Creatine’s North Stars for 2026
January.
Traditionally a month of shallow self-improvement noise, defined by a frantic cycle of resolutions that prioritise aesthetic shifts over biological infrastructure. My YouTube subscription feed has been full of it. However, in my opinion, as we conclude the first month of 2026, the global creatine landscape has actually, in contrast, matured. Or at least evolved. At Jenerise, we are not observing the usual flurry of short-lived commitments. Instead, we are witnessing the birth of the Resilience Economy, and creatine might just be sitting right smack dab in the middle of it. The market is moving with a new level of sophistication toward metabolic resilience.
Okay, so sophistication might be a strong word, so let’s break it down a bit.
We are already seeing a wave of new product launches entering the market offering RTDs and snacks, yet as the volume of competition increases, the need for clinical rigour becomes the ultimate competitive advantage. Stability-aware consumers are quick to comment on social media announcements asking about creatine degrading into creatinine. Nobody is looking to repeat Gummy Gate in the RTD category.
For those of us looking at the data, the opportunity is immense. My Dad recently noted that while the protein supplementation market reached a staggering 26.2 billion dollars in 2024, the global creatine market sat at just 1.1 billion dollars. This represents the ground floor of a significant industrial shift. We believe we are witnessing the beginning of the creatinification of the modern diet, a journey that mirrors the protein boom of the last decade but with a deeper focus on cellular health.
The foundation of this shift is the understanding of the energy buffer consumers seem to be looking for. In a B2B landscape, marketing weight loss is increasingly becoming a race to the bottom, and honestly, in this GLP-1 timeline, pretty outdated.
The high-end play is cellular durability.
The average human carries a bank of approximately 70-120 grams of creatine and burns through roughly 2 grams every single day just to maintain basic function. Creatine acts as the body’s ultimate energy buffer, ensuring that when a biological system is under stress, the cellular bank account of ATP does not hit zero. We are moving away from treating the body like a caffeine machine and starting to treat it like a complex biological system that requires a constant bioenergetic reserve to stay in the game.
Culturally, the mandate for cognitive endurance has never been higher. The modern consumer no longer wants a simple stimulant; they want a brain battery that lasts through the mental load of high-stakes jobs and family life. The brain is our most metabolically expensive organ, consuming 20% of the body’s total energy production. In a world of information overload and rising rates of anxiety, mental energy is the most valuable currency we possess. Am I right? Creatine provides the rapid recharge needed for cognitive metabolism, turning mental focus from a fleeting state into a sustainable physical resource.
Furthermore, we also cannot ignore the pharmacological shift currently redefining the weight management category altogether. We are living in the era of GLP-1 medications. While these treatments offer significant benefits, they also present a massive biological risk in the form of depleted lean mass. Creatine is emerging as the essential insurance policy for this category, protecting the metabolic engine while the body sheds weight. There’s a whole new wave of consumers from the GLP-1 space that have to fully step into the creatine vertical. This is a vital moment for brands to position bioenergetics, including creatine, as a medical-grade companion to modern longevity therapies. Will this happen in 2026?
As we look toward February, the goal is actually no longer more theory; it is more execution to help creatine keep its momentum. We are transitioning creatine from an elective supplement to a conditionally essential nutrient. With data showing that 70% of the ageing population fails to meet even the most basic dietary creatine needs, the gap in our nutritional common sense is clear.
5 Predictions for the Resilience Era
We expect to see creatine formally recognized as the primary companion to GLP-1 therapies to combat muscle wasting. Marketing will shift from "performance" to "preservation," targeting the millions of users who need to protect their metabolic rate while using modern weight loss medications.
Just as caffeine defined the 20th-century workspace, creatine will define 2026 as the essential tool for cognitive endurance. Brands that lead with brain health data rather than bicep growth will capture the vast "mental load" demographic, including high-performing professionals and overwhelmed parents.
We are predicting a massive surge in "habit-stacked" formats such as functional coffee pods, ready-to-drink "brainergy" shots, and high-purity gummies.
Marketing might begin to highlight genetic markers like GATM, helping people understand if they are "natural low-responders" who require higher clinical doses. Thought leadership will shift toward DNA-informed supplementation choices.
Predictive marketing will focus on the unique creatine needs of women across the lifespan, specifically addressing hormonal shifts in pregnancy and the bone-density crisis in menopause.
The era of shallow supplementation is coming to an end. If you’re interested in learning what this might mean for your brand and products, feel free to drop me an email rachael@jenerise.com
We all rise together,
Rachael Jennings | Co-Founder + CBO, Jenerise
