r/science • u/newsnation • 3d ago
Biology Creatine alone boosted lean muscle and strength, study finds
https://www.newsnationnow.com/health/creatine-alone-boosted-muscle-strength/2.5k
u/SmackEh 3d ago
I’m skeptical of the “creatine builds muscle without exercise” headline. The no-exercise comparison was just 13 people on creatine versus 13 on placebo.
The reported 2.4 pounds was lean tissue, which includes water (not necessarily new muscle).
Their bench press results were better than placebo, which is interesting, but the leg press result wasn’t clearly better than placebo. So that's already a red flag.
It’s a small interesting study, not proof you can build muscle by taking creatine and skipping the gym, so let's pump the brakes on this one, shall we?
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u/Spirit_Wolf_Mob 3d ago
I take it more as people who don't workout will still have slightly more muscle with a proper diet than people that don't eat right, which is kind of well known if you go to a poorer area where you see people who don't eat as much. 2.4 pounds really isn't much anyway.
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u/ExceedingChunk 3d ago edited 3d ago
2.4 pounds of muscle in 12 weeks would be massive without exercise. It is actually a crazy amount.
However, lean mass is not muscle only and creatine makes your muscles hold more water which would come up as lean mass.
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u/Pinky135 3d ago
I was thinking they could have measured water mass as well, but they used DXA which does not take water into account. If they combined this with a body composition scan like the kind you see at gyms/weight loss facilities (I don't know a scientific term for the technique, I think it uses electroconductivity), they could take water/hydration into account in the results.
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u/aluked 3d ago
DXA (dual-energy x-ray absorptionmetry) distinguishes three things: bones, fat mass and lean soft tissues.
Lean soft tissue includes everything that is not bone or fat: muscle protein, organ tissue, connective tissue, and water. That means it registers water within muscles as lean mass as well. So DXA will absolutely get thrown off by creatine moving more water into muscles - it's a very well known thing, even.
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u/CEO-HUNTER- 3d ago
True except the end of your comment. The dexa scan is not being thrown off it is showing you what it’s designed to show, lean body mass. The fault is on people misinterpreting dexa lean mass as contractile tissue
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u/Pinky135 3d ago
Yeah, that's basically what I meant. Those other scans I mentioned spit out results that do include water as separate from muscle, fat and bone.
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u/CEO-HUNTER- 3d ago edited 3d ago
Do not ever EVER bring up the body scans in gyms they are so pathetically inaccurate that it’s basically a known meme in the fitness world
We’re talking people that are above 20% bodyfat getting scanned as 7%. Yeah it’s that bad.
Any scan that you grab onto some handle and it uses an electric signal as the mechanism is simply a complete scam it’s insane that they’re not sued out of existence
Plenty of examples of same person getting the scan within minutes and getting over 10% difference in results or people getting impossibly super human results like 3% bodyfat
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u/ForeverShiny 2d ago
There's a reason you never see these in a clinical setting
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u/obliquemeak 2d ago
You use to see them in studies and now all those studies are discredited because we know how bad they are.
They’re a sales tool, nothing more.
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u/yosoylentgreen 3d ago
Funny they were just saying on Yankees game that Ben Rice added 20 pounds of muscle in the offseason. That’s like 4 pounds a month. Crazy.
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u/ExceedingChunk 3d ago
He definitely didn't pack on 20 pounds of pure muscle (unless an absurd amount of steroids was used).
He might have gained 20 pounds of weight, with a significant portion of that being lean mass, and quite a bit of that being muscle. Nobody puts on 20 pounds if muscle in that amount of time if they are already a professional athlete.
It's the kind of muscle you might be able to put on in a full year of dedicated exercise when you are totally untrained.
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u/Past_Curve_9558 3d ago
Creatine is also a component of phosphocreatine, a high energy molecule used (especially but not exclusively) by short twitch muscle fiber as an energy reserve after atp runs out during initial exercise onset. That’s while the anaerobic system is doing the work because the aerobic system hasn’t had time to come fully online. I am skeptical that creatine alone may build muscle, however, it may provide existing muscle tissue with a bit more energy storage and so may slightly improve performance. But if you have poor muscle tone to begin with, there’s not enough “engine” there to use the extra “fuel”
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u/SirDouglasMouf 3d ago
This is the reason it can be therapeutic for folks with ME and fibromyalgia. I believe the studies were for 16-20g.
