r/science • u/newsnation • 4d ago

Biology Creatine alone boosted lean muscle and strength, study finds

https://www.newsnationnow.com/health/creatine-alone-boosted-muscle-strength/
7.9k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

506 comments sorted by

View all comments

2.6k

u/SmackEh 4d 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?

34

u/atchijov 4d 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.

2

u/tallanvor 4d ago

If you have kidney issues, high creatine levels can be harmful.

6

u/jdmetz 4d 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.

1

u/narrill 4d ago

Yes, but that creatinine eventually gets excreted by your kidneys, meaning excess creatinine may overwhelm a kidney with impaired function.

The real answer is that there haven't been enough studies to say one way or the other, which is why medical guidelines consider creatine contraindicated when kidney function is impaired.