Benefits of Creatine: from muscle growth to disease prevention

Creatine is an amino acid in the body that is involved in chemical reactions within muscles and the brain, supporting muscle health & function, and brain health & function. Sometimes it gets a bad wrap, being heavily associated with the body building community. The truth is, every human creates creatine within their body, and consumes it from their diet. The benefits go way beyond muscle building!

Performance

Whether you’re a pro athlete or on a weekend kickball team, or just trying to keep up with your kids - creatine can absolutely benefit physical performance. It has been shown to increase muscle strength, and maximize exercise capacity by increasing energy production in cells.

Muscle Growth

Creatine aids muscle growth in a number of ways; it helps support the optimal environment for muscle growth through water retention, nitrogen balance, and has protective effects over muscle. This isn't just for the body builders! Muscle is MEDICINE to the body - it is protective of your joints, hormones, metabolic health, longevity, and reduces your risk of disease across the board. Muscle is what your body needs to function, heal, and repair.

Longevity

It is common to lose muscle mass and strength as we age. Unfortunately, in many cases it leads to sarcopenia (severe muscle loss) leading to injuries, and inability to perform daily tasks. Because of creatine’s strength and muscle promoting effects, research has found creatine to be very beneficial as we age for maintaining physical health and preventing injury & degenerative diseases!

Blood sugar

Glucose and insulin are both involved in the uptake of creatine. Research has found that creatine helps to maintain a steady blood sugar by increasing the muscle concentration of GLUT4 – the transporter responsible for moving glucose out of the blood and into our tissues to be used for energy and healing.

Heart health

Research has shown that creatine can improve circulation and cholesterol levels, both of which are essential for heart health!

Brain health

Creatine has shown to improve short term memory, cognition, intelligence, and reasoning. This is especially beneficial for those with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), and has shown to be included as a therapeutic for those recovering from mTBI. It has also shown benefits for those suffering with depression, improving symptoms. It has also shown to be useful for prevention and improvement for Alzheimers and dementia.

Cancer prevention

Creatine has the ability to increase the amount of energy available to cells in the body, including immune cells. Research has shown it to increase T cell activity, which has anti-tumor effects.

Creatine is clearly beneficial to our health in a number of ways. As stated above, our body actually produces creatine, and we can also get it from the diet. Foods high in creatine include beef, pork, fish, chicken, and dairy. I always advocate for getting nutrients from foods unless there is a specific need for supplementation. With that being said, creatine is one of the most popular & widely studied supplements on the market, meaning we have a lot of research on its safety and efficacy. The form of creatine that has been studied the most is Creatine Monohydrate!

Source used:A. Aragon. Creatine Supplementation Research Update: New Benefits and Old Concerns. Alan Aragon’s Research Review. December 2021. https://alanaragon.com/download/4596/