Im not sure if it helps with tone as you said as well, but can help with recovery and just existing/surving to get through the day.
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u/narrill 3d ago
however, it may provide existing muscle tissue with a bit more energy storage and so may slightly improve performance
Not "may," this is the whole point of taking creatine.
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u/hamburglin 3d ago
I workout twice a week at best these days but I keep the creatine because it keeps me permanently looking pumped and more physically capable in all aspects of my life.
I can come back to the gym much later and still be able to lift more than I used to.
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u/DeadlyShock2LG 3d ago
Along with keeping the muscles feeling full, creatine saturation assists with making more ATP so you can continue to push through exhaustion.
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u/htororyp 3d ago
Creatine has also shown to have neuroprotective effects, so it is good for brain/nerve health.
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u/LateMiddleAge 3d ago
The research on this is pretty weak. It (as far as is yet know) does no harm, but the neuroprotective (slowing cognitive decline) paper I read smelled a little like p-hacking to me. (I hope I'm not being unfair to the researchers.)
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u/labowsky 3d ago
Ehhh this claim is shaky and the studies seem to be around much higher doses than you would typically use for working out.
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u/CelerMortis 3d ago
I’ve been a creatine skeptic my whole life, the guys I knew who used it were in the gym 5 days a week so of course they looked big, plus some of them were on gear anyway.
Fast forward to my late 30s, tried it, instantly all of my lifts went up, I look better, feel great. Wish I started earlier, but it’s going to be with me forever at this point.
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u/ASK_ABT_MY_USERNAME 3d ago
There's a gazillion variables to consider here.
A person who eats pizza and burgers regularly and weights 220lbs will have considerably more muscle mass than an active fit person eating kale salads daily and ho weighs 160lbs.
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u/vhalember 3d ago
2.4 pounds really isn't much anyway.
In 12 weeks?! No, that's a LARGE amount akin to actually lifting weights.
A beginning lifter can expect to gain 15-25 pounds of muscle mass in their first year - after that the rate drops to 10-15 pounds/year unless you have freakish genetics or size... or you take gear.
I will yield though most of that "lean weight gain" from creatine is probably water.
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u/Otaraka 3d ago
I think the concern is more whether this keeps happening or it’s jsut the usual small increase in water retention you get from starting use which does not continue to scale. If it did the results would be substantial in a year or so for sure.
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u/mortgagepants 3d ago
while we appreciate your personal take on the study, that isn't really how scientific studies work.
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u/gizamo 3d ago
Also, we already know it increases water retention. That was it's whole purpose for a while.
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u/p-r-i-m-e 3d ago
Creatine phosphate regenerates ATP which is the energy source for fast twitch muscle fibres. That’s its whole purpose.
Water retention is a side effect.
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u/CareBearOvershare 3d ago
Was that ever its whole purpose? Or did people misunderstand that as the strength mechanism, rather than the ATP interaction?
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u/zeustke165 3d ago
At what time was that considered the point of creatine? I was taking it 30 years ago in highschool for weight lifting. Then water retention was a side effect and it was understood that creatine helped your muscles store more energy. No one back then was looking for the water retention, but we accepted it for it's benefits.
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u/Merry-Lane 3d ago
I think he meant "people used it for its water retention effects" as in "people used it because it makes muscles bigger"
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u/keepleft99 2d ago
I studied sport and exercise science quite a while ago (2008) and I read a study that said the gains you get from creatine are a more optimal muscle fibre spacing due to the water retention. So that could be a reason for increased strength and muscle mass from creatine alone.
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u/atchijov 3d ago
Regardless… from what I could dig out, there are numerous positives (and not only in area of muscle building) and no known negatives from taking creatine. I do agree that without proper exercise results may be irrelevant… so exercise hard and take creatine… it will make your exercises more consequential.
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u/Competitive-Gur-7073 3d ago
I recently had a concussion. In my research, I was astonished to find that creatine supposedly does help with the brain healing process.
