Creatine isn't synthetic, it is found in all sorts of natural foods. It is no more artificial than vitamin C.

> Can't we just live as we are and not aim for some ideal only reachable through the use of synthetic substances?

Insulated housing is a synthetic substance. I rather enjoy living with it.

Oh and cooked food. Huge advantage there.

All grains we eat are highly processed.

Even beef is dry aged.

Cheeses are processed as hell, just we use cultivated bacteria to do the work for us.

> people do just fine without any of that.

Tell that to someone who is vitamin B deficient.

Choline supplements are a huge help for the elderly, just across the board (with the exception of some people who do really bad with choline!)

I think you’re right. I’ve eaten vegan most of my life and take creatine to make up for the lack of it in my diet with no downsides. It gives me a little more energy for workouts and runs. I don’t look bigger or bulkier, just feel a bit sharper.

I also understand the discomfort with the culture of “optimize everything” and constant self-experimentation. Supplements like creatine get framed as steps toward some perfect, engineered version of ourselves, and that framing feels like a hangover of eugenics thinking. It causes an acute, if subconscious, aversion that can manifest in the cool dismal of your parent's comment.

That unease matters. Maybe if we were more objective we would say it should not matter, but it does. And, while I often just ignore it, I am not sure I want to fully let go of it yet.