Your body relies on a variety of nutrients to fuel basic movements and functions. One of these nutrients is creatine.
Creatine is a natural substance found in the muscles and brain, produced from amino acids by the liver, kidneys and pancreas. Its primary function is to transport energy in body cells, says Michael Roberts, a professor at Auburn University School of Kinesiology in Auburn, Alabama. Creatine works by helping your body produce more adenosine triphosphate (ATP), a molecule that serves as your primary source of energy.
According to the Mayo Clinic, your body can produce about 1 gram (g) of creatine per day, while the rest comes from certain foods (especially seafood and red meat) and supplements.
The benefits of creatine are perhaps best seen during exercise. According to research, creatine is used to produce ATP, which is needed in the first 6 to 8 seconds of your workout. After that you need to make new ATP to continue. Increasing creatine levels through nutritional supplements can help increase your body’s stores of phosphocreatine, an organic compound composed of creatine and phosphoric acid that is used to generate new ATP during high-intensity exercise.
But creatine may provide benefits that go beyond physical performance. It is important to discuss this with your doctor before taking any nutritional supplements. If you think creatine might be beneficial for you, here’s a summary of what research shows this supplement can do for your body and brain.
1. Creatine May Increase Strength, Muscle Size, and Athletic Performance
“Creatine can increase strength, [muscle size]and performance, especially in high-intensity interval activities such as sprinting, weight lifting, and team sports,” says Heidi Skolnik, MD, a fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine and a sports nutritionist at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City.
The sports-specific benefits of creatine supplements are not limited to bodybuilders or strength athletes. “We found that creatine also has aerobic benefits,” says Kelly Jones, RD, a Philadelphia-based board-certified specialist in sports dietetics. Creatine in particular may increase aerobic threshold, or how long and intensely we can move during longer events, she says.
The extra boost you’ll get from taking a creatine supplement may allow you to do a few extra reps, lift a little heavier, or stay in the gym a little longer, allowing your muscles to come back bigger and stronger after recovery, Jones says. .
There is plenty of research to support these benefits:
According to a review in the journal Current Sports Medicine ReportsResearch published by the American College of Sports Medicine shows that creatine supplements can increase exercise capacity and lean muscle mass, especially during short-duration exercises such as weight lifting and athletic events such as sprinting, jumping, and throwing.
Another review Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, It found that creatine can improve endurance and performance in low-intensity workouts interspersed with repeated high-intensity activities, such as mountain biking or triathlon.
Creatine supplementation has also been shown to increase muscle growth in healthy young adults, according to one review, but the effects were less pronounced in other groups that were older or had health problems.
2. Creatine May Improve Post-Exercise Recovery and Rehabilitation
When it comes to the question of whether creatine can help with post-workout soreness or post-injury recovery, the evidence is mixed. Current Sports Medicine Reports review. While some studies show that creatine may aid recovery and rehabilitation after injury, others have found that it has no effect.
The review notes that while there is not yet enough conclusive evidence that creatine supplements relieve muscle pain or improve performance after high-intensity exercise, it found a small number of studies showing evidence that creatine may speed recovery time in young people. Healthy people and athletes.
Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition The review found that creatine may have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects in the body, which may speed post-exercise recovery after endurance exercise. Creatine has also been shown in some animal and human studies to potentially enhance recovery after aerobic exercise.
The bottom line: There is no conclusive data to say that creatine is beneficial for post-exercise recovery or injury rehabilitation, but there is enough promising evidence to encourage further research in this area.
3. Creatine May Prevent Muscle Loss
In addition to solid research showing that creatine can help build muscle mass, there’s evidence that creatine can prevent muscle loss and, in some cases (due to physical inactivity due to injury or chronic diseases such as arthritis), speed recovery, Jones says.
Researchers theorize that creatine supplementation may create beneficial changes in muscle protein and muscle cells involved in growth activity, but how this occurs is not yet fully understood. Together, these changes may have a protective effect on muscles and help prevent muscle breakdown.
Creatine may also reduce the risk of muscle loss and obesity, which increases as people age. Current Sports Medicine Reports. The authors noted that more research is needed, but noted that there is some evidence that creatine may help the body maintain or increase muscle mass, strength, and bone density, especially when resistance training is included.