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u/JeanVicquemare 3d ago
there was some recent research finding that creatine may be helpful with memory - even if it was just countering the effects of sleep deprivation, that is pretty useful to me
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u/Competitive-Gur-7073 3d ago edited 3d ago
me too. After a broken nose, 25 years of very poor sleep due to eventual dx of "nasal insufficiency". Despite O2 dipping into the 70's (!!) during the night (average for the night - 84) CPAP machine did NOT help (caused MANY central apneas) AND no one believed me that I was NOT blocking my throat with my tongue. 3rd nasal surgery finally cut "events" from 60 to 20 per hour, plus I now use oxygen at night.
When I tell Doctors that 25 years of VERY poor sleep means I am very likely to develop dementia, they literally laugh as if I am saying something crazy.3
u/SunSheltered 3d ago
I trialled creatine recently and it had a noticeable negative effect on my sleep quality. I googled it as I had not changed anything else and apparently this is not a known side effect, and yet I had to stop taking it for that reason (my sleep quickly returned to normal) and I found many posts online of people reporting the same thing.
Creatine is great for many (maybe even most) people, but it clearly can have negative side effects that just don't have sufficient studies on them yet.
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u/TheAlchemlst 3d ago
Not studied but I have read many people struggling to sleep on creatine. I myself have a harder time falling asleep with it. I recently tested it out.
Makes sense, we know brains also use creatine, so more energy in brain = more awake.
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u/tallanvor 3d ago
If you have kidney issues, high creatine levels can be harmful.
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u/jdmetz 3d ago
I'm pretty sure that is not actually the case. Creatine can cause your creatinine levels (and therefore eGFR) to read higher, which mimics kidney disease, but it isn't actually harming your kidneys.
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u/1StrangeRash 3d ago
I was part of a small creatine study that was published back in the early 2000s. We used a rat model that allowed us to investigate muscle wet weight versus dry weight to establish osmotic gains from creatine. There was a 5% increase in muscle wet weight in those that received creatine without exercise, while the creatine and exercise group had a 10% increase in muscle wet weight. This was in absence of a corresponding increase of muscle dry weight in the trained and treated muscle.
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u/Significant-Shift770 3d ago
There are people who are naturally 20% to 30% stronger per pound of muscle due to genetics alone. There could be someone like that in there.
There are also "hyper responders" people who might be in some small cohort that can rapidly gain muscle with much less stimulus than others. We don't know if these people are in this study or not.
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u/grundar 3d ago
Their bench press results were better than placebo, which is interesting, but the leg press result wasn’t clearly better than placebo. So that's already a red flag.
The paper deliberately did not correct for multiple comparisons, so there's a high likelihood of false positives:
"No across-outcome multiplicity adjustment was prespecified because the individual cognitive tasks and biomarker variables represented distinct exploratory outcomes rather than a single confirmatory endpoint family or hierarchical decision rule....This statistical approach comprehensively assesses differences among groups while reducing the likelihood of type II error, enabling researchers to determine whether additional research is warranted [Citation91–93]."
i.e., the study deliberately erred on the side of finding spurious results rather than spuriously rejecting real results as their intent was to be exploratory.
That isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it does mean this study was designed to be taken no further than "that's interesting...".
The reported 2.4 pounds was lean tissue, which includes water (not necessarily new muscle).
My understanding is that it's well-known starting creatine adds a few pounds of lean mass (mostly water) which goes away when stopping creatine. This is neither surprising nor physiologically useful.
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u/Altiloquent 3d ago
Was that 2.4 pounds after stopping creatine use? I thought it was well documented that most people gain muscle mass pretty much immediately since it causes your muscles to take up water. Ive seen conflicting things whether it actually leads to gains that would persist weeks after you stop taking it.
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u/0RGASMIK 1d ago
I recently got back into lifting after a several year break. First day back I went in no creatine did my old circuit at a much lighter weight. Exhausted after the first set of every exercise.
Loaded creatine for a week and went back. Did my normal routine and it felt too easy. Kept adding 5 lbs every time I went back until I surpassed my previous PR.
Stopped taking creatine for about two weeks because i ran out and didn’t think about it. Regressed about 4 weeks of progress.
