Creatine is far from a new kid on the block in the supplement world. It’s been used for decades to boost performance. In fact, creatine is one of the most popular supplements in the world. Used by amateur bodybuilders and Olympic athletes –and everyone in between-creatine has a broad base of research that most other supplements don’t.
As the years progress, the number of claims continue to pile on. Not only that, but it seems that for every claim, a new type of creatine is brought to market –claiming to be better absorbed, more easily utilized, or safer. Although some of creatine’s claims may be a tad strong, unlike inferior supplements that have nothing but bold claims, creatine actually has the science to back it up.
Claims
Increases strength, endurance, and muscle growth. Positive change in body
composition (more muscle, less body fat,). Cognitive enhancements.
How it works
In essence, creatine works by giving your muscles more energy. When your muscle contracts, it uses up a molecule called ATP (ATP is commonly referred
to as the energy “currency” of your body). When ATP is plentiful, a muscle can
continue working as maximum strength. As soon as ATP falls, your muscle isn’t able to keep working at the same capacity.
Creatine works by replacing ATP molecules that are lost during exercise. Creatine is also being investigated for its ability to act as a cell messenger–sending messages to muscle tells telling them to grow.
The Evidence
Overall, most of the claims for creatine have at least some evidence in their favor. Let’s look at each claim one by one.
Increase Strength: This is the claim that’s most intensely researched in the
scientific community. Regarding creatine and strength, there is no debate:
creatine works at boosting strength.
Way back in 1998, a study done at the University of Memphis found that creatine boosted strength in a number of different exercises. Fast forward to 2009, and the evidence continues to mount. Research published in Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research found that just 5 days of creatine supplementation gave subjects a significant increase in strength.
Increase Endurance: It’s still unclear whether creatine can help you run, swim, or do a few extra bench press reps. Although a few studies have found that creatine improves endurance, there are a number of others that show just the opposite.
Based on the evidence, it seems that creatine can help with muscle endurance for strength training, but doesn’t do a thing for endurance sports like cycling or running.
Muscle Growth: Here’s another area where creatine is a clear winner. It’s a
no brainer that lifting more weight will result in more muscle. That’s exactly
what creatine does: by allowing you to lift a few extra reps with a few extra plates on the barbell, you’ll be giving your muscles more stimulus for growth.
In the long run, this translates to a significantly (and noticeable) boost in total muscle mass.
Body Composition: With an increase in muscle, you expect to have a lower body fat percentage and a better overall body composition, right? Not exactly.
Although most studies show that taking creatine makes muscles grow, that doesn’t always translate into a difference recognized by science. That’s because it takes a huge increase in muscle mass to tip the scales to where body fat percentage is deemed “statistically significant”.
Usually this is a strength of scientific research, but in this care, it’s a weakness. That’s because you may be walking around buffer than before, but a mathematical formula finds that you’re pretty much the same as you were before.
Make no mistake: creatine builds muscle and can give you a leaner and more
muscular body composition.
Cognition: A fairly new, yet exciting, area of research is creatine as a brain booster. A high-quality study out of the University of Sydney found that creatine improved memory and concentration in a group of vegetarians.
Whether creatine is the new Ginkgo Biloba remains to be seen, but the early
research is quite promising.
Side Effects
When creatine first exploded in the bodybuilding community, there seemed to be a public health message that creatine was dangerous. Creatine was unfairly accused of causing minor annoyances like cramps to life-threatening kidney damage.
Hundreds of studies later, we know better. In general, creatine is extremely well tolerated although in some people, it may cause stomach upset and could aggravate an already present kidney problem.
It should be noted that there aren’t a lot of long-term studies on creatine use, so it may be years or decades until we understand the potential longterm ramifications of taking creatine on a regular basis.
In the meantime, take solace in the fact that a handful of long-term studies
of creatine have found no ill effects.
Research-Based Dose
There are two schools of thought regarding creatine supplementing:
loading, vs. a steady dose.
With creatine loading, you’d take 5g of creatine 3 or 4 times per day –for a total of about 20g per day. After about a week of loading, you switch to the maintenance dose. This is oftentimes repeated as a cycle.
The other school of thought is to take the normal daily dose. This “normal”
dose is generally between 5-10g, with 5g being the most commonly recommended.
Although research shows that creatine loading does indeed speed up results, loading also significantly increases the risk of stomach upset and other minor side effects. Also, new studies indicate that taking the normal dose over a period of time allows you to catch up to a creatine loader who started taking creatine at the same time.
To maximize absorption, take creatine with a sugary drink because it’s been shown that creatine taken with a high glycemic index drink helps your body absorb and utilize the creatine.
CreatineVerdict/My Take
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Creatine is a perennial best-selling supplement for a reason: it works. Even when ignoring the hype from the supplement industry, creatine is a clear winner. Although it’s still unclear what, if any, benefit creatine has for overall health, when it comes to muscle building, creatine is second to none.
Although it may not help endurance, even endurance athletes can benefit from taking creatine. That’s because at certain times during an endurance event, you tend to use your anaerobic (no oxygen) energy systems that creatine helps –allowing you to sprint by your closest competitor.
Besides all that, creatine is dirt-cheap. Don’t bother with forms that are supposedly superior to creatine monohydrate. 99% of creatine research is done with creatine monohydrate –which happens to cost just pennies per serving.
The only time you may want to avoid creatine is if you have some sort of chronic kidney problem. Otherwise, feel free to load or take a normal dose at your own pace. Either way, you’ll be stronger, faster, and more muscular than you were before.