PM by Virgin Active

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Think creatine is just for bodybuilders and gym junkies? Think again. Creatine is a powerful compound that helps your body to perform better and recovery easier. It’s been getting a little more popular recently, particularly among our members who want to boost their health alongside their fitness goals.

We spoke to our UK Head of Nutrition Becky Townsend to find out what creatine is good for.

What does creatine do?

Creatine plays a vital role in keeping up our energy levels. Whether we’re going about an active life or spending more time training for something more taxing. It’s especially useful for when you’re about to start high-intensity, short burst activities like weightlifting or sprinting.

Creatine is a naturally occurring compound that’s synthesised by the body in the liver, kidneys and pancreas. To make it, you’ll need to be eating things like red meat, fish and poultry. Every day your body makes about 1-2 grams of creatine from the amino acids in your food or recycled from your cells. These amino acids are arginine, glycine and methionine.

For most of us, those 1-2 grams are enough creatine for basic bodily functions, to keep our brain healthy and our muscles strong. However, athletes, people doing regular strength training and people on a plant-based diet will want to boost their creatine stores.

How does creatine work?

Creatine is converted from food and stored in your muscles as phosphocreatine. In your muscles, this compound helps to readily regenerate adenosine triphosphate (ATP) which is the primary energy source in your cells that fuels nearly all of your biological processes. This means your muscles are able to keep up high-intensity efforts for longer periods of time.

Having enough creatine:

Increases your muscle strength and power, good for resistance training and sprinting
Supports muscle growth by creating a more anabolic environment in your body for rebuilding muscles
Improves recovery by reducing muscle damage and inflammation after exercise
Enhances brain processes like cognitive function, especially in adults with sleep deprivation
Helps medical conditions like neurodegenerative diseases and muscular dystrophy

Who is creatine for?

Anyone can benefit from creatine. It’s one of the safest and most well-researched supplements out there. But some people might find it more useful than others.

Studies show that supplementing with 3–5 g of creatine monohydrate daily increases muscle creatine levels by 20–40%, improving energy production, strength and recovery beyond what diet alone can provide.

People who will benefit from creatine most are:

Weightlifters
Sprinters
People who do high-intensity sport
Looking to build muscle
Want to reduce muscle damage, soreness and inflammation after intense workouts
Vegetarian or vegan
Interested in the cognitive benefits if you’re under stress or struggling to sleep

What foods contain creatine?

Creatine is almost exclusively found in animal products. Plant-based foods contain little to no creatine, which is why vegetarians and vegans often have lower creatine stores and may benefit more from supplementation.

The following foods are known for their creatine content:

Herring - up to 1g per 100g
Pork - up to 0.9g per 100g
Beef - up to 0.9g per 100g
Salmon - up to 0.9g per 100g
Tuna - up to 0.6g per 100g
Cod - up to 0.5g per 100g
Chicken - up to 0.5g per 100g
Milk - up to 0.02g per 100g

While plant-based foods don’t contain creatine, there are some which support the production of amino acids so the body can create its own creatine. These include:

Pumpkin seeds
Sesame seeds
Nuts (like almonds and walnuts)
Legumes (like lentils, soybeans and chickpeas)

Should I take a creatine supplement?

Deciding to take a creatine supplement depends on your activity levels, lifestyle and health goals. If you’re living a super active lifestyle and you want to improve your performance, then the chances are that you’ll benefit from taking a creatine supplement.

But it’s important that you don’t jump on the trend if you don’t need to. If you’re already eating a lot of meat and fish or you don’t train that hard, you probably won’t need it. Alternatively, if you have medical conditions that affect your kidneys or liver, you may want to speak to your GP before starting any creatine supplements.

What is the best creatine?

There are plenty of creatine brands out there so do your research to find the one that’s most beneficial to you. You’ll want to look for a brand selling creatine monohydrate as this is the most studied and effective supplement. You can also go onto the Informed Sport website to find a well-trusted brand.

If you’re using it for the first time, you might want to try creatine loading. This means taking a bigger dose of creatine at the start to see the results faster. To do this, take 4 x 5g doses every day for 5-7 days. You can then start taking 3-5g daily to maintain optimum levels. Creatine can be taken at any time but post-workout with carbohydrates and protein may enhance absorption.

What about water retention?

You may have heard that taking creatine causes bloating and even weight gain. The truth is, any visible effects are actually down to water retention.

Creatine pulls water into the muscle cells to help them stay hydrated, improve muscle function, strength and recovery. So what you’re experiencing is a temporary muscle fullness which helps your performance.

Interested to learn more about adding creatine to your diet? Speak to our Nutrition Coaches for a personalised low-down.

Not yet a member? Find your nearest club and start your membership today.