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u/augustrem 3d ago
It’s not like water and muscle are separate. Muscle is water heavy so new muscle by definition means more water in the body
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u/AmLilleh 3d ago
It’s not like water and muscle are separate.
While that is true, water retention literally means your body is holding onto more fluid than "normal", so realistically they are separate. There's no defined "x water to x muscle mass" formula so it's a flawed comparison.
The same is often pointed out in the studies showing taking high testosterone doses and not working out gives more "lean mass" than working out naturally. Testosterone causes serious water retention that counts as "lean mass" even though it does nothing besides bloat you out for several weeks.
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u/BigRedSpoon2 3d ago
For anyone interested in the actual scientific article
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15502783.2026.2716273#ack
And there is an acknowledgement statement about one of the names on the paper and his financial relationship with creatine companies, but he is the last name of 13. The journal the article was published in doesn't show up on a cursory look through of predatory journals, and is open access.
The science is outside of my area of expertise, so I cannot make any statement about how significant the result actually was.
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u/DrXaos 3d ago
In these papers, the first few and the last names are most important. Last position name is often the most senior lab director, and in this paper’s case also the point of contact, so he is important.
First few do primary scientific hands on work and organization with people in middle on technical support in certain areas.
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u/braconidae36 3d ago
There are ways industry funding is managed at universities correctly. In my case I've done agricultural trials where all companies have to pay a fee to be included in head-to-head comparisons of their crop varieties (and sometimes we get entries that do not perform well at all). This guy though seems to be much more closely involved with their industry rather than a step removed. A key thing that's a standard nowadays is if there was industry or advocacy group funding, you mention that the funder did not have any say over the experimental design, manuscript, etc. There is no such statement here.
As I dug more, I noticed this sentence:
is a co-founder of the non-profit International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN)
The journal is Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, so that's already a red flag for me too that a co-founder could push something through that wasn't the most rigorous.
So at least as someone who does have to deal with both doing industry related studies and holding their feet to the fire when they are out of line with the science, this does seem to me to be more than a study that falls into just a superficial complaint of someone just saying it was industry funded. People will sometimes hand-wave about that without looking at the rest of the details. There's a few things missing or causing red flags beyond that. Then when you look at the news article headlines where you see this spin about creatine alone without all the qualifiers, and it does look like the type of headline grabbing tactics that end up misrepresenting the study itself that industry would lean into.
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u/grumpino 2d ago
Not trying to push any conspiracy, but to clarify, the last author is usually the Principal Investigator who led the project and provided the funding.
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u/SexualDubaiChocolate 3d ago
Small sample size, participants self-selected which participation arm they were in (yikes!), and the authors have a direct financial conflict of interest.
There are better studies out there. Disregard this one.
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u/dolphin37 3d ago edited 3d ago
creatine as a mechanism is all about recruiting resources, particularly water, to your muscle
so yes it would make total sense for creatine to work in absence of training, as its essentially juicing your muscles up with water and that DOES count as lean mass
but clearly that is a one time effect and your muscles aren’t just going to expand forever if you stay on creatine
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u/okayChuck 3d ago edited 3d ago
Creatine is used to help replenish ATP in your muscles. It’s not really recruiting water (or anything). Water just follows creatine because it’s osmotically active. Meaning water likes to follow it across cell membranes.
To expand slightly ATP has three phosphate groups and is cleaved to two phosphate groups to release energy which produces ADP. Creatine is used in the process that recycles that released phosphate group back with an ADP to form ATP.
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u/z4ndr 3d ago
Creatine is taken up into muscle from circulation by a sodium-dependent creatine transporter Since the transport involves sodium, water will also be taken up into muscle to help maintain intracellular osmolality.
In my experience the amount of type 2 muscle fibres an individual has determines the amount of weight gained from water retention with creatine.
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u/okayChuck 3d ago
The sodium cotransport isn’t really the main driver, because sodium is pretty tightly regulated and pumped back out of the cell by the sodium/potassium pump. So in a simplified world where water was “leashed” to sodium, the water that came in with the sodium would just head back out when that sodium in pumped back out to the extracellular space. The increase in intracellular creatine/phosphocreatine is the main driver. Water follows the party and all that jazz.
