Quick reminder about our EVOLUTION of CHIROPRACTIC event. EARLY bird fee of £450 until Oct 24th
https://patientcentred.co.uk/evo-26
- Three great speakers and you rotate and spend half a day learning with each one for SMALL GROUP LEARNING.
The feedback we had was OUTSTANDING:
For years, creatine has been thought of as a supplement for bodybuilders and athletes.
But that view is becoming increasingly outdated.
Creatine is involved in one of the most fundamental processes in human physiology: recycling energy.
ATP aka energy, is Adenosine TRI-Phosphate. You knock off a PHOSPHATE and that is energy released. But you need to recycle ADP to ATP and so you need to replace the phosphate, and that is done by CREATINE.
And as the research expands, its potential relevance is moving well beyond bigger muscles.
Muscle, strength, recovery and performance
This remains the area where creatine has the strongest evidence.
Creatine increases phosphate availability within muscle, helping rapidly regenerate ATP, the energy currency used to power muscular contraction.
Supplementation alongside resistance training can improve strength, performance and lean body mass.
Most studies and recommendations have traditionally used around 3 to 5 g per day, and that remains an excellent starting dose.
But does everyone need exactly 5 g?
Probably not.
Some research uses approximately 0.1 g/kg per day, equivalent to 7.5 g for a 75 kg person.
Increasingly, people are also experimenting with 10 to 20 g daily, particularly larger individuals, serious trainers or those interested in creatine’s potential effects beyond muscle.
Higher isn’t automatically better, however, and we don’t yet have evidence that everyone benefits from these higher daily intakes, but this is personalised health care not average.
Every cell needs energy.
And that is where the creatine story starts to get really interesting.
Your gut needs energy too
The cells lining our digestive system have substantial energy requirements – every 3-5 days your gut lining is completely replaced.
Creatine and the creatine kinase system are present within the gastrointestinal tract, where research suggests they have important roles in maintaining the intestinal epithelial barrier.
This is particularly interesting because the cells covering the intestinal villi are continually being replaced.
The gut barrier is therefore an extremely metabolically active structure.
Research has found creatine kinase positioned at intestinal epithelial junctions, where it helps provide rapid ATP for the energy dependent processes involved in maintaining and repairing the barrier.
Animal research has even found that dietary creatine can improve intestinal barrier function.
We can’t yet say that taking creatine supplements has been proven to improve human digestive health, but there is a fascinating emerging story linking creatine, cellular energy and gut integrity.
Maybe you could try CREATINE and BUTYRATE….🤯
Click it for a Butyrate recap 👇️
Your brain is another enormous consumer of energy.
Creatine supplementation can influence brain creatine availability, and research has reported benefits in areas including memory, attention and processing speed, although not every measure of cognition improves.
Interestingly, benefits may be greater in people with lower dietary creatine intake and when the brain is placed under increased energetic stress.
Had a terrible night’s sleep?
This is perhaps one of the most fascinating developments in creatine research.
Researchers gave sleep deprived adults a single dose of 0.35 g/kg, around 25 g for a 70 kg person.
Creatine altered brain energy metabolism and partially reduced the deterioration in cognitive performance caused by sleep deprivation.
More recent research has reported benefits at 0.2 g/kg, around 14 g for a 70 kg adult.
Creatine certainly doesn’t replace sleep but it illustrates just how important the creatine energy system may become when the brain is struggling energetically.
What about your skin?
Creatine metabolism isn’t restricted to muscle, gut and brain.
Skin also has significant energy requirements for processes including cell renewal, barrier maintenance, keratin production and wound repair.
Experimental research suggests that increasing creatine availability in skin cells may support cellular energy metabolism and help protect cells against oxidative and UV induced damage.
There is also interest in creatine’s involvement in processes associated with hair growth, sebum production and wound healing.
Much of this evidence comes from experimental and topical creatine research, so we can’t yet say that taking oral creatine will give you younger looking skin or better hair.
But again it reinforces an important point:
Creatine is a cellular energy molecule, not simply a muscle supplement.
Creatine may also influence glucose uptake into muscle, potentially partly through effects involving the GLUT4 glucose transporter.
GLUT4 is a glucose transporter that acts like a doorway allowing glucose to move from the blood into muscle and fat cells.
Small clinical studies have produced interesting results, including improvements in glucose control when creatine is combined with exercise in people with type 2 diabetes.
Another fascinating area to watch.
What about side effects?
Creatine monohydrate is one of the most extensively researched nutritional supplements and is generally very well tolerated.
Digestive upset can occur, particularly with larger single doses.
Interestingly, some people also report that creatine affects their sleep.
One study giving young adults 21 g of creatine per day found changes in glycine metabolism, including an approximately 11% reduction in plasma glycine.
Why might that matter?
Glycine is also an inhibitory, calming neurotransmitter involved in sleep physiology.
It’s therefore biologically plausible that changes in glycine metabolism could contribute to sleep effects in some people, although this mechanism hasn’t been proven.
This is particularly interesting clinically because within ACN protocols we use 3-5 g SIMPLE glycine alongside magnesium and vitamin B6 (Mag DUO +) as first line nutritional support for sleep.
Getting bloated from your creatine?
This can become more of an issue when experimenting with higher doses.
One simple trick is to mix your creatine into warm or hot water and make sure it has properly dissolved before drinking it.
Creatine monohydrate isn’t particularly soluble in cold water, which is why you can sometimes find a layer of gritty white powder sitting at the bottom of your glass.
Warmer water increases its solubility, making it much easier to get the full dose into solution.
IN Health Creatine is micronised to 200 mesh, giving an extremely fine powder that disperses readily.
If larger doses still upset your stomach, try dividing the dose across the day rather than taking 10 to 20 g in one go.
Getting muscle cramps?
Don’t automatically blame the creatine.
Muscle cramps can have numerous causes, but it’s worth thinking about hydration and electrolyte intake, particularly magnesium and potassium.
And this is where you need to look carefully at what’s actually in your electrolyte supplement.
Many products marketed as “electrolytes” are predominantly sodium with relatively small amounts of potassium and magnesium.
You might see something like:
Potassium 200 mg
Magesium 60 mg
For context, UK guidance for adults is 3,500 mg of potassium per day, while the adult NRV for magnesium is 375 mg.
Obviously, an electrolyte supplement isn’t intended to provide your entire daily requirement, and food should provide the majority.
But if you’re buying an electrolyte product specifically to increase your electrolyte intake, look at how much potassium and magnesium you’re actually getting.
IN Health Electrolytes provides 500 mg potassium from potassium citrate and 150 mg magnesium from magnesium bisglycinate per serving.
And if you simply want more sodium?
You don’t necessarily need an expensive supplement to achieve that.
Add a little Maldon sea salt to your food or, where appropriate, your electrolyte drink.
Perhaps creatine needs a rebrand?
Muscle. Strength. Energy. Brain function. Sleep deprivation. Gut integrity. Skin. Healing. Glucose metabolism.
The more we learn about creatine, the less it looks like simply a bodybuilding supplement.
For most people, 5 g daily remains an excellent starting point.
But perhaps the more interesting question is no longer simply:
“Should I take creatine?”
It might be:
“How much creatine does this particular person need for what we’re trying to achieve?”
Get the patient to experiment with the dose and make it bespoke.
Remember, vegans and vegetarians have no food sources, so they typically do better with creatine and often with higher doses.
Note, creatine is converted into creatinine, by the kidneys, and that is part of a kidney blood panel.
So, a higher dose of creatine may push up creatinine and make the marker look like you have a kidney issue. If you stop 5–7 days before a test, it is back to normal.