Creatine: What It Is And How It Works

We now live in the age of supplements. People ask what you take, what the next best thing is, how much of this and that should they take. It never ends. We have started to focus more on supplements than fundamentals. HOWEVER, that doesn’t mean they don’t have their place. Creatine is one that definitely has its place, and has been proven time and time again to have profound benefits.

Creatine is similar to that of an amino acid, making it a building block for protein, and more specifically, energy. When you supplement with more creatine, or increase foods like red meat and fish higher in creatine, you create more stores of phosphocreatine. This is a form of stored energy that helps the body produce its primary form of energy, ATP (adenosine triphosphate). In essence, creatine helps produce the body’s energy.

Creatine is one of the most studied supplements, yet some dismiss it and claim it’s harmful. Too much of anything is a bad thing, so let’s just stop being irresponsible with our bodies. If something is seriously wrong, it’s unlikely that you’re overdosing creatine LOL. But don’t test it out. In this article, we’ll dive a little deeper in what it is, what it does, and especially how it can improve not just performance, but overall health as well.

What Is It and How Does It Work?

Majority of creatine is stored in the body’s muscles, and the remaining in the liver, brain and kidneys. Other factors can determine how much creatine might be stored within an individual, such as level of exercise, genetics, and meat intake. Since it helps drive the body’s primary sources of energy, higher creatine levels lead to higher phosphocreatine levels, thus making one able to last longer in bouts of higher intensity performance and exercise.

The body naturally produces creatine at a rate of around 1g/day on its own, and up to the same amount through an omnivorous diet. With the production of creatine comes the production of phosphocreatine, which serves as a high energy molecule that can be stored to provide energy to the body when needed. In short, phosphocreatine can be described as a type of energy currency within the body.

Improved Cell Hydration

People have this notion that creatine will make you look “water-y” or bloated because creatine fills the muscles with more water. Yes, creatine helps increase hydration within cells, but that does not mean you have more water weight, aren’t getting stronger, or that you’re going to look bloated.

Cellular hydration is an anabolic response in itself, meaning that muscle that is better hydrated can do more work, thus increasing the rate of growth. With this increase in hydration comes an increase in protein synthesis (creation of protein molecules), which is one of the main factors in increasing muscle mass. Since your body is being better hydrated, you’ll want to observe your water intake and see if you may need to increase it.

If you’re taking creatine and think you are looking bloated, then maybe look into your sodium and water intake first. Your body could very well be holding onto water if your sodium intake has increased, and water intake has not. I supplement with creatine almost daily, and have never had an issue with bloating or someone saying I look “water-y.”

Increase Workload

Studies and science have shown that using creatine daily while in a weight training regimen increased the strength of muscles and helped them last longer. If you are an athlete that is in intense training doing multiple workouts per day, or an athlete that may have more than one event or a long event in a given day, then creatine can help to effectively do so properly.

For example, an MMA fighter may have multiple workouts in a given day. From weightlifting to sparring and then to wrestling, he or she will need to be able to last longer and have better muscular endurance before fatiguing. The same can be said for CrossFit athletes who may have 4 or 5 events in a day that contain high intensity exercise. Creatine can help improve muscle strength and endurance, making it possible for athletes to last longer.

Increase Anabolic Hormone Response

Our bodies have a hormone known as IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factor 1), which is very similar to insulin and plays a crucial role in overall growth, but can have a particularly anabolic effect in adults. It stimulates the growth of bones, tissues throughout the body, and most notably lean muscle mass. It is produced naturally in the body, mainly in the liver and tissues, but can also be found in foods such as animal meats and dairy. So before you try to find IGF-1 supplements, look to your diet.

There has been research that shows an uptick in IGF-1 production, leading to an increase in lean muscle mass when supplementing with creatine post-exercise. It was noted that supplementing with creatine 3 hours after working out produced better results than waiting 24 hours after exercise. This goes to show that creatine can have a positive effect on hormonal responses to help yield growth increases throughout the body.

Reduced Protein Breakdown

Some studies suggest that supplementing with creatine may reduce certain levels of oxidation, thus aiding in muscle breakdown. When there is less oxidative stress, the body can perform and recover as it needs to. With the help of creatine, your body has a chance at experiencing less oxidation and can create more muscle creatine and energy stores. Your body gets help with reducing how much protein is broken down, in turn help with muscle mass and recovery.

Creatine is one of the most advantageous supplements on the market. Rather than buying the next best pre-workout or the best flavored amino acids, look towards something that actually has research and data to prove its worth.

Effects on Muscle Gain and Athletic Performance

Through the benefits mentioned above, creatine can have many positive effects on gaining lean muscle mass and improving athletic performance.

With better cell hydration, there are anabolic signals and hormones that help increase the amount of muscle mass that the body can create.

When you are able to train longer and harder, you can improve skills and endurance levels that you might not otherwise hit.