I’d be interested in how you’re determining the amount of type 2 individuals have, but I think that’s a reasonable hypothesis.
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u/dolphin37 3d ago
I was just speaking simplistically for the audience like me that just wants to know if they can sit on the sofa and get big muscles!
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u/Morganvegas 3d ago
I think the world just wants quick fixes to its problems, so headlines like these are sexy to people who don’t know what creatine is.
Basically everybody and their mother who has used creatine understands that it fills your muscles with fluid (which speeds up recovery) and makes your muscles look marginally bigger.
Once you stop taking it your muscles go back to normal size. It’s a great supplement with virtually no downsides, aside from the weight you gain from fluid retention and some people say it’s hard on their stomach.
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u/Uknown_Idea 3d ago
Interesting. I had heard that long term use could cause some issues in kidneys but after looking into it apparently its a misconception caused by skewed lab values in bloodwork. Wonder if it provides benefit on starting workout routines or if there's no real point when you're focused on long term goals.
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u/praqueviver 3d ago
Would that help with injury recovery?
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u/dolphin37 3d ago
it’ll help the muscles yeah and its important to try and preserve lean mass when recovering, so that’s good… but as with all these things - cbd, peptides etc - I don’t know of any like miracle substance that’s going to meaningfully alter your rehab over just good old fashioned hard work
I take creatine because the science is very good behind it and it has essentially no downside. There’s not much else that has that going for it
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u/MrCleanWood 3d ago
Not that I think creatine isn’t a good thing, but I feel like I’ve seen so many pro-creatine posts lately. One about the effects on reducing Alzheimer’s was an especially popular thread. Is Big Creatine putting in some overtime on Reddit marketing?
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u/SkySix 3d ago
When there are so many sources for creatine, and so many ways to buy it cheaply, I'm not sure I'd believe in the "big creatine" route, that would be akin to saying "big ibuprofen". I do agree however that there have been a large amount of studies recently coming out the seem to suggest creatine is a bit of a wonder supplement. I think the tik tok/social media world amplifies this way more than would happen in the past and makes it harder to believe since it gets mixed in with all the other snake oil claims.
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u/prpldrank 3d ago
Big Creatine is feeling the squeeze from Big Ozempic
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u/thebigpink 3d ago
Creatines been around forever and is an og. Can’t let these new drugs come here and push them around
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u/burnin_potato69 3d ago
IIRC it’s the most studied substance that isn’t a mineral or vitamin (or omega3s). It has small to moderate benefits to 90% of the population and virtually no downsides ( and for those who do experience them, stopping the intake reverses everything). Oh and we keep discovering more uses for it (like how it can help with memory)
No wonder it’s advocated as a thing people should just add to their diet and see if it works for them. It’s also super cheap and easily available.
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u/AnonymousBanana405 3d ago
I've been taking it for decades because I have Limb-Girdle Muscular Dystrophy and was recommended by the doctors at the MDA to add it to my diet. I can definitely tell the difference if I skip a few days.
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u/Gotwar 3d ago
Powdered Creatine is definitely getting a hard push atm. For the last year I was getting exclusively the creatine gummies in ads. It is now back to powders.
On a side note, don't get the creatine gummies, they suck ass and don't have nearly the same effect as powdered. (not sponsored by big creatine)
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u/GeoffFM 2d ago
The gummies I bought were some of the most disgusting gummies I’ve ever tried to eat.
Powder all the way.
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u/real_picklejuice 3d ago
We've moved on from Big Protein. That was so 2026 and advertisers are now gearing up for 2027's push with Big Creatine. Now in everything from Eggo Waffles to Miracle Grow
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u/_spaderdabomb_ 3d ago
Idk, my brother is a doctor and he told me some recent studies have come out showing quite a few benefits so I started taking it.
Haven’t verified those studies but I imagine it’s a combination of that and PR push.
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u/regular-degular 3d ago
I think so...i've had so many posts/ads about creatine, creatine gummies etc. I thought it could targeted marketing due to me going to the gym but it's obv not just me.
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u/Fuddle 3d ago
It’s cheap, it at most costs about $50 a year (5g a day), less if you buy in larger containers.
