Yes, if you are healthy and active, creatine is safe and proven to be effective.

It gave me crazy nightmares

What happens when a Pro Climber takes Creatine for the First Time?

https://youtu.be/0VMQk8Box-U?si=0mD26i5P8xVVsE6x

bodybuilders once again 10-20 years ahead of mainstream science

I'm a strong believer in the "no free lunch principle"

Through a lifetime of experiences with different substances, the body always adjusts to whatever you're taking. Taking a stimulant? the brain will down regulate dopamine receptors. Putting lotion on your face? The skin will produce less oils.

There is always a downside

Rather than excess in one area, we should strive for perfect balance.

I can recommend the science vs Podcast. They did an episode on it.

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/creatine-a-hack-to-get...

As per usual: supplements are not that marvelous as the influencers say.

I took creatine in combination with weight training and got stronger. But I was never sure what proportion to attribute to the creatine vs the training itself. I stopped taking it for a few weeks and got ~10% weaker again. And then, after resuming creatine, I was back to where I was. From that point I was fairly convinced that yes, creatine actually does something.

I can't say I noticed any cognitive changes though.

I got a little worried after reading some reports on Reddit about creatine and hair loss.

Note that in the US, there is one company that produces and sources its creatine from the US. This company is CON-CRĒT. The rest is almost exclusively sourced from and produced in China.

One exception, though they'll not reveal their source company, is VitaminShoppe, which has one single version sourced from US. That is Kre-Alkalyn.

NOW, LifeExtension, etc, all of them, along with the majority of their other products are sourced from China, with NOW, in my opinion, the only one conducting rigorous testing to ensure product integrity. The supplement industry in general has become a product of China.

This is up to the individual to glean meaning from, but it remains reality.

For those interested, my inquiries with Life Extension were met with flagrant hostility. Those with NOW resulted in a long, amiable conversion with someone in direct, frequent contact with research scientists. Hostility is more common than friendliness with the dozens of inquiries I've made, but mostly when pressed past the initial superficial aloofness of the template reply.

Edit: with our corporatism paradigm, product origins are increasingly difficult to determine, with many companies now excluding origins from product labels, but most using weasel words, eg "Proudly packed in the US from globally sourced ingredients", which has one meaning which has nothing to do with the US. As one of myriad examples, go into a Treacherous Joe's and try to find origins for their teas. Pay attention and you'll see this behavior is expanding into many products, and actual food products.

To myself it's darn odd to read these sort of stories ... since it was just over 30 years ago when I used it with the idea it would hopefully strengthen some of my weakened neck muscles via the serious whiplash due to a cycling accident. I only did so after reading the various studies on it and after an article in New Scientist was examining how safe and beneficial it might be to older people in nursing homes. I used a lower dose rate than body builders at the time.

The take away after taking it for a number of months - use quality creatine - unflavoured 100% or of high analysis with minor impurities. (Yes some is cheap and nasty, regardless of what the shop is charging - these days I would recommend purchasing from a pharmacy or equivalent.) Ensure the dose is completely dissolved in the water / fluid before being swallowed and not just a cordial suspension.

After a while I noted benefits apart from helping sore and tired skeletal muscles - gut seemed to work better - a much calmer state of mind / more mellow, way less chewing over whichever idiot said and did - the serious near continuous cold that had plagued me for more than a couple of years, was finally beaten, even after I stopped using it.

I know the science. But I know three people who take/to it. All three of them had hair trouble after. Again: I know the papers. I still won't touch it.

Creatine for responders slightly improves your leverages by increasing water in muscles, which translates to a few % more weight or few more reps. Guestimate, 5% for weight, 10% for reps on higher rep sets. Which is to say it gives a little more headroom for intermediate/advanced lifters who needs to start dialing in program /volumes/recovery/diet in to progress. A few % of intensity or reps per set across training block makes all the difference. Which makes creatine pretty good no shit supplement if you taking lifting remotely seriously as a hobby when it cost $30-60 per year when bought bulk. Ultimately it's deciding if you're willing to shell out $5 a month to look a bit more swole, have slightly more headroom programming/dietting, or if programming and diet on point, lift slightly more than you otherwise would with the extra water balloon leverages. It's like the cheapest pay to win, pay for slight boost in gym ego/self esteem supplement along with a caffeine, which for many is enough.

Safe cheap and effective. If you lift, you should take it. A lot of people mentally group creatine with a anabolic steroids. Not even close. Creatine effects are small, but measurable. Anabolic steroids effects are huge and impossible to miss.