On May 1, the University of Michigan School of Nursing published a study analyzing survey responses from over 800,000 adolescents, which found the amount of past-year creatine consumption increased by 90% among males and 168% among females from 2019 to 2024. The study also found perceived risk and availability of steroids — a category creatine does not fall into — among adolescents has decreased, more so in males than females.
In an interview with The Michigan Daily, Philip Veliz, associate research professor at the Nursing School’s Applied Biostatistics Lab, said he was motivated to conduct the study due to the increase in gym-related content he saw on social media.
“I noticed on social media there is a big following of people who are gym influencers,” Veliz said. “On TikTok or any type of social media, you just see things about fitness … a lot of them are discussing what they take before the gym, or what they take after the gym.”
Various social media algorithms may be cultivating deeper psychological pressures for young, impressionable viewers. In an interview with The Daily, LSA rising senior Karam Mattar said he believes social media content consistently promotes unrealistic body images.
“I think social media has always been a platform that pushes negative images for people and shows unrealistic body standards or manipulates its audiences,” Mattar said. “For guys and girls, I feel like they’ve been tricked by social media into being shown one thing, while in reality it’s a completely different story.”
Some medical professionals share Mattar’s concerns. In an email to The Daily, Susan Woolford, medical director of the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital Pediatric Comprehensive Weight Management Center, wrote social media can act as an enabling mechanism for workout-enhancing substance use in adolescents.
“Social media that portrays idealized, often digitally enhanced and largely unobtainable images and the pressure for adolescents to receive positive feedback for their posts creates a perfect storm for the development of negative self image,” Woolford wrote. “Adolescents with body dissatisfaction have been shown to be more likely to use (workout-enhancing) substances, and for boys in particular this includes anabolic steroids.”
Unlike anabolic steroids, creatine has been proven to be a safe substance in numerous studies, and illegal substance use has decreased among adolescents. However, Veliz said he is still worried creatine usage could be indicative of further illegal substance usage.
“We know that substance use (among adolescents) in general has tanked,” Veliz said. “However, we see increases in things like creatine use, we see massive increases in energy drink use … they do kind of set the stage of where they may be going in their future substance use.”
Veliz also said ultimately, he believes there should be restrictions on what adolescents can view on social media.
“I really see social media being a problem,” Veliz said. “There should be restrictions on what’s being put out there to developing adolescents because they’re still learning appropriate behavior and basically how to be healthy.”
Woolford agreed with limiting social media use among adolescents, saying its influence is at odds with maintaining a positive body image.
“Decreasing the time adolescents spend on social media has been associated with improvement in body image,” Woolford said. “In addition, it is important to help teens become critical consumers of digital media with an understanding of the fact that images are often distorted to promote unrealistic idealized versions of beauty.”
Daily Staff Reporter Micayla Horwitz can be reached at hmicayla@umich.edu.
