Creatine

Creatine is made by our bodies from the amino acids glycine and arginine; about 95% of your total creatine levels are found in muscles. Muscles have two forms of creatine: phosphocreatine and free creatine.

Day-to-day, a percentage of the creatine (about 2 grams) in your muscles are broken down into creatinine, which has to be removed from your body through urination. This breaking down of creatine is where diet can make up for the loss; depending on how much muscle mass an individual has, 1 to 3 grams of creatine per day suffice to uphold normal creatine storage. If you have a diet where seafood and red meat are incorporated, you can get a couple of grams of creatine per pound of whatever seafood/red meat you are eating. Your diet, however, gives you about half of the creatine you need; more creatine is made in the kidneys and liver.

1.) Phosphocreatine

Phosphocreatine is so important when doing high-intensity workouts; when your body is exerting that much energy, it is grabbing for more energy as fast as it can. Muscles only have so much ATP (adenosine triphosphate; aka "energy") available for us to use; when ATP is broken down, one of the phosphates (there are three total, hence the word "tri-phosphate") are removed and the ATP with three phosphates turns into ADP (adenosine diphosphate) with two phosphates. How can ADP turn back into ATP to keep providing energy? Phosphocreatine does the job; it comes to the ADP and says, "Hey, I have what you need to keep working." Phosphocreatine offers the ADP the "puzzle piece" it needs to become ATP again and keep ATP available for you to continue in your high-intensity activities; it gives you the extra boost your muscles need for contraction to keep pressing on efficiently in your activity.

2.) Free creatine

Free creatine is only a small percentage of your body's total creatine stores and is found in the brain, kidneys, and liver.

Day-to-day, a percentage of the creatine (about 2 grams) in your muscles are broken down into creatinine, which has to be removed from your body through urination. This breaking down of creatine is where diet can make up for the loss; depending on how much muscle mass an individual has, 1 to 3 grams of creatine per day suffice to uphold normal creatine storage. If you have a diet where seafood and red meat are incorporated, you can get a couple of grams of creatine per pound of whatever seafood/red meat you are eating. Your diet, however, gives you about half of the creatine you need; more creatine is made in the kidneys and liver.

The article we are going to be looking at today is referred to as a position paper; position papers are important for us to see where a certain organization stands on important issues. This particular paper is from the International Society of Sports Nutrition in 2017; they discuss what their stances are on creatine and whether it can be considered safe and effective.

According to the ISSN, "the most effective way to increase muscle creatine stores is to ingest 5 grams of creatine monohydrate or approximately 0.3 g/kilogram of body weight) for 5-7 days." This is recommended to fully saturate creatine stores in muscles; a normal diet only saturates these stores at a level of 60-80%. It has also been shown that larger athletes may need 5-10 grams of creatine per day to saturate their muscle stores. Creatine supplementation largely has to do with the size of the athlete and how much existing muscle mass they have. The ISSN also recommends pairing creatine intake with a meal (carbs or carbs + protein). Previous research has shown that it takes a while for muscle creatine stores to go back to their baseline (about 4-6 weeks); there isn't any evidence so far that someone's muscle creatine stores can go below baseline after stopping supplementation.

What about dehydration?

Believe it or not, there is no research to show that creatine causes dehydration. Let me say it again - there is no research that shows that creatine causes dehydration. Based on the findings of several studies on American collegiate football players (I will attach these articles at the end of the post!), the use of creatine had no effect or even reduced dehydration in the players. The reason that people have concerns is because creatine monohydrate (powdered creatine) helps cells to "hog" water, which interestingly is a reason that creatine users might notice a lot of weight gain after supplementation. Your body needs water when you exercise. Period. But don't freak out thinking you need to guzzle water after your dose of creatine.

Can women take creatine?

Heck, yes! However, because a majority of creatine supplementation studies have been performed on men, the results from these studies may not be the same for women. Nevertheless, creatine supplementation has proved beneficial to many athletes and there is no evidence suggesting that creatine does not benefit women. You may not see the same results as a male will, but it doesn't mean you won't see results.

How long before a workout should I take creatine?

It has been shown that plasma levels of creatine are at their peak after one hour of oral ingestion of creatine monohydrate.

Can creatine help my brain?

Yes! In a 2002 study, subjects were given 8 grams of creatine for 5 days; after this supplementation, subjects showed less mental fatigue when performing mathematical equations and oxygen flow to the brain increased. In a 2003 study, subjects were given 5 grams of creatine per day for 5 weeks; working memory and speed of processing significantly improved. Studies have even shown that creatine supplementation improves behavior after sleep deprivation. Something interesting that is currently being studied is the possible effect of dietary supplements of precursors to creatine to increase brain creatine, thus increasing cognitive performance.

What form of creatine supplementation is best?

Currently, creatine monohydrate is the most well-known and well-researched form of creatine.

How does creatine help build muscle?

The ability to do more reps or sprints = opportunity for more muscle-building. In addition, since you won't have to pull energy straight from your muscles, your muscles may have more opportunity for growth. When an high-intensity athlete undergoes "creatine loading" (high doses of creatine in a short period of time, typically several days), ISSN states that "performance of high intensity and/or repetitive exercise is generally increased by 10–20%..."

Let me be clear about something before I sign off! Remember how we were discussing the process of creatine phosphate being super helpful in generating ATP? This process only happens in the phosphagen system - a system that sprinters and heavy lifters use a lot during their activities. A person with drawn-out, low-level intensity fitness routines is not going to benefit from taking creatine in the same way as a lifter or sprinter because they are not breaking down energy nearly as fast; therefore, they are not even using the phosphagen system to create energy. Does this make sense? Now, this doesn't mean that these people cannot take creatine supplements; your body still needs creatine and it will not hurt you to take the recommended dosage I mentioned earlier in the article as well as striving to get creatine from your diet!

Creatine helps the human body in countless ways to achieve that "next level" many athletes search for! I hope you enjoyed this article - let me know what you thought of it by leaving a comment below or giving it a like! Thanks so much for reading.

- Peyton Brooks

Main article:

Kreider RB, Kalman DS, Antonio J, et al. International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: safety and efficacy of creatine supplementation in exercise, sport, and medicine. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2017;14:18. Published 2017 Jun 13. doi:10.1186/s12970-017-0173-z

Articles about Dehydration and Creatine:

Kreider RB, et al. Effects of nutritional supplementation during off-season college football training on body composition and strength. J Exerc Physiol Online. 1999;2(2):24–39.

Watson G, et al. Creatine use and exercise heat tolerance in dehydrated men. J Athl Train. 2006;41(1):18–29.