NEW YORK — The athlete and bodybuilder supplement creatine is increasingly being looked at as an all-round health boost, as awareness grows of its use as an anti-inflammatory and bulwark for cells that work to keep cancer at bay. “Creatine remains a promising lead rather than a proven remedy,” the researchers said, in a paper published in the journal Brain Medicine in June. “Two trials pointed one way and three pointed another,” Fares said, after reviewing the evidence from several tests of how the supplement affected people diagnosed with depression. ADVERTISEMENTIn June, a team of scientists based at the University of California, Los Angeles found indications that creatine “supercharges a critical class of immune cells that activate and prepare the body’s key cancer-fighters.” “Creatine may eventually be recognized as an over-the-counter therapeutic agent rather than merely a dietary supplement,” according to Mehdi Boroujerdi, author of the “Handbook of Creatine and Creatinine In Vivo Kinetics.”