Creatine can provide increased energy, faster muscle growth, and other health benefits. While it is produced naturally and found in some foods, supplements may be useful for athletes, older adults, vegetarians, and those recovering from injuries. Creatine can increase energy for explosive movements and endurance during workouts, promote muscle growth, lower cholesterol, and improve brain performance. A healthcare professional should be consulted before taking supplements.
Increased energy, faster muscle growth, and many other positive health effects are some of the top benefits of creatine. Although the body produces creatine naturally and certain foods provide creatine, some people turn to a creatine supplement, creatine monohydrate, to increase their creatine levels. Athletes, older adults, vegetarians, and those recovering from injuries may be interested in increasing their creatine levels for any number of benefits it provides. However, taking creatine supplements is generally a decision that should be made with the advice of a healthcare professional.
One of the main benefits of creatine is increased energy. Creatine provides the necessary energy to the muscles to perform sudden and explosive movements. The increased energy allows for greater endurance, so a person can endure longer, more intense workouts. This is accomplished when creatine enters the muscle and combines with phosphate to become creatine phosphate. That creatine phosphate is stored for cellular energy production. Even for those new to training or strength training, the creatine-induced energy boost makes heavier weight loads manageable and provides greater ease when implementing new training routines.
For those looking to increase muscle size or gain weight, creatine can help. Creatine supplements can result in both an increase in muscle mass and density. Some studies suggest that this is because organic acid can absorb intracellular water. The increase in size could also be the result of muscle inflammation caused by an increase in protein synthesis and oxygen uptake by muscle tissue. However, muscle inflammation and weight gain are not the result of taking creatine supplements alone; they are a combination of supplements with a regular training routine, particularly routines that include weight lifting.
In addition to the more training or body building benefits of increased energy and increased mass, creatine also provides a variety of more general health benefits. One of these benefits includes lowering cholesterol. Along with regular exercise, creatine has been reported to help reduce the risk of heart disease by increasing the ratio of good cholesterol – high-density lipoproteins (HDL) – to bad cholesterol – low-density lipoproteins (LDL).
In addition to athletes looking to improve athletic performance, the benefits of creatine may serve a diverse audience. Older adults can benefit from creatine because of the added energy and improved brain performance it provides. Vegetarians, vegans, and those who don’t eat a lot of meat might be interested in taking creatine supplements, since creatine occurs naturally in animal-based foods.
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