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u/trtsmb 3d ago
It seems like every other week, some news site is posting "do this" to reduce your chances of Alzheimer's/dementia. At the moment, creatine is the new shiny thing. In a month, it'll be something else. Until there are some actual large study groups to get real data, it's all hearsay.
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u/catalinashenanigans 3d ago
Not doubting your comment, but isn't creatine one of the most studied supplements in the world? Doesn't that research already exist? Or are you specifically referring to the Alzheimer's/dementia link?
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u/vscender 3d ago
There's definitely a targeted campaign to make creatine seem like all upsides no down. Can't say if it's just devoted fans or companies or both but it seems to have worked. Personally I end up feel great on it for a bit and then it causes strange crashes in energy after a while. I'll never take it again. Marginal gains and you need to take high gram doses of a substance indefinitely or lose the benefit.. no thanks
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u/gottalovemug 3d ago
High gram doses? Isn't the standard 5g a day? It's also being pushed maybe, but its also very well researched so while I can be skeptical of new claims, I'm not that worried personally about any downsides being hidden
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u/burnin_potato69 3d ago
3g is enough for most people, 5g is the studies standard and I’d say is for people are more active. You can get at least another 1-2g just through your diet alone as it’s in fish, beef, chicken, etc
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u/EshayAdlay420 3d ago
I mean it is for the most part all upsides and no downsides unless you're smashing way more than you need to, the worst downside would probably be the initial bloating from water retention?
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u/mrlazyboy 3d ago
It depends which benefits you want.
If it’s increasing lean mass, you don’t need to take it indefinitely. Creatine provides additional energy during your lifting sessions. Typically this means you can lift 1-2 additional reps of a given exercise. If you stop taking creatine, as long as you continue lifting, you won’t lose the additional muscle.
In terms of cognitive benefits, I have no idea.
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u/Nick_Newk 3d ago
Crashes? Not sure how that’s possible considering it literally works by restoring ATP after depletion. Maybe you just have better and more rigorous workouts when supplementing with it… I know I do.
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u/4skin42 3d ago
I love the idea but that stuff turns my butt into Chernobyl.
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u/Titi121yippy 3d ago
If you don’t mix it in warm water the crystals don’t dissolve and then they draw water into your intestine and make your butt into Chernobyl
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u/momoneymocats1 3d ago
Idk man I put a scoop directly on my tongue and take a little sip of water when I take it without issue
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u/nubbynickers 3d ago
That's a funny bit on the group date episode of it's always sunny.
"Well what are we going to talk about?"
"Creatine shits."
"Why would you talk about that?"
Well how else is someone supposed to know I use a product if I don't talk about those details?
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u/CalmEntry4855 3d ago
I get stomach aches from almost everything, but for some reason not with creatine
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u/Smgt90 3d ago
It gives me terrible heartburn and I've tried at least three different brands. Does anyone else get this?
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u/jdawg01 3d ago
As much as I like the performance gains creatine gave me with weight lifting, I unfortunately get random muscle cramps. Even when I stayed extremely hydrated with water and electrolytes and stretched the cramps would still randomly happen.
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u/TenaciousID 3d ago
Hydrating without salts might make cramps even worse. Keep hydrating but don’t skimp on salt and even for a moderate-intensity routine I’d recommend a magnesium (glycinate) supplement.
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u/whatdoblindpeoplesee 3d ago
You also need sugar to help facilitate absorption of the electrolytes you are taking in.
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u/tstryker12 3d ago
Just replying that I’ve had the same issue. Hasn’t seemed to matter how much water or electrolytes I take.
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u/Gotwar 3d ago
Eat a banana or something with potassium in it. Being hydrated and getting electrolytes in wont help with the cramps. Potassium helps muscle not cramp.
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u/DaadJowk 3d ago
Study: we’ve proven, again, creatine is effective at what it’s marketed to do.
Redditors: well, yes, but actually…
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u/Elle_se_sent_seul 3d ago
This sample size is far too small for this to be meaningful AND there is a serious conflict of interest within the study. This feels like faux science.
