Why You Cannot Get a Straight Answer About Creatine for Teens

There is a tub of powder on a counter in a great many Canadian kitchens right now that a fifteen-year-old bought for himself at a grocery store, without anybody asking him a single question. The pediatricians seeing those teenagers have noticed the shift, and they do not agree on what to tell the families in front of them.

More teenagers are taking creatine, a muscle-building supplement, in pursuit of appearance and fitness gains, according to a CTV News report published on 20 September 2026. The experts it interviewed broadly consider the supplement safe for adults, though the narrower question of creatine for teens drew markedly different answers from the three clinicians and researchers who addressed it.

What are the key takeaways?

Creatine occurs naturally in the human body, supports muscle growth and recovery, and sells without a prescription in pharmacies, grocery stores and health stores.

Canada regulates creatine under natural health products legislation, which one researcher describes as relatively loose compared with the rules governing pharmaceutical products.

Dr. Dina Kulik has seen more male teenage patients ask about creatine over the past six months and advises caution, reporting no side effects among her own patients so far.

Dr. Mohammed Hassan-Ali discourages its use in teenagers, citing the lack of research on safety in young people, and treated one teenager for dehydration after excessive use during high-intensity exercise.

Nearly 44 percent of participants in a 2024 study named social media influencers as a primary influence on their use of muscle-building supplements.

Professor Stuart Phillips describes creatine as expensive, worth only a small edge, and far less consequential than regular training, consistent sleep and decent food.

Where do teenagers get muscle-building supplements so easily?

Creatine is a substance the human body produces naturally and stores largely in muscle, where it supports growth and recovery by helping to regenerate the energy that short, hard efforts burn through. Nothing about buying it requires a prescription or a conversation, and it fills open shelves in pharmacies, grocery stores and health stores across the country, which explains a good deal of how quickly it has spread through school changing rooms. Among muscle-building supplements, creatine is the one with the longest research record and the lowest price, so it tends to be the first thing a teenager reaches for.

Kyle Ganson, an associate professor at the University of Toronto's Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, notes that the profile of the typical user is narrower than the shelf space suggests. Somebody with no real investment in athletics is unlikely to be taking it at all, while somebody actively training for performance or muscle can use it effectively alongside weight training and reasonable nutrition. That distinction matters because it separates a teenager with a training plan from a teenager with a mirror and an app, and the evidence on how muscle is actually built backs the first group rather than the second.

How are natural health products in Canada regulated?

Creatine falls under the federal framework covering natural and non-prescription health products rather than the pharmaceutical regime, and Ganson describes that framework as relatively loosely regulated by comparison. His position is that more requirements around proving safety and efficacy would benefit manufacturers as much as consumers, and he specifically raises purity testing to rule out contamination or adulteration during production.

The regulatory distinction carries real consequences for a parent trying to assess a tub on a kitchen counter, because natural health products in Canada are not held to the evidence standards a prescription drug must clear before it reaches a shelf. Health Canada does act against unauthorized products when it finds them, as this year's injunction against an unauthorized peptide seller demonstrated, though enforcement of that kind arrives after a product is already circulating.

What creatine side effects do the doctors actually disagree about?

Dr. Dina Kulik, a pediatrician in Toronto and the founder of the Kidcrew clinic, told CTV News that creatine has come up frequently with her patients over the past six months, particularly among athletes chasing strength and endurance. Some had heard about it from coaches and others from friends, and she generally advises those patients to be cautious while reporting that none of them have come back to her describing creatine side effects.

Dr. Mohammed Hassan-Ali, a pediatrician working in the Toronto area, takes a firmer position, saying he is seeing a lot of teenagers taking creatine as though it were a multivitamin and that he discourages it because of how little research exists on safety in young people. He recalled assessing a teenager for dehydration a few months ago who had taken more than the recommended amounts of whey protein and creatine while failing to hydrate during high-intensity exercise, which produced dizziness and fainting spells. Anyone who has looked into the ordinary causes of recurring dizziness will recognize that combination, and dehydration during hard training ranks near the top of the list. Ganson holds the middle ground, calling creatine a well-researched supplement that is fairly safe at an appropriate dosage while recommending that young people speak to health care providers, trainers, coaches or other trusted adults before starting it. Taken together, the three positions leave the safety of creatine for teens with three defensible answers rather than one, which is an uncomfortable place for a parent holding a tub in a kitchen.

Why does body image in teenage boys keep surfacing in these conversations?

Read the three positions together and the shared concern turns out to have very little to do with the powder itself. Hassan-Ali's dehydrated patient had body image issues and was trying to change how he looked, having told the doctor that his friends were using similar supplements and energy drinks and heading to the gym after school, and that improving his appearance would make him more appealing to girls at his school. Clinicians raise body image in teenage boys in this context because the supplement is frequently the visible end of a motivation that nobody has asked about yet.

