If you are considering adding supplements to your daily diet, you’ll definitely stumbleupon creatine.  Creatine is one of the best researched supplements and remarkably safe for most people. Here’s our Creatine 101 and why everyone should take it.

What is Creatine?

Creatine is a natural substance that can be found in your muscle cells. It helps your muscles produce energy during heavy lifting or high-intensity exercise. In terms of chemical structure, it is similar to amino acids and your body can produce is out of the amino acids glycine and arginine.

The vast majority of creatine in your body is stored inside of your muscle cells. The remaining 5% are stored in your brain, liver and kidneys.

It’s a form of stored energy and helps your body create a high-energy molecule called ATP. This molecule is what your body used to generate energy for short bursts of up to 10 seconds.

Benefits of Creatine Supplementation

Creatine impacts your body in a variety of ways.

By supplementing, you increase your body’s phosphocreatine – that’s the form it is stored in your body as – which then helps you create more energy.

That allows a better energy output during your workout but also leads to increased muscle mass, strength and recovery. In addition, there have also been studies showing that creatine supplementation raises anabolic hormones.

Creatine is also known for an increase in water content within muscle cells. This increase cell hydration may be one of the causes of improved muscle growth. Some people are not a big fan of this “side effect” though as they feel it makes them look puffy.

Positive “Side Effects” Outside of the Weight Room

In addition to the benefits outlined above, creatine also has a wide variety of benefits on your brain.

As your body stores some creatine in your brain as well, supplementing has been suggested to improve conditions such as:

• Alzheimer’s disease
• Parkinson’s disease
• Huntington’s disease
• Ischemic stroke
• Epilepsy
• Brain or spinal cord injuries
• Motor neuron disease
• Memory and brain function in the elderly

On top of that, creatine can also help with

• lowering blood sugar levels
• helping treat non-fatty liver disease
• improve muscle function in elderly

 

As the most natural way of ingesting creatine is through meat, vegetarians have naturally lower creatine intake through their diet. However, one study found that taking creatine as a supplement caused a 50% improvement in a memory test and a 20% improvement in intelligence test scores in vegetarians. You can find the original study here.

 

What to Take and How Much

When you now go on popular supplement shop websites you’ll be bombarded with a wide variety of creatine products. Don’t be fooled, get the most basic creatine monohydrate. There is absolutely no scientific evidence that any other form of creatine is better. You can either get in pill form or powder.

For the average person, supplementing with about 0.03 grams per kilogram body weight per day is enough. Depending on your activity level, amount of muscle mass etc., most adult men though consume about 5 grams per day.

Now, some people will tell you to go through a loading phase while others say you can skip it. Reality is, you’ll get to the same destination but with loading phase it’ll be quicker.

Loading phase: take 20 grams per day for up to one week. This should be split into four 5-gram servings throughout the day. If you consume it with a carb or protein based meal it’ll improve absorption thanks to the insulin release. Also, as creatine draws water into the cells, make sure you drink enough.

Post-loading phase: after the loading phase take 3-5 grams per day either first thing in the morning or right before bed.

If you chose not to go with the loading phase, it’ll simply take longer until your creatine storages in your cells are fully loaded.

Side Effects

Creatine is one of most well-researched supplements available, and no studies have shown any form of negative side effects.

Unless you have liver or kidney issues, there is also no evidence that it harms the liver and kidneys as long as you take normal doses. If you do have any pre-existing issues with your liver or kidneys, please consult with a doctor before supplementing. That applies not only to creatine but any form of supplement.

If you do consume too much or do not drink enough, creatine can lead to diarrhea and nausea though. Just like any other supplement out there regardless of how safe, too much of a good thing, is too much of a good thing.

For a more detailed review you can also check out Examine. They have a more scientific explanation and FAQS.

Creatine is by far the cheapest, most basic, safest yet potent supplement you can take.