"An Open Letter to College Students About Supplement Misinformation"

Dear Fellow College Student,

I want to talk to you about something you have probably already encountered, maybe in the gym locker room, on your TikTok feed, or with friends. Someone recommends a supplement, someone else says it will wreck your kidneys, and suddenly you are trying to sort through multiple conflicting opinions with no idea who to trust. If that sounds familiar, this letter is for you.

Let's be honest: college is one of the first times many of us are making real health decisions on our own. We are working out, staying up late, managing stress, and trying to perform at our best academically and physically. It makes sense that supplements are appealing. But it also makes sense that we would turn to the most accessible sources of information - social media, gym culture, YouTube influencers - rather than digging through research journals. The problem is that those sources are not always reliable, and when it comes to our health, that gap between popular opinion and scientific evidence can matter a lot.

Take creatine monohydrate as an example. It is one of the most studied supplements in the world, with decades of peer-reviewed research behind it. Studies consistently show that creatine improves muscular strength and performance during high-intensity exercise, supports faster recovery between training sessions, and may even offer cognitive benefits for people dealing with mental fatigue - which, let's face it, describes most of us during midterms (Kreider et al. 18; Avgerinos et al. 168). The recommended maintenance dose is a simple 3 to 5 grams per day, and researchers have repeatedly confirmed its safety in healthy individuals at these amounts (Antonio et al. 13).

And yet, ask around and you might hear that creatine is a steroid. That it destroys your kidneys. That it causes hair loss. That it is only for serious bodybuilders. None of these claims hold up to research. Creatine is not a steroid - it has no hormonal properties and works by helping your muscles replenish energy during intense effort. The kidney damage claim likely comes from a confusion between creatine and elevated creatinine levels in blood tests, and no credible study has shown kidney damage in healthy users at normal doses (Antonio et al. 13). The hair loss concern comes from a single small, unreplicated study that found a possible link to a hormone precursor - not to hair loss itself (van der Merwe et al. 399). These myths persist not because the evidence supports them, but because misinformation spreads faster and more dramatically than facts.

I am not writing this to tell you to take creatine. That is a personal decision, and like any supplement, it should be approached thoughtfully and ideally discussed with a doctor or registered dietitian. What I am asking is that you apply the same critical thinking to supplement claims that you would to anything else you encounter as a college student. Where does this information come from? Is it based on a peer-reviewed study, or is it someone's personal experience? Is the source trying to sell you something? These are not complicated questions, but they are powerful ones.

The habits we build around health and wellness right now - how we train, what we eat, what we put in our bodies, and how we decide what to believe - will follow us long after graduation. Social media will keep producing confident-sounding health claims with no citations. Your gym buddy will keep passing along advice they heard from someone else. The best thing you can do is build the habit of going to the source: look for peer-reviewed research, consult professionals, and be skeptical of anything that sounds too alarming or too good to be true.

You are smart enough to be here. You are smart enough to read past the headlines.

With respect and solidarity,

Maynor Lopez