
You see it as you walk by that one aisle in your local health food store. A container of powder called creatine sits right there on the shelf. You may ask yourself “What is creatine?” While many myths about creatine are out there, here we’ll dive into the known facts about this special powder!
What is Creatine?
To answer this question, creatine is a compound formed in protein metabolism and is present in living tissue. It plays a critical role in the supplying of energy for muscular contraction. During a heavy lifting workout or high intensity exercise, creatine will help your muscles produce energy. It’s common for sports athletes to take creatine supplements to improve their strength and performance. In your case, you may take creatine just to preserve your physical health.
The Functions of Creatine
Your health and athletic performance can be improved in many ways by taking creatine powder. When having a high intensity exercise, creatine will primarily increase the phosphocreatine stores in your muscles.
The main function of creatine is to help you gain muscle mass in various ways, which include the following:
Increased Workload
Studies show that creatine supplementation enables more volume in a single training session1, which helps promote long-term muscle growth. Among trials involving young subjects, methods such as resistance training, soccer training, canoe basic training, and plyometric training were included.
Increased Satellite Cell Signaling
Satellite cell signaling aids muscle repair and promotes new muscle growth. One study2 demonstrated that creatine intake along with strength training amplifies the training-induced increase in the number of satellite cells and muscle fibers.
Increased Cell Hydration
Water content is lifted within your muscle cells when you consume creatine. This causes a cell volumization effect that can impact muscle growth. The results of one study suggest3 that muscle mass increase induced by creatine with resistance training without changes in the ratio of intracellular water to skeletal muscle mass.
Lower Myostatin Levels
If it’s on an elevated level, myostatin is a protein that is known to potentially slow or inhibit new muscle growth. Thankfully, creatine is shown to reduce myostatin levels4, which in turn increases growth potential.
Raised Anabolic Hormones
Everyone has anabolic hormones, but not everyone monitors the rise of such hormones nor its decreases. A study in Belgium5 correctly hypothesized that expression of IGF would also be increased in human skeletal muscle after 5 doses of creatine supplementation. This was the case in the hormone IGF-1.
Debunking the Myths About Creatine
Unfortunately, many myths about creatine get around even today. While we can’t possibly debunk them all here, there are certainly some that can be debunked.
“Creatine is an Anabolic Steroid”
No. Creatine is not an anabolic steroid in any shape or form. There is often confusion within the fitness community that creatine and steroids are one and the same since they are both used by athletes and bodybuilders. It’s likely that bodybuilders use both creatine and steroids to gain muscle mass, which would explain the confusion.
About 70 health markers were tested after participants took creatine supplements for 21 months. Results showed6 that none of them were found to have any adverse effects.
“Creatine Makes You Fat”
The job of creatine is to enable gains in muscle mass. When it comes to fat mass, creatine has little to no effect. While it’s true that creatine is commonly taken to gain weight, rarely do people gain weight in the form of fat tissue. It’s normally in the form of fluid. Studies indicate that one can expect to gain 2 to 4 pounds of water weight7 within a couple days after starting the process of creatine supplementation.
“Creatine Damages Your Kidneys"
This myth is rooted in the idea that the kidneys supposedly get “damaged” when blood creatinine, a byproduct of the phosphocreatine system, levels rise. However, the validity of this myth just isn’t present, according to research8.
“Caffeine Makes Creatine Ineffective Because it’s a Diuretic”
This myth involves the body’s absorption of creatine being supposedly halted by caffeine. If anything, caffeine has been shown in studies to enhance the rate of creatine uptake9. It’s only a matter of staying hydrated and remembering that creatine is anabolic, drawing water into the muscles. Keeping fluid intake nominal is important when supplementing with it.
“Sufficient Absorption Involves Creatine and a Large Dose of Sugar”
Not true. Creatine is efficiently absorbed on its own. If you want to achieve additional benefits, you would need large doses of simple carbohydrates10. This is because the rate of creatine uptake is mediated by insulin at high plasma levels. It’s easier and more practical to avoid sugar consumption, which isn’t a factor when taking creatine.
Conclusion
Creatine comes in the form of a powder that not only helps you get through a workout session, but it plays a key role in improving strength and performance. Depending on your situation, you may need a boost in order to get the results you seek, such as gaining and maintaining muscle mass. Creatine can be used as a tool in preserving your key physical traits, and it’s not intended to cause any harm to your body.
There are many creatine products out there on the market, and we recommend Creatine Monohydrate Powder by AlchePharma Naturals, and Creatine Powder by Now Sports. The choice of creatine is yours to make!
