The Surprising Benefits of Creatine Consumption
Hint: You have to eat meat, fish, and eggs to get it
It seems as if everyone and their mother is taking creatine or knows someone personally close to them that is supplementing with creatine. The specific compound often consumed by many athletes and other people who exercise is known as creatine monohydrate. A few years ago, I hadn’t ever heard of creatine, let alone understood the massive importance of the substance and the roles that it plays in the human body. I was admittedly very skeptical about trying out any “supplements” or other substances to aid in fitness because most companies lie about the purported benefits of the lines of supplements that they carry, or they have some strange side effects. However, when I started taking creatine, I found that it really does work, and has many positive effects on performance, both mental and physical, that I never would have expected.
The creatine molecule was first isolated in 1832, yet most of the research on increased anaerobic performance and over ergogenic potential has occurred since the late 1980s and 1990s. The full scientific name of creatine is methyl guanadine acetic acid, and its internal anhydride (the waste product produced in the body when creatine is broken down) is known as creatinine.
The reasons that many athletes take creatine when they are training is that it confers numerous benefits for strength-training, cardio performance, and explosive movement during intense physical exercise. Creatine leads to increased gains in muscle mass after an initial loading period (10-20 g in a day) and lower daily supplementation (3-5 g/day) after the loading period. It is estimated that at the Atlanta Olympics of 1996 that over 90% of the competing athletes were taking creatine almost daily to improve their performance in their respective sports.
Decades of research and observation have proven that creatine is completely safe to take and There are certainly the obvious reasons that many athletes take creatine after a workout such as the increased water absorption in muscle cells which can lead to strength gains and larger muscles. However, there are also many other benefits conferred by taking creatine, along with the biological necessity of the substance in the human body. Here is a list of many known benefits of creatine supplementation:
Critical role in cellular energy production
Improves exercise performance
Increase strength gains from weight training by 10% on average
Reduces mental fatigue
Improves sprinting and swimming performance
Increases water content in muscle cells
Creatine is a molecule that is produced naturally in the body. The body naturally synthesizes roughly 1 gram/day from arginine, methionine, and glycine, which are amino acids. It is also found in some foods, such as meat and fish. Creatine plays a crucial role in the body, serving as a source of energy for muscle contractions. When the body needs energy, creatine is converted into a molecule called phosphocreatine, which is then used to produce ATP (adenosine triphosphate), the body's primary source of energy. If you remember anything from high school biology, you will know that ATP is produced in the mitochondria, or the “powerhouse of the cell”, and it is the source of energy for nearly all cellular processes.
In addition to all of the necessary functions that creatine performs in the human body, there are some unexpected benefits that result from creatine supplementation. A 2019 study by Kious, Kondo, and Renshaw found that taking creatine daily has an antidepressant effect, going so far to say it may even have “an important antidepressant effect.” Kondo et al. performed a trial in which adolescent girls who had not responded well to SSRIs, the most-commonly used pharmacological treatment for depression, were treated with 4 grams of creatine monohydrate daily. This study found that the girls’ mean CDRS-R score (Children’s Depression Rating Scale-Revised) fell by 50.6%.
Creatine usage has also shown to improve functioning in patients with a variety of conditions and disabilities such as gyrate atrophy, mitochondrial cytopathies, and muscular dystrophies. Creatine has even shown positive results as a neuroprotective agent in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.
In numerous subsequent studies examined by Kondo et al. and other scientists and researchers, similar results occurred when switching people from SSRIs to creatine. This is an extremely significant piece of evidence indicating that creatine has been more effective at treating depression than the drugs peddled by Big Pharma for decades. I believe it is also important to note, that it was discovered recently that depression and many other mental disorders are not actually caused by a “chemical imbalance”, which was the excuse to put millions of people on SSRIs (which are claimed to treat this supposed chemical imbalance) for decades.
As “plant-based” diets (veganism, vegetarianism, etc.) have gained popularity in recent years, it is important to observe and be aware of the nutritional differences between plant-based diets and omnivorous diets. Vegetarians, particularly vegans, tend to consume less energy in their diets than people on an omnivorous diet. This is often dismissed as additional fiber in vegan diets that promote satiety, but given the fact that animal products are more energy-dense and contain more bioavailable nutrients, this mainstream explanation seems unscientific. It is also well-documented vegetarian diets are significantly lower in protein compared to omnivorous diets. Most doctors, nutrition professionals, and people who care about their physical fitness have the implicit knowledge that “plant-based protein is often not a complete protein.”
Vegetarians and vegans may not have enough creatine and vitamin B12 in their bodies because they do not consume animal products, which are the primary source of both of these biologically important chemicals. While creatine is produced naturally in the body, it is also found in high amounts in meat and fish. Because vegetarians and vegans do not eat these foods, they do not get enough creatine from their diet. This leads to lower levels of creatine in the body, which will negatively affect muscle function and exercise performance. Creatine consumption in people’s diets from animal products has even shown to result in better memory versus vegetarians who did not consume meat While vegetarians are able to get a small amount of creatine in their diets from eggs and dairy products, vegans consume almost no exogenous source of creatine.
In addition to the negative effects on the body and physical health from a lack of dietary creatine, there are also a variety of mental problems that can arise. Individuals that consume less meat and animal products (a.k.a. vegans/vegetarians) often have worse mental health, and are more likely to experience depression, anxiety, and self-harm tendencies. A systematic review and meta-analysis performed by Iguacel et al. at Oxford University found that in 13 studies with a total of 17,809 participants, “vegan and vegetarian diets were related to a higher risk of depression and lower anxiety scores, but no differences for other outcomes were found.” Another study from Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition by Dobersek et al. “does not support meat avoidance as a strategy to benefit psychological health.
While it is pretty clear to see many of the benefits, both known and unknown, that result from the consumption of creatine, I don’t want to act like it is some miracle cure for everything. It isn’t a miracle cure for anything in fact, and there are anecdotal stories from people taking large doses of creatine that have experienced side effects. According to an analysis of other studies and case reports of individuals, muscle cramps and stomach disturbances are occasionally reported. It has been suggested that creatine supplementation at higher doses may harm the liver and kidneys and cause stress because the substance is primarily digested in those organs, but this has never been found to exist. The only recommendation against taking creatine is when one is consuming a lot of alcohol on the same day.
While these side effects are understandably annoying and preferably avoided, none of them are life-threatening or even remotely dangerous. Many reports have been featured in the corporate press putting creatine on blast and severely overstating negative effects of creatine, such as this one here claiming that creatine supplementation will lead to higher creatinine levels in the organs, particularly the kidneys, which could cause renal damage. Any mainstream outlet that picks up an individual report about a creatine side effect usually makes broad conclusions for the whole population about the dangers of creatine, which has no real scientific basis.
I hope I made it clear that creatine is an important molecule for the human body to function at optimal levels, and that it is only found in significant levels in animal products, primarily meat and fish. While it can be produced at low levels endogenously, people are able to process more creatine in their body if they consume foods that contain it or supplement with it. It has been shown to be perfectly safe, with negative side effects reported in a very low percentage of users. If you read this as a vegan, vegetarian, or someone who just doesn’t eat too much meat, I think it would be wise to start taking creatine. I am not a doctor, but I am smart enough to know how to read and interpret scientific studies, and I am also able to learn and teach from my own experiences.
The Surprising Benefits of Creatine Consumption
Excellent article. I never realized how important creatine is. Very interesting read.
Great article and excellent graphics! Learned many things that I didn’t previously know!