Creatine, isn't that just for body builders or something? Not at all! Creatine is necessary for supporting brain, digestion, vision, hearing, and muscle function, just to name a few. It works primarily by supporting sustained energy, helping to smoothly power an endless list of critical processes in our body.
Creatine is produced by our liver and kidneys from protein that we eat, specifically the amino acids arginine, glycine and methionine. Animal-sourced foods can also contain premade creatine, with red meat and fish being the richest sources. The average person has about 120g of creatine in their body at any given time and loses around 2-3g per day from metabolic activity.
Creatine's primary role in human health is supporting our energy levels. Muscles often steal the show, because their size and high energy demands result in 90% of our creatine being found in our skeletal muscles. However, our brain also has unusually large energy needs, as do many organs and various systems throughout our body. For example, the hydrochloric acid our stomach produces to help digest our food requires huge amounts for energy to produce, and you guessed it, creatine is there supporting that process. Our light sensing receptors in our eye, the hair cells in our ear for hearing and even the intensive swimming of sperm cells are all supported by creatine.
How does creatine provide energy in all these seemingly unrelated areas of the body?
Creatine works by regenerating our body’s primary energy molecule, ATP. We maintain relatively small amounts of ATP in our body, which we can burn through in a matter of seconds when energy demand is high. When that happens, our body needs time to make more ATP and this is where the supportive role of creatine comes in. In that lull between when we’ve used up our available ATP and before we’ve made more, creatine regenerates our used ATP so we can continue to use energy. Without creatine, we would fatigue faster, recover slower, have reduced peak energy output, and generally have a less stable energy metabolism.
How do you supplement with creatine?
At HealthWay, we feel the best approach is to take roughly 5g of powder once per day. Some of our customers take 3g per day, while others with larger muscle mass may take 7g per day. While some advocate for a "loading dose" of 20g a day for a week before going down to 5g a day, we find this is more likely to cause digestive upset and the research shows no long-term benefit to this approach. A common question is about the best time of day to take creatine, especially surrounding performance. The research is quite clear here, the time of day does not matter, as creatine supplementation is about increasing and maintaining higher levels of creatine over long periods of time. So don't worry about the timing of creatine supplementation, just be consistent and take it daily!
Most users will begin to see results after about 20 days for muscle benefits, which is the average time it takes to raise our base levels of creatine. Research into other areas such as improving memory in older adults is limited, but the best research we’ve found demonstrated benefits in 6 weeks.
What is the best type of creatine?
Similar to many supplements, there are different forms of creatine supplements available on the market. The evidence is overwhelmingly supportive of a form known as creatine monohydrate. Over the years various other forms have popped up with big claims of being superior, although to date monohydrate remains the preferred choice. This is the only form we stock at HealthWay, with options from multiple top quality supplement manufacturers. Beyond choosing monohydrate, overall quality is always a concern and especially with ultra-popular supplements, so make sure you're working with a reputable brand.
Is creatine safe?
Creatine has been studied extensively and shows an outstanding safety profile. Older studies did raise concerns regarding kidney health, but modern research has put those concerns to rest for healthy individuals. For those that have kidney disease or take medications that alter kidney function, we strongly recommend consulting with your healthcare provider before using creatine. Also, note that creatine and it's metabolites are used to gauge kidney function in standard blood/urine tests. So let your doctor or testing facility know ahead of time if you're supplementing with creatine. Lastly, because research during pregnancy and in users under 18 years of age is limited, it is not recommended they take creatine at this time.
When it come to minor side effects, two usually get talked about more than others. Creatine is osmotically active, which is a fancy way of saying it may increase your muscle's cellular water content. To be clear, we don't view this as a negative side effect, but rather is another reason why creatine supports enhanced muscle function. That tiny bit of extra water brings a host of positive effects in addition to the discussed energy boost. However, the idea of gaining even a small amount of (water) weigh is off-putting to some users. The second concern also has to do with water, and that is a bloated digestive system after taking a large dose of creatine. This is typically only seen with doses above 5g per day, namely the 20g loading dose schedule we previously mentioned. In both instances, these minor effects are rarely issues for the average user.
In conclusion, creatine is a promising supplement for men and women. It’s one of the most researched supplements of all time, with a high safety profile and a impressive record for producing results. While athletes and vegetarian/vegan users appear to have the most benefits to gain, preliminary research also supports benefits for those over 50, under chronic stress or who are sleep deprived. As always, we recommend keeping your health care provider of all supplements and changes to your lifestyle.