References
1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8949037/ “Creatine Supplementation for Muscle Growth: A Scoping Review of Randomized Clinical Trials from 2012 to 2021” Shih-Hao Wu, Kuan-Lin Chen, Chin Hsu, Hang-Cheng Chen, Jian-Yu Chen, Sheng-Yan Yu, Yi-Jie Shiu; Department of Exercise Health Science, National Taiwan University of Sport, Taichung 404, Taiwan. Correspondence: jeanhsu@ntus.edu.tw, ambertwu@gmail.com, ezn2022@gmail.com, a0987032297@gmail.com, jacky880519@gmail.com, j.yan0331@gmail.com, and shiu880511@gmail.com
2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1779717/ “Creatine supplementation augments the increase in satellite cell and myonuclei number in human skeletal muscle induced by strength training” Steen Olsen, Per Aagaard, Fawzi Kadi, Goran Tufekovic, Julien Verney, Jens L. Olesen, Charlotte Suetta, and Michael Kjær; Corresponding author: P. Aagaard: Institute of Sports Medicine Copenhagen, Bispebjerg Hospital, Build. 8, 1. floor, DK-2400 Copenhagen NV, Denmark. Email: p.aagard@mfi.ku.dk
3. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32916658/ “Creatine Supplementation Does Not Influence the Ratio Between Intracellular Water and Skeletal Muscle Mass in Resistance-Trained Men” Alex S. Ribeiro, Ademar Avelar, Witalo Kassiano, João Pedro Nunes, Brad J. Schoenfeld, Andreo F. Aguiar, Michele C.C. Trindade, Analiza M. Silva, Luís B. Sardinha, and Edilson S. Cyrino; University of Northern Paraná, State University of Maringá, Londrina State University, CUNY Lehman College, and Universidade de Lisboa.
4. https://www.mdpi.com/2218-1989/12/11/1146 “The Effects of Dietary Supplements, Nutraceutical Agents, and Physical Exercise on Myostatin Levels: Hope or Hype?” Heitor O. Santos, Henrique S. Cerqueira, and Grant. M. Tinsley; School of Medicine, Federal University of Uberlandia (UFU), Uberlandia 38408-100, Brazil. heitoroliveirasantos@gmail.com
5. https://journals.lww.com/acsm-msse/Fulltext/2005/05000/Increased_IGF_mRNA_in_Human_Skeletal_Muscle_after.5.aspx “Increased IGF mRNA in Human Skeletal Muscle after Creatine Supplementation” Louise Deldicque, Magali Louis, Daniel Theisen, Henri Nielens, Mischaël Dehoux,
1) Department of Physical Education and Rehabilitation, Faculty of Medicine, Catholic University of Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium; 2) Unit of Diabetology and Nutrition, Faculty of Medicine, Catholic University of Louvain, Brussels, Belgium; and 3) School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Nottingham Graduate Entry Medical School, Derby, United Kingdom. marc.francaux@edph.ucl.ac.be
6. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12701816/ “Long-term creatine supplementation does not significantly affect clinical markers of health in athletes” Richard B. Kreider, Charles Melton, Christopher J. Rasmussen, Michael Greenwood, Stacy Lancaster, Edward C. Cantler, Pervis Milnor, and Anthony L. Almada; Exercise and Sport Nutrition Laboratory, Department of Human Movement Sciences and Education, The University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, USA. Richard_Kreider@baylor.edu
7. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1186/1550-2783-4-6 “International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: creatine supplementation and exercise” Thomas W. Buford, Richard B. Kreider, Jeffrey R. Stout, Michael Greenwood, Bill Campbell, Marie Spano, Tim Ziegenfuss, Hector Lopez, Jamie Landis and Jose Antonio; International Society of Sports Nutrition, 600 Pembrook Drive 80863 Woodland Park, CO, USA. Richard_Kreider@baylor.edu
8. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15886291/ “The effect of creatine intake on renal function” Kurt A. Pline and Curtis L. Smith; College of Pharmacy, Ferris State University, Big Rapids, MI, USA. smithc@ferris.edu
9. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/13654562_Creatine_and_caffeine_in_anaerobic_and_aerobic_exercise_Effects_on_physical_performance_and_pharmacokinetic_considerations “Creatine and caffeine in anaerobic and aerobic exercise: Effects on physical performance and pharmacokinetic considerations” Jyrki Vanakoski, V. Kosunen, E. Meririnne, and T. Seppălă; National Public Health Institute, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Helsinki, Finland.
10. https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/jappl.2000.89.3.1165 “Protein- and carbohydrate-induced augmentation of whole body creatine retention in humans” G.R. Steenge, E.J. Simpson, and P.L. Greenhaff; School of Biomedical Sciences, University Medical School, Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham NG7 2UH, United Kingdom.
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