Are you hesitant to take creatine to progress in sport? In “It’s much better” on RTL, August 18, 2026, Violette Babocsay, dietician and author of Great Guide to Nutrition and Weight Loss (Marabout), recalls that his real interest focuses mainly on short, intense and repeated efforts, not on all the marketing promises.
Creatine is primarily used to quickly provide energy to the muscles
Before talking about supplements, we must remember what creatine is. Violette Babocsay describes it as a molecule naturally present in the body, mainly in muscles. It is also provided through food, especially through certain products of animal origin, such as meat and fish.
Its role is very concrete during exercise: it helps to quickly produce energy during a brief and intense effort. The dietician cites, for example, lifting a weight in bodybuilding or doing a sprint. It is precisely this mechanism which explains why creatine is especially of interest in sports or sessions with accelerations, series or explosive movements.
The nuance is essential: creatine is not a general fitness stimulant. The claim authorized in Europe concerns a specific framework: performance during successive series of brief and very intense exercises. Another European claim is even more targeted: in adults over 55, it may enhance the effect of regular resistance training on muscle strength.
Strength training, sprinting, endurance: the benefits are not the same
According to Violette Babocsay, creatine stands out from many food supplements for which the evidence is more fragile. Combined with a suitable program, it can help improve strength, muscle power and some lean mass gains. The takeaway, however, is conditional: she acts with training, not in place of it.
The dietician also adds that she does not transform someone “overnight Olympic champion“. For a person who practices muscle strengthening and seeks to progress through intense efforts, the purchase is therefore not necessarily useless. But this reasoning does not apply to all sports or to all objectives.
Concretely, the interest varies depending on the practice:
- Maintain a better documented interest in weight training, sprints, repeated sets or explosive efforts;
- Be careful for long runs or cycling at stable intensity: interest is much less established for continuous endurance;
- Do not expect an autonomous effect on figure, performance or recovery if training, sleep and diet do not follow.
An endurance sport can sometimes include raises, hills or sprints. But this is not enough to transform creatine into a reference supplement for running or cycling for a long time. To place this supplement in a more global strategy, it is better to first understand the role of creatine in muscular performance and maintain a consistent sporting objective.
Beware of unfounded promises
Violette Babocsay observes that certain brands highlight memory, concentration or menopause. She talks about interesting avenues of research, but not established benefits. The EFSA concluded in particular that a cause and effect link was not established between creatine and improvement in cognitive function. In other words, memory, concentration and menopause should not be presented as validated indications.
If the objective is to progress in strength or through explosive efforts, creatine can therefore have a place, provided you do not ask for more than what it can provide. The priorities remain those recalled by the dietician: regular training, sufficient sleep and adapted diet, as in the basics of good sports nutrition.
First of all, consult a healthcare professional
On safety, Violette Babocsay summarizes that, in a healthy person, creatine is not considered dangerous and is one of the best-studied supplements. But that doesn’t mean it’s suitable for everyone. ANSES urges us not to trivialize supplements intended for athletes, particularly when there is a specific medical area.
In practice, creatine is a supplement to be avoided or discussed with a health professional in the event of known kidney disease, chronic illness, pregnancy, breastfeeding, adolescence or in the event of multiple treatments. Same logic if you are a high-level athlete subject to anti-doping rules, or monitored for eating disorders: the advice of a professional allows you to avoid a decision taken under commercial or aesthetic pressure.