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Creatine, the complement well-liked with athletes for its potential to assist construct energy and energy, is more and more being acknowledged for its broad well being advantages.
The compound’s usefulness extends effectively past the gymnasium, in line with Dr. Richard Kreider, professor and director of the Train & Sport Diet Lab at Texas A&M College. Kreider has spent greater than 30 years investigating the consequences of creatine, a naturally occurring compound saved within the muscle that mixes with phosphate to kind creatine phosphate, which is required for mobile vitality.
“When the body is stressed, like in exercise or under metabolic conditions like some diseases, creatine phosphate is needed to maintain energy in the cell, and therefore has a lot of protective and health benefits, in addition to the exercise performance effects that have been seen,” Kreider stated.
How a lot creatine do we’d like?
Our our bodies create a few gram per day, but it surely’s really helpful to get two to 4 grams of creatine per day, relying on muscle mass and exercise ranges. In line with Kreider, most individuals fall wanting getting sufficient creatine from eating regimen alone. The most effective sources of creatine within the eating regimen are meat and fish.
“You only get about a gram of creatine per pound of red meat or fish, like salmon, so it’s expensive and takes a lot of calories to get a gram,” Kreider stated. This is the reason supplementation issues, particularly for vegetarians or vegans who don’t devour sufficient creatine of their eating regimen.
For athletes with performance-related targets, Kreider stated it is really helpful to complement 5 grams, 4 occasions a day for every week. Supplementation “helps load the muscle up with more energy,” which makes for improved high-intensity train, restoration and even cognitive perform. After that, consuming 5 to 10 grams per day will preserve creatine shops and supply sufficient creatine for the mind.
Past boosting athletic efficiency, creatine is necessary for everybody as they age all through their lives, Kreider stated. It will probably assist older adults who lose muscle mass and cognitive perform as they age, he stated, and in adolescents, low dietary creatine consumption is related to slower progress, much less muscle mass and better physique fats.
In a complete assessment revealed within the Journal of the Worldwide Society of Sports activities Diet, Kreider and colleagues analyzed 685 medical trials on creatine supplementation to evaluate its security and the frequency of reported negative effects. The evaluation confirmed there have been no vital variations within the price of negative effects for individuals taking a placebo and people taking creatine.
As for anecdotal issues like bloating or cramping, Kreider says these claims do not maintain up below scrutiny, and research have proven creatine can really stop cramping as a result of it helps the physique retain extra fluid.
Regardless of the robust proof base, Kreider stated creatine has lengthy been the topic of misconceptions and misinformation. He is among the many members of the Worldwide Society of Sports activities Diet who just lately issued a letter affirming the protection and efficacy of creatine, urging lobbyists and policymakers to not prohibit entry to it.
“There’s absolutely no data supporting any negative side effect anecdotally reported about creatine on the internet and in the media,” he stated. “Creatine is safe, and it’s important for everybody, not just bodybuilders and athletes.”
Extra data:
Richard B. Kreider et al, Security of creatine supplementation: evaluation of the prevalence of reported negative effects in medical trials and adversarial occasion reviews, Journal of the Worldwide Society of Sports activities Diet (2025). DOI: 10.1080/15502783.2025.2488937
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Texas A&M College
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Creatine is secure, efficient and necessary for everybody, researcher says (2025, June 9)
retrieved 9 June 2025
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