4. Creatine May Help Women Manage Hormonal Changes and Improve Their Mood
Skolnik says women may benefit more from creatine supplements than men. This may be partly due to women storing 70 to 80 percent less creatine in their bodies than men, according to a review article examining creatine use in women from young adulthood to old age.
Hormonal changes women experience during menstruation, pregnancy, postpartum, and pre- and post-menopause can also affect creatine levels, making supplementation especially important during these times. However, Jones notes, “It is important for pregnant women to talk to their doctor before taking supplements.”
In addition to the typical strength and exercise performance benefits seen from creatine supplementation, women may also notice positive effects on mood. This may be especially important because women are more likely to have a major depressive episode (about 10 percent) than men (about 6 percent).
According to the review article, creatine may work by promoting the survival and energy use of cells in the brain that are vital for mood. Since research shows that women have lower levels of creatine in the frontal lobe, the part of the brain that controls mood, cognition, memory and emotion, supplementation may increase these stores and lead to improvements in mood.
5. Creatine May Benefit Cognition and Brain Health
Creatine may also provide cognitive benefits. Some research suggests that creatine supplements may reduce mental fatigue, which can affect performance in sports that require motor control, decision-making, coordination and reaction time, according to a review in the journal Creatine Supplementation and Brain Health. nutrients.
For example, a study of rugby players finds that creatine supplementation reduces the effects of sleep deprivation on shooting accuracy.
Another review examining the possible effects of creatine on health and disease found that creatine supplements may help increase the amount of creatine in the brain and improve cognition, especially as we age. According to the review, several studies have found that taking creatine supplements reduces mental fatigue and may improve cognition, executive function, and memory.
For example, one study found that participants taking 8 grams (g) of creatine for five days increased oxygen use in the brain and reduced mental fatigue when performing repetitive mathematical calculations. Another study found memory and processing speed improved with 5g of creatine taken for six weeks.
The review also found that long-term memory tasks were significantly improved in older study participants who took creatine supplements.
In short, although there isn’t enough evidence to say definitively that creatine can lead to cognitive improvement for everyone, research suggests that creatine supplementation may provide some cognitive benefits, especially for people recovering from brain injury, concussion, and hypoxia (low oxygen levels). in body tissues). Brain creatine levels are reduced in people with brain damage, making supplementation potentially useful for restoring creatine levels. This may improve energy use in the brain and promote healing. nutrients review.
6. Creatine May Help Improve Blood Sugar Control
According to a review of creatine’s possible effects on health and disease, studies have shown that creatine supplements may help people with type 2 diabetes manage their blood sugar levels, especially in combination with an exercise program.
In one study cited in the review, researchers gave participants either a placebo or a creatine supplement and put them on an exercise training program. Researchers found that creatine supplementation improved glycemic control and led to a significant reduction in A1C levels.
Another review found that in studies comparing creatine supplements with placebos and diabetes medications, taking creatine was shown to be as effective as medications at lowering glycemic levels (though the researchers note that larger, more comprehensive studies need to be conducted before these initial findings need to be confirmed).
7. Creatine May Help Heart Health
There is a body of evidence to suggest that creatine may also help heart health. According to a review of its role in heart health and disease, creatine is the fastest biochemical system our cells use to synthesize and increase ATP levels during necessary times, such as ischemia (a condition in which blood flow and oxygen are not equal). decrease in a part of the body such as the heart).
Researchers theorize that creatine supplements may play a role in increasing energy availability during times when the body needs energy most, such as during strenuous exercise or when there is not enough ATP due to reduced blood flow or cardiac ischemia.
Some studies also showed that people with heart failure who took creatine as part of their treatment saw improvements in muscle function and strength, according to the review.
The review notes that heart failure is caused by reduced energy availability, and one of the ways to treat this is to raise phosphocreatine levels in failing hearts. The review also concluded that although research has shown that creatine supplements may improve some heart function in heart failure patients, the even greater benefit may relate to the fact that creatine can increase the endurance and strength of muscles throughout the body, which may aid recovery. General health and quality of life in heart failure patients.
Creatine may also help lower high triglycerides, a type of fat in your blood that, at high levels, can increase your risk of heart disease. A small study in adults in their late fifties found that four weeks of creatine supplementation led to a significant improvement in triglyceride levels.
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