Expert Position

What does Peter Attia say about creatine?

Q: How much creatine does Peter Attia recommend?

A maintenance dose of 5 grams a day is the figure used on his show. Layne Norton, reviewing the meta-analysis on that episode, notes that both 5 grams and higher doses produce gains in lean mass and strength, which makes 5 grams the practical floor rather than a ceiling.

Physician focused on longevity and healthspan, host of The Drive

Peter Attia strongly recommends creatine monohydrate and calls elevated creatinine on a blood test a common false alarm — it usually reflects muscle mass, not kidney damage. The dose deep-dive on his show comes from guest Layne Norton, who reports that 5 grams a day and higher doses both produce gains in lean mass and strength.

On the record

“they basically showed we take five grams a day you get increases in lean mass and strength and performance you take more than five grams a day you also get increases in lean mass and performance”

Layne Norton, on Peter Attia's show · watch @ 8:51 →

What Peter actually says

• He flags a practical trap: creatine raises blood creatinine, which doctors can misread as kidney injury. He points to cystatin C as the better kidney measure.
• Loading phases are optional rather than necessary, and can cause GI irritation; cycling off is unnecessary.
• The detailed dosing evidence on his channel is delivered by Layne Norton, not by Attia — see the receipt below, which is attributed accordingly.

Where the other four land

All 4 other experts also take a positive position on Creatine.

Andrew Huberman Strongly Recommends

Rhonda Patrick Strongly Recommends

Bryan Johnson Includes in Blueprint Stack

Mark Hyman Recommends as Essential Supplement

Common Questions

How much creatine does Peter Attia recommend?

A maintenance dose of 5 grams a day is the figure used on his show. Layne Norton, reviewing the meta-analysis on that episode, notes that both 5 grams and higher doses produce gains in lean mass and strength, which makes 5 grams the practical floor rather than a ceiling.

Does creatine damage your kidneys?

Attia addresses this directly: creatine raises blood creatinine because of muscle mass, and that rise is routinely misread as kidney damage. He points to cystatin C as the measure that is not confounded this way.

Do you need to load or cycle creatine?

No. Loading is optional — it saturates muscle faster but can cause GI irritation — and cycling off is unnecessary for long-term use.

See Peter Attia's full supplement stack.