IN A SMALL Missouri pharmacy, Drew Dible carefully measures out a five-gram dose of a fine white powder. The almost crystalline substance isn’t for a customer, but for him. And it’s not a prescription medication, but a supplement: creatine monohydrate.
Dible is a 31-year-old pharmacist with an athletic build, standing 6’4″ and weighing roughly 200 pounds. He’s always stayed in shape—5Ks, 10Ks, weightlifting—but he’s never taken any supplements except for a multivitamin.
“Most of this wellness stuff always struck me as a bit scammy, so I didn’t waste my money on it,” he says. But Dible isn’t taking creatine because he’s looking to enhance his kipping power, or hit a race PR, or really for any reason related to physical fitness. He’s taking creatine for his brain.
When he hit his early 30s, Dible says, he wanted to hedge against any age-related mental decline. For all of us entering our 30s, distractions accumulate and the mental sharpness we took for granted in our teens and 20s gives way to something else. “I didn’t feel a lack of focus at the time so much as a desire for more focus,” Dible says.
During the pandemic, he started listening to Huberman Lab, the powerhouse podcast from wellness influencer Andrew Huberman, PhD, associate professor of neurobiology at Stanford Medicine. Since 2021, Huberman has released eight episodes with “creatine” in the title. He and his guests have extolled the numerous mental health virtues of the supplement, from boosting memory to mitigating the effects of traumatic brain injury and concussion.
“Creatine, known for its role in improving physical performance, has also been shown (in several quality clinical trials) to improve mood and help the symptoms of major depression,” Huberman posted on Twitter in 2021.
He’s all in—taking 10 to 15 grams daily—and so are longevity and performance expert Peter Attia, MD, and bro-whisperer extraordinaire Joe Rogan. So Dible began taking creatine, stirred into water and chugged before work. The hope was that it would help him maintain focus during his busy days.
Once relegated to the dark recesses of bodybuilders’ gym bags, creatine is creating all kinds of buzz in the neuroscience world for its supposed brain benefits and is muscling its way into mainstream wellness culture. You may have noticed: Creatine is everywhere.
You can now find the stuff featured as the special ingredient in protein bars, energy drinks, and (because it’s 2025) gummies. Next-gen supplement companies like Momentous, Thorne, and Onnit are making creatine cornerstone products—and many of them are spotlighting brain health benefits as part of their sell.
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The market for creatine is booming. The Vitamin Shoppe’s trend report from 2023 showed creatine sales up 120 percent year over year. The global creatine supplement market is currently valued at a hulking $501 million—and projected to swell to $923 million by 2033,