The real changes in our bodies are from hormonal responses. When we train, we use cortisol to drive a sympathetic response in order to train hard in high intensity exercise. Afterwards, we cool down to reduce cortisol to get back to the parasympathetic stage so we don’t keep our bodies in a catabolic state.

When we are able to reduce the breakdown of muscle protein, then you can have better growth within those muscles and will be able to recover better and faster.

With creatine increasing overall energy stores within the body, that becomes beneficial for athletes. If someone needs to sprint, the person that has more energy for longer is going to win. If a fighter has to withstand 3 minutes better than his or her opponent, then you want to have more stamina to keep fighting hard.

Creatine has been shown time and time again that it improves athletic and physical performance in shorter, more high intensity intervals. It might not be as beneficial for an ultra runner as opposed to a crossfitter, but it has undeniable benefits with physical performance.

Other Health Benefits

Creatine not only helps with muscle mass and athletic performance, there are other ways that our bodies benefit from supplementing with creatine. From neurological diseases to spinal cord injuries, creatine has shown great promise in a lot of different areas.

Alzheimer’s Disease

We talked about oxidative stress earlier, but with neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s, there are certin alterations that happen within the proteins and lipids of the brain. Within neural cells, the energy-consuming process of transporting ions. This article mentioned our bodies want to have less ADP, which are broken down ATP molecules that have run out of energy.

Alzheimer’s patients tend to have a lack of energy within the brain to move ions and keep proper signals going throughout the brain and body. Since creatine helps restore phosphocreatine, and thus create energy that can help send these ions and signals throughout the brain, creatine might be able to improve some of the symptoms related to Alzheimer’s disease.

Cognitive Enhancement

A study was done in an elderly group where half were given a placebo, versus the other half that was given 20g of creatine every day for a week. At the end of the week, memory recall and cognitive testing was done, showing that the group that supplemented with creatine performed better than those that took the placebo.

Spinal Chord Injuries

When it comes to spinal cord injuries, there are the surrounding areas and muscles that can become at risk as a result of the initial injury. Similarly to the brain not receiving energy and ions, this can happen in other types of injuries throughout the body as well. But with the supplementation of oral creatine, there is a decreased risk in these secondary injuries taking place or being as severe.

Fatty Liver Disease

Even though the research is still young with creatine aiding in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, the current data does show some promise. Fatty liver disease can be present in high fat and low choline diets, outside of genetics. Choline helps form membranes around cells, is used by the brain and nervous system to regulate bodily functions, and can be found in foods such as: meats, fish, vegetables, and others.

Another driver of fatty liver disease is high levels of VLDL (very low density lipoprotein), which is another type of cholesterol, but too much of it can cause plaque deposits on the artery walls. Creatine has been shown to prevent fatty liver and can help release excess VLDL. There still has to be more research done on this topic, but early studies seem to be consistent so far in showing the positive effects creatine can have on fat accumulation and fatty liver disease.

People tend to get the idea that creatine is solely used for muscle hypertrophy and athletic performance, but there are other real medical issues that can be helped by regularly taking oral creatine.

Safety and Side Effects

Creatine is the most studied and researched supplement available, even though it has a tendency to still raise some eyebrows. I’m sure if you’re reading this, then you’ve heard at least a couple: damages liver and kidneys, causes kidney stones, makes you gain weight, and so on.

There are a few things to note, however:

• Muscle cramping: Some people have reported experiencing cramps while on it, even though research suggests otherwise. One can only speculate, but those with cramping may have needed to increase their water intake. Since muscles are better hydrated while taking creatine, you will want to possibly increase water intake to keep up with more efficient and effective hydration.
• Liver and kidney damage: There isn’t research that shows a direct link between creatine and issues with liver or kidney function, but anyone with a family history of such conditions or is at risk for them should consult a physician before supplementing with creatine or most other supplements as well.
• Gastrointestinal: It has been questioned whether or not creatine can cause GI issues depending on the size of the dosage. With servings of 10g of creatine at a time, there was an increased chance of diarrhea, some upset stomach, and small chance of belching. However, the chances of these decreased with doses no higher than 5g at a time.

All in all, it’s good to have an understanding of exactly what types of supplements you’re taking, why you’re taking them, and if you actually need them. When you know how they can affect your body, or after consulting with your doctor, you can make a much more informed decision on supplementation.

Final Thoughts

It’s irresponsible to give a blanket statement on supplements that aren’t approved by an official overseeing entity, but creatine has an abundance of research and evidence to support its positive impacts.

Before adding a new supplement to your regimen, it’s a good idea to see if you actually need them or if you can get more through nutrition first. However, supplementing with creatine has been a great advantage to just about everyone who has taken it. Especially with older age, our natural levels won’t always stay the same, but if dealing with physical performance, improved energy stores can be exponentially beneficial.

I think creatine is an amazing supplement that has had profound effects on physical performance and overall health. I think it is worth someone’s time and attention to see if they could benefit from it, but I definitely advise that you do your own research and make an informed decision.