Extremely high priority
Top ChoiceMuscle & Strength
Third-party tested. Tasteless. Mixes clean.
Cost$16
TimeNone
EnergyEffortless
ImpactHigh
05ImportantEvidence: solid
Creatine monohydrate
5g/day, mixed in water.
Priority Matrix
The numbers.
Four dimensions, scored 1–6, where six is always the good end: cheapest, quickest, easiest, highest impact. Priority is Impact squared, divided by what it costs you in energy, money and time.
Cost$15/mo
Time10 sec
EnergyEffortless
ImpactHigh
How sure we are
SolidGood trials pointing the same way.
Kept separate from the priority score on purpose: confidence in the evidence never raises how worth-it something is.
What we read
- International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: safety and efficacy of creatine supplementation in exercise, sport, and medicine
Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition · 2017
Creatine monohydrate raises muscle creatine stores, improves high-intensity performance and training adaptations, and has been safe at 3–5 g/day for years in healthy people — the position the field still stands on.
- Effect of creatine supplementation on body composition and performance: a meta-analysis
International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism · 2003
Across 96 studies, creatine increased lean mass and improved repeated-bout high-intensity work; the effect on single-effort strength was smaller.
Research from Texas A&M University · University of Regina. We cite their published work. They have no involvement with Anew.
Where this falls down
Not for everyone. People with preexisting kidney disease should ask a clinician before starting; healthy kidneys have tolerated typical doses in trials, but this card is not a prescription.
Still unknown. Cognitive effects are real in a handful of small trials, especially under sleep loss or in vegetarians — much thinner than the muscle evidence.
Topics
Where it fits.
Related products
The gear.
Products that share a topic with this intervention. Same matrix scoring, same restraint.
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