Could creatine have a dark side?

Creatine is a multitalented wonder potion we all need to protect us against the ravages of ageing.

- 

We spend our lives enthralled by the superlative athletic performance encased in the perfect body. The popularity of Instagram posts from the likes of Paulina Porizkova, buses plastered with photoshopped near nudes and indeed the survival and extinction of civilisations are a testament to the enduring power of this maxim. The recent film The Substance highlights this too: an ageing Demi Moore plays a woman misled into believing a miracle product will restore her lost youth, with tragic consequences.

Shelving Moore's disillusionment and disappointment for just a second, in creatine we have a magical substance that might help us achieve the heights of athleticism and anatomical magnificence that was once the exclusive realm of the elite athlete. It has long been embraced by the athletic community and gym enthusiasts as a supplement that could significantly enhance energy, physical performance, the growth of muscle mass and endurance. For those who want to run faster, further and longer, with bigger muscles and supercharged stamina, taking creatine is their passport into the gilded realm of extraordinary accomplishment with untold rewards.