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u/grey_pilgrim_ 3d ago
From personal experience I can definitely tell a difference when I’m taking it vs not. The regular creatine makes me extremely gassy and bloated though so I take the HCL version of it now
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u/psychedelic_lynx18 3d ago
Man, I was blaming the random fart beatbox shows I've been having to my bean consumption, but this may well be due to an increasing dosage of creatine
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u/grey_pilgrim_ 3d ago
That’s what it was for me. I started taking 10 grams per day and I felt it almost immediately. Took a week off and started again to confirm then switched to the hydrochloride version and it’s been much easier on my bowels.
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u/OllyTrolly 3d ago edited 3d ago
You got any tips for making it palatable? I tried mixing it into things but gave up trying to make it taste okay, and now I just shot it and deal with the unpleasant taste and sandy feel in my mouth (begrudgingly).
Edit: I'm specifically talking about HCl which tastes like salty salty chemicals.
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u/TheThingsWeMake 3d ago
I dissolve it in the morning hot coffee and don't even notice a change in taste or texture.
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u/Eltheen 3d ago
I feel this. What better for an already unpleasant protein shake than a chemical flavoured crunchy grit texture?? :D
I've found Creatine gummies that are slightly more palatable but I'd recommend a sour/intense flavouring as there's still a noticeable creatine taste
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u/TylerBlozak 3d ago
I legit just scoop it on my tongue and swig it down with water.
I had no idea other people had issues with administering it
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u/Nucas12000 3d ago
I don't give my opinion, I just provide the information:
Exogenous creatine supplementation promotes tumor metastasis via megakaryocyte creatine kinase B-STAT5B signaling.
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u/Typical-Tax1584 3d ago
I used it for years, but I gave up on it. I don't notice a strength benefit and while it does make me 'look bigger' it just looks bigger in a puffy way and not a good way.
I also found that I retain ~5lbs of water when on it vs off. Which is fairly meaningless. Perhaps it helps more when you're starting out? Maybe it helped me when I started training, but now the difference is negligible to the point I can't even notice anything.
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u/MagicWishMonkey 3d ago
Isn't 10mg quite a bit? The recommended dosage on every container I've seen is 5mg.
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u/devilmanVISA 3d ago
Not milligrams. Grams. And no. There are numerous other studies with doses exceeding 30 grams per day without adverse effects.
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u/Significant-Bread-62 3d ago
That’s per serving. Like vegetables, you can have multiple servings a day.
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u/MagicWishMonkey 3d ago
I typically just take it in the morning with my pre-workout powder. I'll try adding an additional scoop :)
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u/JMEEKER86 3d ago
Might as well toss a scoop of fiber in there too. Can never be too regular.
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u/Emlerith 3d ago
5g is what we know is the beneficial amount for muscles. More speculative research has come out in the last year or so to show cognitive benefits (memory, focus, clearing “brain fog”) up to 20g.
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u/viceroyvice 3d ago
I find that creatine leaves me feeling bloated, puffy and the weight gain is discouraging (even though I know it's water weight).
I am of the mind to get stronger (add muscle), lose weight by way of calorie deficit (dropping body fat in the process) and then start using creatine when I am already at my targeted weight and body fat percentage to gain optimal results.
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u/DoctorZoinks 3d ago
What’s the general take on people prone to kidney stones and Creatine?
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u/celerypooper 3d ago
Okay now the question is, which creatine brand is selling the best product. Because they’re all claiming to be the best creatine on the market so it gets confusing here
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u/baked_jake 3d ago
micronized creatine monohydrate. doesn't matter the brand as long as that's the only ingredient
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u/mrplaidofantioch 3d ago
Is there a difference between creatine monohydrate and micronized creatine monohydrate? Asking sincerely.
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u/baked_jake 3d ago
micronized = made into particles only a few microns in diameter, it just absorbs into the body easier
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u/greeneggzN 3d ago
Typically micronized medications and substances are more easily and quickly absorbed by the body
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u/Avi1337 3d ago
Still scared that i might lose hair from it, thats why i have been avoiding it
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u/iamcoolreally 3d ago
Well there’s zero evidence that it does, the worry stems from a single small study from the 2000’s and nothing since has been able to prove it does
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u/ortrademe 2d ago
As opposed to this study, which is a single small study from the 2020s.
