YOUR BRAIN ON CREATINE

The supplement was once stigmatized as a pseudo-steroid for bodybuilders. Now it's being marketed as a brain health must-have that some experts say is more important than a multivitamin.

- OLIVER LEE BATEMAN

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 abit 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.