What is Creatine?
There are a few different types of creatine that are worth addressing in the proper context. Creatine kinase is an enzyme in skeletal muscle and the heart that converts creatine into phosphocreatine. Phosphocreatine is a mixture of creatine and phosphate (as it’s name suggests), that is used to generate ATP.
The form of creatine people are familiar with and hear about most often is creatine monohydrate. Creatine monohydrate is the most commonly supplemented form of creatine that we can buy from the store. When you hear about athletes taking “creatine” this is typically what they are referring to. There are other forms of supplemental creatine, but creatine monohydrate is the most common and most effective.
Why Do People Take Creatine, and What Does it Purport To Help?
In order to understand why people supplement creatine, you must first understand a little bit about energy metabolism. The molecule that provides energy for all contractions in muscle and the heart is adenosine tri-phosphate (ATP). ATP is a single molecule of adenosine bound to three molecules of phosphate (hence the name adenosine tri-phosphate). When a muscle contracts ATP will release one of the phosphate molecules to become adenosine di-phosphate (di-means two) (ADP). The phosphate molecule that was released provides the energy for the muscle to contract whether it is skeletal muscle or heart muscle. In order for the muscle to contract again, the ADP must be converted back into ATP by adding a phosphate molecule back. This is where creatine comes into play.
Higher levels of creatine in the muscle means that creatine kinase can create more phosphocreatine. More phosphocreatine means that there will be increased amounts of phosphate available to convert ADP back to ATP.
This process is most pronounced during higher intensity exercises like heavy strength training and running sprint repeats which require 3 or more minutes of rest in between sets to regain the energy to repeat the effort at the same intensity. In fact, the reason weight lifters and sprinters rest for so long in between training sets is to allow them to restore their ATP levels.
Bottom Line
The bottom line is that creatine monohydrate has been on the market for a very long time and is the most studied sports related supplement out there. It has been found to be safe and effective in many studies over the past 3-4 decades and is still a go to for athletes and non-athletes alike.
Despite it’s popularity, there are still many pervasive myths circulating about creatine that need to go away!
Myth #1: Creatine is a steroid
This one is simple enough. Creatine is not a steroid. When people refer to steroids, they are typically referring to anabolic steroids, which are pro hormone supplements and typically act to create a hormonal shift in the athletes body to artificially manipulate hormone levels.
There is some evidence that creatine may acutely increase human growth hormone levels, but the evidence is somewhat weak and the potential effect is very small.
Myth #2: Creatine causes cancer
This myth has been around since we were teenagers and involved in sports. When we found out someone on one of our teams was taking creatine, well meaning but misinformed adults would enter the conversation and inform us that it causes cancer.
To date, there has been no evidence that shows a correlative or causative relationship between creatine and cancer. There are a couple potential plausible mechanisms, however they don’t stand up to scrutiny. Rather than go on a long rant about this myth we’ll just leave it at the fact that it is simply not true.
Myth #3: Creatine is only for body builders
Creatine is very effective for body builders, but not so much for simply gaining size. In the context of exercise, creatine is best know for its improvements in training performance by increasing available energy for use intra-workout. In other words, you can do more sets, more reps, and more than likely improve recovery between workouts.
However, you don’t have to be an athlete to experience the additional benefits of creatine (keeping in mind that we highly recommend daily physical activity for everyone regardless of athletic status).
Creatine Facts
Fact #1: Improves Muscle health and quality
Creatine is well known for its benefits in increasing muscle size, resistance to fatigue, and recovery. When the average person thinks about creatine supplementation, they often only think of young athletes participating in sports. We have written and spoken exhaustively about the importance about muscle quality in aging adults as well. Creatine is a beneficial supplement for people of all ages.
Fact #2: May Improve Cognitive Health
This is one of the more exciting areas of creatine studies. Since energy metabolism is important for the entire body, and the brain also uses ATP for energy, it is possible that creatine supplementation may have significant cognitive benefits as well.
Numerous studies have recently shown a strong correlation between brain health, cognition, and mental health and creatine supplementation.
Fact #3: May Improve Cardiovascular health
Some studies have shown that the same beneficial effect creatine has on skeletal muscle energy availability and health may translate to heart health as well. Damaged heart and vascular tissue can experience detrimental metabolic effects and lack the ability to effectively restore ATP levels. Creatine is thought to help with ATP levels in heart tissue as well as skeletal muscle.
How Much Creatine Should I Take?
Before we answer that question, we first want to reiterate the importance of daily exercise and proper diet. Much of the positive benefits of creatine happen in conjunction with an overall healthy lifestyle. Don’t think that adding a supplement to a poor lifestyle will have much effect.
However, if you are looking to add creatine into a healthy lifestyle we recommend 5 G of creatine monohydrate daily. While many creatine brands and websites recommend a “loading phase,” we don’t necessarily abide by that.
