Creatine vs Magnesium for recovery
Short answer: For recovery, users rate them about the same: 98% report improvement with Creatine (95 reports) and 97% with Magnesium (32 reports).
Creatine has 763 meta-analyses and 2,794 randomized trials on PubMed; Magnesium has 82 and 210.
Based on 2,279 reports about Creatine and 2,391 about Magnesium. Not medical advice.
| Creatine Supplement | Magnesium Supplement | |
|---|---|---|
| Users say it helped | 72%helped1,048 reports · high confidence | 73%helped956 reports · high confidence |
| Verdict | Mostly positive | Mostly positive |
| Research | AResearch: Strong | AResearch: Strong |
| Meta-analyses / RCTs | 763 / 2,794 | 82 / 210 |
| Mainly used for | ||
| Performance % reporting improvement | 98% (542) | 88% (17) |
| Sleep % reporting improvement | 28% (81) | 88% (430) |
| Energy % reporting improvement | 97% (268) | 75% (83) |
| Anxiety % reporting improvement | 64% (25) | 90% (289) |
| Focus % reporting improvement | 93% (249) | 80% (45) |
| Common side effects | stomach issues, hair loss, insomnia, water retention | diarrhea, drowsiness, stomach issues, vivid dreams |
| Typical dose reported | 5 g / daily | 500 mg / daily |
The results of the meta-analysis suggest that creatine supplementation did not significantly alter serum creatinine levels (standardized mean difference = 0.48, 95% confidence interval 0.24-0.73, P = .001, I2 = 22%), and did not alter plasma urea values (standardized mean difference = 1.10, 95% confidence interval 0.34-1.85, P = .004, I2 = 28%). The findings indicate that creatine supplementation does not induce renal damage in the studied amounts and durations.
J Ren Nutr, 2019 ↗“I actually feel a lot better. Mentally clearer and more balanced, like I have my brain back.”
This review confirms that the quality of literature is substandard for physicians to make well-informed recommendations on usage of oral magnesium for older adults with insomnia. However, given that oral magnesium is very cheap and widely available, RCT evidence may support oral magnesium supplements (less than 1 g quantities given up to three times a day) for insomnia symptoms.
BMC Complement Med Ther, 2021 ↗“after supplementing with 400mg of Magnesium daily. Winter blues hit me hard and my multivitamin wasn't doing any justice, but once I began supplementing Magnesium, everything changed.”
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Percentages come from first-hand user reports and are not clinical outcomes. Talk to a doctor before starting, stopping or combining anything. How we rate