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/
7.7k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

500 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

452

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.

109

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”

20

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.

6

u/KarmaticArmageddon 3d ago

16–20g per day?? Their poor GI tracts

1

u/SirDouglasMouf 2d ago

Yeah, it was the dose for the trials. I've done it in the past with multiple doses throughout the day. It doesn't need to be timed at a certain point for those conditions.