By Dr. Robert Lee Oksenholt
Something That Can Keep You Out of My Office
As a physician, I’m always searching for simple, proven tools that keep you healthy—and out of my office. Creatine is one of them.
You come to me when things go wrong. But I’d rather give you small thing that can help them go right.
One of them is called creatine.
A molecule. You don’t need a prescription. But here is the dose: Five grams. Every day.
What Creatine Is—and How It Works
Creatine is more than an energy-helper. It makes the muscles strong. It gives energy to the muscles. The brain is also a muscle. It’s fuel. It produces energy during exercise or heavy lifting or thinking. It helps you run faster.
Creatine’s history is the history of effort itself.
Creatine was not invented in a lab, though it can be replicated there. You cannot patent it. You cannot own it. The body makes it. The liver and kidneys take three amino acids arginine, glycine, and methionine and turn it into creatine.
Arginine + glycine + methionine = creatine.
Once created, the blood transports it to the muscles, where it is used during exertion.
Creatine is also absorbed from protein-rich foods like meat and fish. You can also get it by taking a supplement. It is colorless, tasteless.
Dietary creatine—from meat or supplements—is absorbed in the intestines, enters the bloodstream directly, and is taken up by muscle cells.
Either way, produced or ingested, it is stored in the muscles, waiting for the sprint, the lift, the fight.
A Molecule Older Than Civilization
Creatine is prevalent in mammals, birds, and fish, all of which rely on muscle contraction.
Before the human. Before the ape. Before the fish with legs. There was creatine. In the sea, in the cell, in the first thing that tried to swim. It moved the fins, the wings, the feet.
It gave strength.
It’s been around longer than fire. The first slime that twitched? Creatine. The first fish that flopped onto land. Creatine.
It was in the muscle of the coelacanth, in the thigh of a velociraptor, iIn the calf of a caveman.
Creatine started with movement. Every vertebrate that ever sprinted, leapt, or bit something needed it. Every muscle that has ever clenched in urgency has drawn on it. The first lunge of the predator. The last dash of the hunted.
In a world before time, something moved. A flicker in the tide. A twitch. That twitch needed creatine. It powered the flight of the pterosaur. The charge of the saber-toothed cat.
It began before history. It ran through the spine of reptiles, the wings of birds, the legs of men.
Before pyramids, before cities, before language. It helped the first fin flex, the first tail whip, the first predator leap.
ATP: The Energy Engine Creatine Feeds
Creatine is essential for energy production, in muscle tissue. It supports the recycling of ATP—the molecule responsible for energy in cells—making it vital for movement.
It is in the lion, the eagle. The man who lifted the stone. The fish have it. The plants do not. They do not need to move.
Now, let us step back—far back—to the days when man first stood upright and ran across the plains. He could not run long. He could not fight hard for long. But in his muscles was creatine. It waited to be used—for the chase, the battle, the climb.
What Creatine Does, Down to the Molecule
The science?
Creatine provides energy by helping regenerate adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the body’s primary energy molecule.
It’s an energy boost for your ATP system, sweeping ATP back into action just in time for your next exertion.
During intense activity, muscles quickly deplete ATP. Creatine phosphate donates a phosphate group to ADP (adenosine diphosphate), converting it back into ATP. This rapid recycling gives the muscles a short burst of energy, during high-intensity, short-duration efforts like sprinting or weightlifting.
The muscle, trembling with effort, drained its last bit of ATP. And then—a quiet substitution. Creatine phosphate stepped in, handed off its phosphate and bought the body just a little more time. One more step. One more breath.
When the muscle gets tired, it uses up its energy. But creatine hands over a piece of itself so the muscle can keep going.
You ever run so fast your muscles scream? That’s ATP saying, “I’m out of here.” But wait! Creatine phosphate jumps in, throws a phosphate at ADP, and says, “Get back in the game!” Instant energy.
It donates a phosphate, resurrects ATP and lets you finish the rep.
ATP is your body’s gas tank, but it runs out fast. Enter creatine phosphate. It donates a phosphate to ADP, turning it back into ATP. This isn’t theory. It’s chemistry. The body gets one more shot at power before exhaustion.
The Myths That Tried to Kill It
Energy, in its purest form, is ATP. But it is fleeting. In moments of strain, it vanishes quickly. Without assistance, the muscle fails. Creatine phosphate steps in. It donates what the body needs, restoring ATP silently.
With a single act—a donation of a phosphate group—it turns tired ADP back into ATP.
And you’re back in business.
A single phosphate, passed from one molecule to another, resurrected energy from the dead. it was fast. Just enough to keep the muscle moving. Just enough to win.
All of this happens in seconds.
And no, Big Pharma didn’t invent it.
Creatine is one of the few supplements that’s not a scam. The pharmaceutical companies don’t like it because it works and it’s cheap.
Coaches started noticing it. Trainers prescribed it. Athletes swore by it. No scandal. No doping. Just results. A legal edge in a high-stakes game.
Diet, Evolution, and the Truth About Safety
You don’t have to eat meat to have creatine. Cows, deer, even leaf-munching sloths—they all make their own.
