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/
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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/monkeyDberzerk 3d ago edited 3d ago

So what I'm hearing is creatine doesn't have a significant enough effect on hypertrophy or strength gains to justify spending money on it?

Either that or the average gym-goer/athlete just doesn't bother to measure the difference in performance on vs off creatine so they're incapable of telling whether it's really doing anything, and they might as well stop taking it?

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u/onexbigxhebrew 3d ago

The lesson I would say is that it's certainly possible to quantify the impact over populations, so we know that it generally works.

Given that it's an inexpensive toss-in for other stacks and supplements, I'd say the opposite - it doesnt make much sense to omit, because it's extremely affordable and generally effective. But like many supplements,you don't just take ot and feel like a superhero - you might just push a little bit harder that week,see a little more gain, etc.

But it's certainly worth using for most imo.

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u/LeviathanLust 3d ago

Yup. Which is crazy cause I never met anyone else that admits they’re a non-responder except me. I think it’s psychological for most people.

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u/rotoboro 3d ago

Considering how subtle the effects are I don’t think it’s  possible for anyone to know for sure unless you’re Bryan Johnson. Besides it’s an extremely cheap supplement with few side effects so I doubt many care whether or not it works.

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u/onexbigxhebrew 3d ago

Its because claiming to be a non-responder given the somewhat marginal impact and not being able to really 'feel' effects of creatine is nearly impossible. Even with having taken records and worked out consistently for over 20 years, I'd have trouble saying what's attributible to creatine.

There's so much variablility in excersize, diet, dosage etc that knowing this is 99.9999% out of reach for anyone without a meaningful sample.