Creatine: Not JUST Great For Muscle Growth
What is Creatine?
Creatine is a molecule composed of amino acids that is naturally produced in the body. It can also be found naturally in some foods, mostly in meat, but also in eggs and fish.
It is not an essential nutrient because it can be produced by the body, but it is not supplied in optimal doses for optimal health and performance.
Creatine is stored in your muscles. When your muscles do work (ex. exercise), ATP (cellular energy) is tapped into for energy.
Creatine essentially works by improving ATP production, which in turn improves your body’s ability to perform many biological processes.
This enhancement in cellular function can improve muscular strength, cardiovascular health, cognition, bone health, and more!
The Benefits
Muscular Strength and Performance
With the increase in cellular energy production, your muscles are then able to produce more energy, and resultantly, lift more weight. This translates to the ability to perform an additional rep or two in the gym. The ability to build muscle can improve due to the increase in power output (strength), the onset of muscular fatigue, and the corresponding additional weight lifted over time.
Cognition
The brain is one of the most energy-demanding organs in our entire body, despite its relatively small size. Lots of ATP is required to maintain high levels of functionality and cognitive performance.
Since creatine indirectly boosts the ATP supply, cognitive abilities can also improve because of this additional availability of energy that neurons in the brain can tap into. This cognitive boost can result in better focus and memory, delay mental fatigue, and reduce the rate and magnitude of cognitive decline. It can also reduce the severity of depression symptoms due to the relationship between creatine and serotonin in the body.
Bone Health
We know that there is a strong correlation between muscle tissue and their surrounding structure. Resistance training, and the muscle growth that comes with it, tends to increase bone density. This adaptation of stronger bones is a nice benefit that doesn’t get the attention that it deserves for the longevity it provides!
Bones are made up of tissue that is metabolically active, so the cells rely upon ATP for energy. Since creatine enhances muscle growth, improved bone content and density are a subsequent side effect.
In addition to the changes that come with muscle growth, creatine may even improve bone health on its own! However, these findings are still understudied.
Side Effects?
There has been speculation that the kidneys or liver may be negatively impacted by creatine supplementation. These initial concerns are somewhat warranted because of the physiological changes that come with an exogenous substance. However, time and time again, studies have shown that creatine has no negative impact (even in long-term cases) on these organs. Interestingly enough, creatine may even PROTECT the liver from fatty liver disease!
Dehydration is another concern that has been raised from creatine supplementation because of the water-retention properties of creatine. Once again, these concerns can be dismissed due to research that has proven otherwise. In actuality, creatine may even promote hydration!
Significant Results
What really separates creatine from many other supplements isn’t just the variety of benefits that it offers, but the magnitude of its benefits. For example, many supplements may offer minor direct or indirect improvements in muscular strength. However, these improvements are usually pretty negligible (>5% increase in studies). Creatine is an outlier in its ability to stimulate drastic improvements in muscular strength (10-20% increase).
Supplementation
Creatine monohydrate is THE most researched sports supplement on the planet. It has been shown in study after study to actually make a considerable difference in its performance-related claims, rather than a negligible improvement like many competitor supplements on the market.
Creatine supplementation has been demonstrated to be completely safe, assuming you’re already healthy. Since everyone can benefit from creatine supplementation, there is no reason not to take it!
Creatine may be found in foods, but only in small quantities. In red meat for example, you would need to eat about 2 lbs. to get the required optimal daily dose! For this reason, it’s unreasonable to get the optimal dosage (5g/day) from food alone. If you eat a plant-based diet, you are almost certainly deficient (or at least have sub-optimal levels).
Fortunately, supplementation is available as a much more attainable solution. Creatine is also incredibly economical, so supplementation is a no-brainer! I purchase a bulk-bag of creatine on Amazon for about $20, and it lasts me over 8 months.
When you start taking creatine, you’ll notice that you gain a few pounds over the span of a few days. Don’t worry! Creatine increases the amount of water that your cells retain, so this weight gain is strictly due to water retention. It is safe and beneficial to take creatine for as long as you’d like to reap its benefits. It is possible to be a non-responder to creatine, which means that you won’t notice many of these effects. However, this portion of the population is extremely small.
It’s also perfectly fine to take a break from supplementation for a period as well. If you stop taking creatine, you’ll notice that this water weight disappears within a few days. You will be able to hold onto your hard-earned muscle, but you’ll likely lose a little bit of muscular strength due to the decreased ATP production.
Personally, I’ve taken creatine for about 5 years, and I’ve been getting great results! I’ve taken a couple breaks from creatine over that span, but for the most part, I’ve kept my supplementation consistent.
I usually mix my dosage of 5g of creatine into either my pre-workout drink, or by itself with beta alanine on my non-workout days (more about my workout supplement routine is coming soon!). Creatine is pretty tasteless, but I usually add some lemon juice or apple cider vinegar to make it a more enjoyable drink!