The Many Benefits Of Creatine

Creatine is a natural supplement that is often used to improve and enhance athletic ability. It can also boost brain function, while fighting certain neurological diseases and accelerating muscle growth.

What is Creatine?

Creatine is an organic acid that our bodies produce naturally, but we can also get creatine by eating protein-rich foods such as meat and fish.

The human body stores creatine within our muscles so that we can have easy access to it for fast, high-intensity movements, such as powerlifting or sprinting.

What Are The Many Benefits Of Creatine?

Can Speed Up Muscle Growth

Creatine is arguably the most effective supplement for adding muscle mass, and taking creatine supplements for as little as 5-7 days has been shown to significantly increase muscle size and lean body weight.

The initial rise is due to an increase in the water content of your muscles, in the long term, it also aids in muscle fibre growth by signalling the key biological pathways while also boosting gym performance.

In one 6-week study of a training regimen, the participants who used creatine added 2kg more muscle mass, on average, when compared to the control group.

Comparably, a comprehensive review saw a clear increase in muscle mass among those taking creatine compared to those performing the exact same training regimen without creatine.

That same review also compared the world’s most popular sports supplements and saw that creatine was one of the best available as its advantages included being less expensive and a lot safer than most other sports supplements.

Helps Muscle Cells Produce More Energy

Creatine supplements can increase your muscles’ phosphocreatine stores. Phosphocreatine can help the formation of ATP (adenosine triphosphate), which is the key molecule your cells use for energy in all basic life functions.

When we exercise, our ATP is broken down in order to produce energy. This rate of ATP resynthesis limits the ability to keep performing at a maximum intensity,  as we use our ATP quicker than we reproduce it.

Creatine supplements increase the phosphocreatine stores, which allows the body to produce more ATP energy to fuel the muscles during higher-intensity exercise. This is the key mechanism behind creatine’s performance-improving effects.

Might Fight Other Neurological Diseases

A main factor in several neurological diseases is a depletion of phosphocreatine in your brain, and since creatine can increase these levels, it can help reduce or slow down disease progression.

In a study with mice with Huntington’s disease, creatine was able to restore the brain’s phosphocreatine stores to 72% of pre-disease levels when compared to only 26% for the placebo mice.

This impressive restoration of phosphocreatine helped to maintain daily function while also reducing cell death by approximately 25%.

This research in animals also suggested that taking creatine supplements might help other diseases too, including the below;

  • Epilepsy
  • Alzheimer’s disease
  • Brain and spinal cord injuries
  • Ischemic stroke

Creatine has also shown benefits against ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), which is a disease that affects the motor neurons that are essential for movement. The creatine was able to improve motor function, reduce muscle loss and extend the survival rate by 17%.

Although more studies are needed in humans, there are some researchers that believe creatine supplements can serve as a defence against neurological diseases when used alongside conventional medicines.

It Can Lower Blood Sugar Levels & Fight Diabetes

There has been research that suggests creatine supplements can lower blood sugar levels by increasing the function of glucose transporter type 4 (GLUT-4), which is a molecule that brings blood sugar into your muscles.

In a 12 week study, creatine was examined to see how it affects blood sugar levels after a high carb meal. It was found that people who combined creatine and exercise exhibited better blood sugar control than those who only exercised.

A short-term blood sugar response to a meal is a very important marker of diabetes risk – the faster your body can clear sugar from the blood, the better! And while these benefits are promising, more human research will be needed on creatine long-term effects on diabetes and blood sugar control.

It Can Reduce Fatigue & Tiredness

Creatine supplements are also great at reducing fatigue and tiredness. In a 6 month study on people who suffered traumatic brain injuries, those who supplemented with creatine saw a huge 50% reduction in dizziness when compared to those who took the placebo.

On top of this, only 10% of patients in the supplement group experienced fatigue when compared to the whopping 80% in the placebo group.

In another study, it was determined that creatine can lead to reduced fatigue, and an increase in energy levels during sleep deprivation.

It Is Safe & Easy To Use

Creatine has a wide range of diverse benefits, it is also one of the cheapest and safest supplements available.

Creatine has been researched for more than 200 years, and there have been numerous studies that support its safety for long-term use. In clinic trials that lasted up to 5 years, there were no reports of adverse effects in healthy individuals.

What’s even better, is that supplementing with creatine is incredibly easy, simply take 3-5 grams of creatine powder per day!

We have listed our best-selling creatine supplements below:

Supreme Nutrition Performance Creatine, 60 Servings

Performance creatine+ is an advanced blend of the most effective ingredients on the market for building muscle, increasing strength, delaying muscular fatigue and promoting quicker recovery.  There is nothing on the market like Performance Creatine+ and it is guaranteed to allow you to train harder for longer.

Kinetica 100% CREAPURE Creatine 500g

Kinetica Creatine is designed to supply the muscles with energy to increase lean mass, power and strength. It will also aid overall recovery time between intense sessions on the track, or at the gym

Kinetica 100% CREAPURE Creatine helps the body produce greater levels of ATP (Adenosine Triphosphate) which is required for making muscles contract effectively. Greater levels of ATP can ultimately lead to improvements via exercise in strength, power and endurance added to your diet.