Welcome to ‘Dear Laura’ - a monthly column where I fashion myself as an agony aunt and answer the questions that readers submit. If you’d like to send in a question for me to answer next month, you can submit it here.
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I feel like my instagram feed is full of people telling me to take creatine supplements, and I’ve noticed that tons of my friends are taking them (for a variety of reasons, from perimenopause to vibes). I don’t have any specific health issues (except I’m 41 so perimenopause is coming for me), but should I be taking creatine preventatively? Is it good for my long-term health?
Look, if I had to pick my least favourite subsidiary of Nutritional Sciences Inc., it would be sports nutrition. By a country mile. And look, I know there are Serious Scientists studying it real hard with their little treadmills and their VO2 maxes and whatnot. But it has always felt to me like vibes, and here’s why.
A supplement gets studied, usually with a lot of industry backing and excitement. A relationship between the supplement is found in ELITE ATHLETES. And the next thing you know, the TikTok wellness girlies are adding it to their homemade sleepytime gummy recipes. Then a year later, we’re onto the next thing. Magnesium, sour cherry extract, etc…
This is one of the benefits of being in my Nutritionist Elder era. You can spot the trends; you know the arc; you know how the story is going to play out. I wanted to keep an open mind about creatine, but the writing is on the wall.
Creatine hit the hype machine hard in the last year or two. It’s being advertised on the side of London buses. My friends are taking it for gains and for brains. And it was the topic of a heated debate between CIHAS medical correspondent Dr. Hammad (a GP) and podcast guest Humaira Mayet (a dietitian) on New Year’s Eve.
So yeah, I think it’s safe to say we have hit peak creatine and researching this piece has done nothing to assuage my distrust of sports nutrition.* That said, there is some exciting very early, very preliminary, potential applications of creatine in specific disease states.
Read on to find out what creatine is, what it does in the body, and we'll take a look at the receipts.
What is creatine anyway?
Creatine (aka methylguanidine-acetic acid) is a moelcule made primarily in the kidneys and liver from the amino acids – or protein ‘building blocks’ – arginine, glycine, and methionine.
We need about 2-3g of creatine a day. We make about 1g/day of creatine ourselves. But we can also get creatine in the diet – around another 1g/day – from meat, fish, and poultry. Supplements can provide anywhere between 3 and 5g/day (there used to be a train of thought that you needed to have a loading period of creatine with super high doses of 20g/day for 5-7 days, but this seems to be less popular nowadays) with most people opting for a lower maintenance dose.
Because it’s made by the body, creatine is not considered an ‘essential’ part of our diet like vitamin C, for example, (providing we get (or make) enough of the component amino acids arginine, glycine, and methionine). However, some organisations suggest that vegetarians or vegans, who will have lower circulating levels of creatine, might benefit from supplementing. I'm not particularly convinced by this, but that's just my take. We'll look at a study of vegetarians and vegans and the impact creatine had on markers of cognitive function later.
Creatine can store high energy phosphate groups, turning it into phosphocreatine. You might remember from your biology lessons that a compound called ATP – or adenosine triphosphate – powers lots of reactions within cells such as muscle contractions and nerve impulses. As ATP powers various reactions, it loses ‘charge’ in the same way that a rechargeable battery does. When ATP loses its charge it becomes ADP - adenosine diphosphate. Phosphocreatine can donate a phosphate molecule to recharge the battery, turning ADP back into ATP to power more reactions.
It is thought that by increasing the pool of available phosphocreatine in the body (through supplementation), ATP will be regenerated more efficiently, thereby keeping cellular energy stores 'topped up'. This is why creatine supplementation has been popular within powerlifting and bodybuilding communities for decades – it’s believed that creatine supplementation will improve power output and make workouts more effective.
How do you take it?
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