If you eat steak or salmon, you’re topping off your creatine tank. If you’re vegan, you get it from a supplement.
But creatine emerged when primitive animals began developing muscle-like tissues. The molecule appears in nearly all vertebrates, suggesting it evolved with the earliest muscular animals in the Cambrian explosion, over 500 million years ago.
In modern history, creatine was discovered in 1832 by French scientist Michel Eugène Chevreul, and began appearing in supplements in the 1990s.
Muscles needed it. Eagles had it. Dogs had it. Plants? They photosynthesize.
Mammals, birds, fish—they’re all loaded with it. Plants don’t have it. Neither do fungi or bacteria.
Creatine exists where movement is necessary. From whales to robins, it is there. We have it. Because we must move to live.
Debunking the Creatine Panic
At one time, it was rumored that taking creatine supplements damaged kidneys, that it was unnatural, that it bloated the body.
They said it made you fat. But it wasn’t true.
What was true was this: creatine helped you lift something heavy, or run a little longer, or heal a little faster.
They said it was a steroid. It was not. They said it hurt your kidneys. It did not. The water weight came, and then it left. The muscle stayed. The strength was real.
You know what creatine really is? Just a molecule your body already makes. But tell that to the FDA panic patrol. And kidney damage? Show me the body. Show me one person. You’ll find more damage in a bag of Skittles. The truth? It works. And it pisses off the supplement industry that it works so well and costs so little.
Not Just for the Body—But the Brain
Of course, people thought creatine was dangerous. People thought the Earth was flat.
The supplement industry hated creatine because it worked—and it was cheap. No one could patent it. So they spread rumors: kidney damage, bloating, dehydration. But every major study disproved them. The truth?
Creatine works better than most paid-for products. If it came in a $200 bottle with a fancy label, it would be in every pro’s cabinet.
It’s safer than your morning latte. Your body already makes it. If you take more, you lift more.
Creatine has long been associated with athletic performance, but studies suggest it offers cognitive benefits as well. Research shows that creatine supplementation may improve memory, mental fatigue resistance, and brain energy metabolism—particularly under stress or in sleep-deprived conditions. Older adults benefit too, as creatine has been linked to improved muscle preservation and possibly neuroprotection in aging populations.
For Thinkers, the Tired, and the Aging
Creatine isn’t just for the boy lifting weights. It is for the man writing letters. For the woman solving problems. For the old man trying to remember. Not to run faster, but to think longer.
The brain needs energy too. Old brains, tired brains, sleep-deprived, overworked, underpaid brains. Creatine gives energy.
The brain burns ATP too—and creatine helps rebuild it.
It’s not a bodybuilding supplement. It’s a cellular resilience molecule. And the old need it more than the young.
The brain demands energy like the biceps.
Creatine sharpens recall. It fights the fog. Because lifting a barbell is hard—but remembering your grandkid’s name? That’s heavier.
The studies were out there. Older adults performed better on memory tasks.
It was for the professor lost in thought, the grandfather walking slower than before, the mother waking early and sleeping late.
The Real Reason They Lied
While early media reports certainly contributed to the creatine panic, a closer look reveals economic motivations as well. Creatine is cheap, effective, and unpatentable—a combination that threatens profit margins in pharmaceutical and supplement industries.
It’s a tidy story for the press—overzealous, uninformed, hungry for panic.
Creatine scared Big Supplement and Big Pharma. Why? Because it works.
It worked too well. And without anyone’s permission.
A Doctor’s Final Prescription
As a physician, I recommend creatine at a daily dose of 3 to 5 grams. This amount is sufficient to maintain full muscle saturation without the need for a loading phase. It is safe for long-term use in healthy individuals and may support not only physical strength but also cognitive function, especially under stress or with aging. Mix with water and take at a consistent time each day.
It’s tasteless. Almost invisible. But it will leave its mark—steadier hands, a clearer step, a memory that stays.
Take a teaspoon or more each day. Just do it. Let your body take what it needs. You may not notice it working at first. But you’ll find yourself getting up more easily. Reaching more surely. Feeling like yourself again. Every day. No skipping. No whining. Mix it in your water, juice, coffee.
Your cells will thank you.
Take creatine—pure, no blends. Don’t waste time with “alkaline” gimmicks or flavored nonsense. Every day. In a month, you’ll be stronger—and sharper. The science is solid. You’re replacing what your body needs.
Five grams. Every day. Doesn’t matter if you’re young or old, lifting or loafing. You want to keep your brain? Your bones? Your back from blowing out?
It helps muscle. Helps memory. Helps mood. The pill bottle stays closed. The white powder works quietly. And that’s how you win a case against time. And this—this is creatine’s quiet gift: to keep you upright, a little longer, and a little stronger.
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Dr. Robert Lee Oksenholt, a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, is a Critical Care Physician certified by the American Board in Internal Medicine, with a subspecialty in Pulmonary Disease, and is a Fellow of the College of Chest Physicians. His specialty is helping people avoid his professional services.
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