Creatine - the new panacea?

Typically known for helping the gym bro's with their muscle gains, creatine has had a bit of a bad rep over the years for being a one-trick pony.

As with most nutrients, that's a long way from reality. Creatine is a combination of amino acids: methionine, arginine and glycine. Your body will make creatine in the liver, pancreas and kidneys out of the amino acids broken down from your protein consumption.

A lot of the historic buzz was around muscle building and definition, exercise recovery and explosive power in weightlifting and sprinting. It is very good at these things. It's involved in the production of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is our cellular fuel and the main reason behind its effectiveness in improving energy available for explosive movement. It's not so hot for endurance activities.

One of the reasons it can help improve muscle definition is that it pulls water into your cells. For this reason, if you aren't well hydrated, creatine supplementation can give you a very literal headache. It will pull hydration from everywhere, and your brain is a water-rich tissue, as it isn't sparing about where the water comes from. Your brain, on the other hand, can only cope with a very small deficit in water before it throws a tantrum via pain signals (aka 'gives you the mother of all headaches').

If you want to use it for exercise or muscle benefits, the best way to start is slowly. Take a smaller dose for a few days to a week and increase gradually, making sure you stay on top of your hydration too. Most studies suggest 3-5g as a goal to aim towards.

The thing we're starting to see emerging is research directed to the impact of creatine on cognitive function, memory and conditions like ADHD and other neurodivergent diagnoses. Interestingly, creatine is one of the few molecules which can cross the blood/brain barrier, meaning it can support cellular energy within the brain itself. The mechanisms responsible for the benefits to our brains aren't yet fully understood; direct energy improvement is likely to be a foundational aspect of it.

There is also a growing body of (really exciting!) evidence showing creatine as helping to improve attention, memory recall, processing speed, brain fog and mental fatigue. The evidence is stronger in older (65+) or sleep-deprived populations, and also those following a vegetarian or vegan diet at present. The mechanism is suspected to be the overall increase in cellular ATP, thereby increasing ATP available to brain cells, aiding in all forms of brain function. There is even some evidence that it can help cognition in Alzheimer's. But more research is needed in all areas, especially in female populations, before real conclusions can be drawn.

The other group we're fielding questions from on a weekly basis are peri, menopausal and post-menopausal women. The research for this demographic is gaining a lot of traction and showing some very interesting results. As it stands, we know that weight-bearing exercise and vibration through our skeleton (think walking up hills or stairs and rebounding, etc.) are great ways to protect bone density as we begin to lose our oestrogen. Published studies are now showing that there is a greater benefit from these activities with the addition of creatine. Essentially giving you more bang for your buck with any exercise you undertake. The additional support for fatigue symptoms (helps with your cellular energy, don't forget), brain fog (gets through the barrier to support your brain on a cellular level), and mood make it a really low cost supplement to cover many of the most reported problems encountered by women approaching, going

through or after their menopause.

That's without even considering the fact that women have 70-80% lower endogenous creatine stores than men, and those stores drop further as oestrogen declines through perimenopause and menopause.

Research is currently ongoing for younger female age groups, including in pregnancy, so we look forward to having more information there soon! One paper we found (published in 2024) noted that in their study, "Women who consumed greater than or equal to 13 mg of food-derived creatine per kg body mass per day exhibited a notably reduced risk of irregular menstrual periods, obstetric conditions, and pelvic pathology." They go on to say that wider research is needed in this area to confirm/disprove results seen.

Increasing your overall protein is always a good start when looking at any protein-dependent processes, but, in this case, especially for vegetarian/vegan people, women, neurodivergent groups and our older population, there is now a pretty strong case for supplementation in most instances*.

Supplements are usually in the form of creatine monohydrate. They come as a powder, capsule, tablet or gummy. The powder is great to include at the doses noted in most studies; you'd need to consume a much greater number of capsules/tablets/gummies per day to hit the same dose. If you follow a vegetarian or vegan diet, look out for what the capsule shells are made from, as gelatin is a popular choice. Likewise with gummies. The last thing to watch out for is whether your creatine comes with any additional nutrients. You don't necessarily want to be dosing high on some of the other things it could be paired with. Nor do you want to be crossing over with any other supplements you already take, for the same reason.

So whilst we don't think it's a panacea which will cure all your ills and render you forever youthful... There are some genuinely interesting benefits which could apply to almost everyone.

We have fantastic options from Vivo Life, Ancient & Brave, Kiki Health and Terranova, and we're always very happy to be a sounding board or offer advice if you have questions. So pop in for a chat or to shop our range!