What Is Creatine Good For? Muscle, Brain, and Beyond

Creatine is one of the most thoroughly researched supplements available on the market. Considered mostly as a support for muscle mass and strength training, it can also bring benefits for the brain and not only that. Read about common creatine applications that are science based.

Benefits of Creatine for Muscle Performance

Creatine itself is a bioactive compound made endogenously from the amino acids, glycine, arginine, and S-adenosyl methionine. Circa 95% of all creatine is deposited in muscle cells. As a supplement it’s especially popular among athletes and bodybuilders due to its positive impact on muscle performance. This effectiveness is widely accepted and scientifically proven.

The basic role of creatine is to support an ATP (adenosine triphosphate) recreation. ATP molecules are vital for cell energy generation and are utilised at most during intensive physical activity, such as lifting weights or sprinting. This cycle is an elementary part of the energy continuum. During an effort, phosphocreatine adds phosphate to ADP to create ATP needed for short, strong bursts of power. Supplementing internal stores with creatine monohydrate or any other chemical form of creatine lets your body replenish ATP faster and more effectively, since creatine is more easily accessible.

Another fact about creatine is supporting muscle growth by affecting anabolic hormones like insulin and IGF-1. They promote synthesis of complex protein structures, such as myocytes and thus secretion of insulin and IGF-1 helps to build muscle mass.

Moreover, it should be noted that creatine is useful in reducing muscle soreness after strenuous activity as well as hasten regeneration due to better hydration and more effective cell energy administration. From a practical standpoint during the creatine cycle you will be able to train more often and with higher intensity, which may contribute to better results.

Properly used creatine supplementation can aid you to lose weight and preserve muscle mass at the same time. It’s really a jack-of-all-trades for both bodybuilders and endurance athletes!

How Creatine Is Delivered To The Body?

Natural creatine is delivered from food, like red meat, poultry, and some fish (mostly tuna, herring, and salmon). If you want to use it for physical enhancement, a more effective way is to start taking creatine exogenously. There are plenty of different forms of supplementation other than monohydrate, such as:

• creatine malate,
• magnesium creatine chelate,
• creatine HCL,
• Kre-Alkalyn.

Remember, that if your diet is well-balanced, benefits of creatine supplementation won’t be very spectacular. However, it’s important predominantly for vegans and vegetarians because plant-based food is lacking creatine.

To improve the efficacy of creatine, remember to take it with simple sugars, like carbo powder or dextrose. Glucose acts as a transporter, fuelling your muscles with creatine more effectively.

Does Creatine Have a Beneficial Effect on Cognitive Function?

Some researchers suggest that creatine may have an impact on cognitive functions. Does it really improve brainpower? Evidence is mixed and unclear. Let’s dig through them!

According to the opinion from 14th August 2024 issued by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, creatine doesn’t influence cognitive health in any way. As authors suggested: ‘that there was no significant effect of group, no significant effect of time and no significant effect of group by time interaction for any of the reported tests (simple reaction time, logical reasoning, mathematical processing, running memory, memory recall and code substitution (immediate and delayed).’

Can Vegetarians Benefit More from Creatine Supplementation?

The role of creatine is especially important for athletes on plant-based diet, since this kind of food doesn’t contain it at all. Lack of natural creatine makes it harder to build muscle mass. By choosing supplementation, you can achieve better results in any power-based sport discipline. You don’t have to implement any special protocol of creatine supplementation, just follow the general rules about creatine dosage.

Does Creatine Boost the Immune System?

An often disregarded characteristic of creatine is its influence on the immune system. Some findings underline that creatine acts as an antioxidant and helps to reduce oxidative stress. A lesser inflammatory response from your body is a smaller chance to get ill.

Naturally, it doesn’t mean by taking creatine you can enhance your immunity. However, it can slightly help you to keep health during the intense part of the training season.

Side Effects of Creatine – Are There Any?

Creatine supplementation is relatively well tolerated regardless of age and sex, especially in recommended dosages, that is from 3 to 5 grams per day or 0.1 gram per kg of body mass per day. Typical side effects include bloating, nausea, diarrhoea, stomach pain, although they’re sparse and usually not very problematic. If side effects occur regularly or are especially troublesome, be sure to choose pure creatine instead of products with sweeteners, since some people tolerate them badly. A good idea would be to contact a sports dietitian and watch the body's reaction to supplements.

An often mentioned effect of creatine supplementation is water retention. It’s a kind of physiological response of the body and cannot be eliminated. If you want to limit fluid surplus, try the maintenance protocol, not the loading protocol. In most cases, keeping up with stable dosages between 3 and 5 grams of creatine per day will diminish the effect. Another strategy is to choose a more advanced form of creatine than monohydrate. It can be creatine HCl or magnesium chelate. They are highly soluble and easily digestible.

As far as researchers know today, creatine is an ergogenic aid, which can improve the athletic performance of physically active people. It doesn’t replace a training regimen nor a healthy and well-balanced diet but acts complementarily. Any other benefits seem to be suppositions not widely accepted by the academic community. It is strongly advised not to treat creatine as a drug for any illness or enhancer of natural body functions.