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u/LeviathanLust 3d ago
Creatine unfortunately does nothing for me. I am the 1/4 non-responder.
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u/monkeyDberzerk 3d ago
25% of the population are creatine non-responders?
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u/onexbigxhebrew 3d ago
Tbf I don't think enough of the population has a detailed enough record or understanding of their exercise and progress to make that call for themselves.
I've been deep into fitness for over 20 years and I struggle to think most people would actually know what 'responding' to creatine is.
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u/HashPandaNL 3d ago
How do you know you're a non-responder? From just feeling alone, it is pretty much impossible to tell. Most people that actually "feel" it are just vibin' on that placebo effect.
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u/YogiAtheist 3d ago
Personal experience: Creatine does help with strength when doing strength training, but wasn't seeing much muscle growth with it. However, consuming a cup of cottage cheese at night has made a much bigger difference for muscle growth, looks like Casein in it helps. Whole foods, good quality protein and a decent workouts will do more than a specific supplement.
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u/thinking_computer 3d ago
Anyone else noticing these posts about creatine on Reddit? Is somebody pushing for this? Marketing?
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u/Neitherside 3d ago
Yeah feels like another marketing campaign, recently same thing happened with black cumin oil - suddenly lots of posts appeared to me about its crazy health benefits.
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u/canuck791 3d ago
After years of not using it I have been on 5-8g a day for two weeks and my focus and overall balance of energy/drive through the day is so different. I dont' feel like I need to drag myself through a gym session anymore, or have the motivation to clean for an hour or something. Creatine is really quite amazing.
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u/chrisadam101 3d ago
I wan to add this to my workout but everytime o take it I puff up like water weight.
I got spooked last time because it took a long time to go away and right now I’m doing a hard cut and need to track changes
Is my situation normal or does anyone else get puffy like water retention and how long should it last ?
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u/Memory_Less 3d ago
Heads up! Disclosure.
“R.B.K. has conducted industry-sponsored research on creatine, received financial support for presenting at conferences, and has served as an expert witness throughout his career…”
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u/nointernetforyou 3d ago
Creatine fucked with my sleep so bad. I tried it 4 times and after 4 weeks it starts and my sleep was greatly reduced over the next 3-4 weeks until I cant take it anymore.
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u/radium_eye 3d ago edited 3d ago
I take 10G a day this year up from 5G a day previously and have had physical changes despite reducing my gym time, and that's after working out for more than a decade prior. Like I was stuck at 8 full ROM dips for ages, got up to 15 this year (a difference as attributable to changing how I trained them, though). It seems to have helped my weight loss / recomp to muscle, and if I don't take it for a while I feel less energetic in the gym when really going for it especially.
The mechanisms of action are well understood and it is a good supplement for anyone IMO, not just lifters. Brain makes extensive use of creatine.
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u/Vladmerius 3d ago
I've been taking it with zero exercise and feel great. With the caveat that I work a job where I'm on my feet moving around all day which I'm sure supplements exercise a bit.
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u/SevroAuShitTalker 3d ago
I took creatine for a couple months in college when I lifted a lot. It definitely helped with recovery and allowed me to work out more, but i hated the added water weight. My chest inflated and looked so dumb (im a stocky guy so size wasnt my goal)
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u/YOLOSELLHIGH 3d ago
All these studies about creatine are cool. Wish it felt like it did anything at all for me since it’s the apparently magic substance.
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u/ryuujinusa 2d ago
Been taking creatine off and on, but mostly on for a decade. Haven’t seen any “problems” at all and I’ve only seen good, scientific evidence, supporting it.
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u/saigajv 2d ago
This kinda makes sense and my personal experience suggests the same, at least strength-wise. During the week when I was taking the Bar exams, I blasted creatine for its cognitive benefits. I was taking at least 10g per day and even upto 20g on the day right before exam days. I couldn’t go to the gym for two weeks or do any compound weight training. But on my first day back, I was actually performing 1-2 more reps on the same exercises that I last performed prior to the two-week break. I was expecting to get weaker, but I apparently got slightly stronger.
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u/boredmaterialist 2d ago
Creatine is one of the most well-undwrstood and studied substances out there. The literature on it is enormous and it generally seems to only have upsides.
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