You’ve probably heard of creatine. Creatine is like the ‘magic serving’ for bodybuilding and exercise and especially resistance training. Creatine is a nitrogenous organic acid that helps supply energy to all cells in the body, especially muscle cells. Creatine is not a steroid. In fact, creatine is found naturally in vertebrates in the liver, kidneys, and pancreas, although not in large amounts. So you probably know that creatine is okay and has been shown to be good for your health. It is known to improve brain performance and improve short and long term memory for vegetarians. But do you know the following fun facts about creatine?
1. Creatine makes you look and feel stronger!
People will take creatine for any number of reasons, and that’s perfectly fine. Maybe you want to look stronger, maybe you want to ‘feel’ stronger. Taking creatine actually makes you look stronger. It does this by drawing additional water into the muscles. The problem is that the body will eventually use up the extra water, so to maintain this, take 2-5 grams of creatine per day. Remember to drink lots of water.
The advantage is that you will also ‘feel’ stronger, as creatine creates extra energy for the body. Give this energy an outlet through regular exercises and I promise you won’t regret it. Exercising also helps prevent the bloated appearance that the body can have due to excess water that accumulates in the muscles without doing some exercise.
2. Too much of anything is dangerous and unnecessary, and this goes for creatine too!
So one might think, if creatine is that good for me, maybe I should take more. bad idea. Taking too much creatine is not only dangerous to good health, such as kidney, liver and heart function, but has not been shown to cause any ‘extra’ health or cosmetic benefits (for your body). Therefore, it is safer and more sensible to follow the recommended dosage.
3. Creatine is also good for your children.
Jose Antonio PhD wonders: “What surprises me is that parents prefer to give children a soft drink full of sugar than creatine.” Creatine is very safe and definitely healthier than soda.
He goes on to add that “creatine has been shown to have beneficial effects in children with traumatic brain injuries, children treated for cancer, [and] children with muscular dystrophy as well as adolescent athletes.”…”So why not give it to healthy children who are training for a competitive sport or activity?”
Creatine is perfectly safe for children. In fact, a small percentage of children are born with a defect in creatine metabolism which, if left untreated, can cause mental retardation and autistic disorders, and some of these children have been successfully cured with creatine monohydrate. Creatine has countless solutions for various medical conditions.
4. Creatine is used by pediatric cancer patients.
Creatine has been used by pediatric cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. Corticosteroids taken by pediatric cancer patients to alleviate the side effects of chemotherapy are known to cause a rapid increase in body fat. Creatine helps to greatly decrease this body fat.
5. The idea of taking creatine with a little grape juice really works.
It is true that taking creatine with sugar like grape juice helps.
Actually, this is a neat trick: to improve creatine uptake, insulin intake should be encouraged. Think of insulin as a kind of pump that pushes creatine into your muscles faster. Although the main word here is insulin, basically juice will do the trick, such as grape juice. Just take 100 grams for every 5 grams of creatine and you’re good to go.
A new study has found that taking protein along with creatine in this way has very similar results. The study recommended taking 50 grams of protein for every 5 grams of creatine.
6. Liquid creatine is actually not the most effective form of creatine.
Liquid creatine has its fair share of proponents who claim that it is consumed more quickly by the body compared to other forms of creatine, such as solid creatine. This could be true, but when it comes to creatine quality, solid creatine is the best option. For example, creatine in powder form is extremely stable.
The thing about creatine is that when exposed to an acidic environment or moisture for a long time, it breaks down into more useless creatinine, and the citric and phosphorus acids found in liquid creatine do just that.
Thus, experts advise that if you are going to prepare a serving of creatine shake, be sure to drink it at the end of the day.
7. Food creatine is excellent and noble, but it is not enough.
Foods like beef, cod, salmon, and herring contain large amounts of creatine. They are credible sources of creatine.
Getting creatine from food could be a safe and organic way to be free of what some would call “toxins” from manufactured creatine products. However, it is not enough. It is estimated that the average person will get around 1 gram of creatine from their diet. This is largely attributed to the fact that the cooking process destroys much of the creatine found in food.
8. There is no better option than powder. Dust always wins!
As any industry grows, product advancements are made in relation to aesthetics. The creatine industry is no exception. Today, there is both effervescent and liquid creatine. There’s even chewable creatine! All of these advances are commendable, but none of them trumps the good old creatine powder. So, whether you decide to buy these newer forms out of hype or to be on trend, keep in mind that no form has been found to be more effective than plain old creatine monohydrate powder. Countless studies also show that it is also easily assimilated by the body. Not to discourage these products or anything, but seriously, creatine powder always wins!
9. Consider the quality of your creatine.
Like any product, there are variations in quality. For example, Chinese creatine is a lower quality product, with more contaminants such as creatinine, sodium, dicyandiamide, and dihydrotriazine. German creatine, from companies like SKW (Creapure), are cleaner, purer products. Consult with a professional and stick with good quality creatine for the best benefits that money can buy.
10 Yeah! – Creatine has different results for different people.
Most people will turn to creatine after seeing the dramatic change in someone else – if he/she can do it, I can do it. Well not exactly. Some people have high levels of creatine in their body naturally. For example, people who eat meat and fish are likely to have a lower change in creatine compared to vegetarians who have lower levels of creatine in their diets.
Muscle composition is also an important factor. Fast twitch fibers are responsible for running and jumping, while slow twitch fibers are responsible for resistance exercises. Most people will have 50% fast twitch fibers and 50% slow twitch fibers and will respond well to creatine. However, those with 70% fast twitch fibers and 30% slow twitch fibers will see better results. This is according to Peter Adhihetty, an assistant professor in the department of applied physiology and kinesiology at the University of Florida in Gainesville.
So don’t give up hope if you don’t see the exact result your friend got—there’s a lot more at stake for the changes to show up than sticking to the dosage.
Well, there you have it! I hope you now know a little more about creatine. Thank you for reading.