Creatine is like steroids.

Creatine just serves as a reserve for phosphate tht you can use to regenerate ATP which is what your muscle cells use for energy. This is what gives you that extra oomph in the early part of your workouts. I've also seen research showing that beyond that because creatine loads the cells with water and causes them to expand it exerts a chronic low grade hypertrophic effect on the muscle cells as well.

As for kidney damage, creatinine which is the breakdown product of creatine is excreted by your kidneys and is used as a marker of kidney function but it does not cause the damage. Docs are trained to equate elevated creatinine levels with decreasing kidney function but in the case of creatine supplementation the elevation is more likely due to increased intake rather than poor excretion. Hope this helps shed some light on it.

So why are steroids drugs but creatine isn't?
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They r different compounds.

Yeah, but steroidsand paracetamol are different compounds, but they are still drugs? Why is creatine not?
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drug is a very broad term. If u r going bu the def of a drug as a substance the creates an affect in the body. Then almost everything is a drug