Ganson's worry concerns direction of travel rather than the substance in hand, and he describes a potential slippery slope toward riskier options such as peptides and steroids among young people looking for shortcuts to appearance and performance gains. Social media supplies a measurable share of the pressure, since a 2024 research paper he co-authored in Performance Enhancement and Health found that nearly 44 percent of participants named social media influencers as a primary influence on their use of muscle-building supplements. Philip Veliz, an associate research professor at the University of Michigan's School of Nursing and co-author of an August 2026 study on surging creatine use among American teenagers, links the trend to looksmaxxing, describing a darker side of social media that sets unrealistic expectations about what bodies should look like and what it supposedly takes to get there.

Is creatine worth what teenagers think it is worth?

The flattest assessment came from Stuart Phillips, a kinesiology professor at McMaster University, who told CTV News that creatine is expensive, delivers only a small edge, and does not meaningfully improve athletic performance or health on its own. He described it as a thin layer of benefit resting on top of exercise, which does the vast majority of the work, and the phrase is worth repeating to a teenager who believes the tub is the variable that matters.

Phillips pointed instead to the factors that carry far greater impact, naming regular gym attendance, sleeping earlier and at a consistent time, and avoiding junk food. For a sixteen-year-old chasing visible results by December, that is an unglamorous answer, and it also happens to be the one carrying the evidence. Teenagers taking real risks with their bodies tend to be doing it in ways that look nothing like a supplement, which is a pattern pediatric injury data picks up every summer.

When should you talk to a pediatrician about this?

1. Ask what they are taking rather than announcing what they will stop. A question keeps the conversation open, while a confiscation usually moves the tub to a school locker.

2. Ask where they heard about it. The answer separates a coach's recommendation from an algorithm, and those two situations call for different responses.

3. Ask what they expect it to do. A teenager training for a season and a teenager unhappy with his reflection will answer this question very differently.

4. Talk about hydration first, whatever you decide about the supplement. The one documented case in this reporting involved dehydration during hard exercise rather than creatine in isolation.

5. Talk to a pediatrician or a family doctor if body image is driving the decision. Hassan-Ali's own emphasis was that teenagers should know real people are available to talk to, rather than unverified information online.

Who can a teenager actually talk to?

The right moment to talk to a pediatrician is the moment the answers stop being about sport, and there is free support available while you wait for that appointment. Kids Help Phone offers free, confidential support to young people across Canada at 1-800-668-6868, or by texting CONNECT to 686868, at any hour of the day. The National Eating Disorder Information Centre runs a toll-free helpline at 1-866-633-4220 for anybody worried about a young person's relationship with food, exercise or their body, and its hours vary through the week. A family doctor or pediatrician can also start the conversation, and starting it early is consistently easier than starting it late.

What else do people ask about this?

Is creatine safe for teenagers to take?

Experts interviewed by CTV News describe creatine as generally safe at an appropriate dose, while disagreeing about young people specifically. The safety of creatine for teens remains unsettled because research in that age group is thin, which is why one Toronto pediatrician discourages it outright while another advises caution alongside a conversation with a doctor.

How is creatine regulated in Canada?

Canada regulates creatine as a dietary supplement under its natural health products legislation, which governs such products very differently from prescription pharmaceuticals. Researcher Kyle Ganson describes the framework as relatively loose by comparison and argues for stronger requirements around proving safety and efficacy, including purity testing to rule out contamination during manufacturing.

What happened to the teenager who was hospitalized?

Dr. Mohammed Hassan-Ali assessed a teenager for dehydration a few months before speaking to CTV News. The patient had taken more than the recommended amounts of whey protein and creatine while not drinking enough during high-intensity exercise, and the combination produced dizziness and fainting spells. The doctor described a frank conversation about side effects afterwards.

Does creatine actually improve athletic performance?

Kinesiology professor Stuart Phillips describes creatine as offering a small edge that is not enough on its own to improve athletic performance or health meaningfully. He characterizes it as a thin layer of benefit on top of exercise, which does the vast majority of the work, and points to training consistency, earlier and regular sleep, and better food as the factors with much greater impact.

Where do you go from here?

If a teenager in your house is using supplements and you want a professional read rather than a forum thread, a short appointment settles more than an argument will. Find family doctors and clinics near you with current wait times, and browse the Medimap Health Hub for more on how teenagers' bodies actually build strength.

Disclaimer: This article provides general health information and does not constitute medical advice. Speak with a licensed health care professional about your own circumstances or your child's. In an emergency, call 911.