1. What is creatine?
Creatine is an organic acid made up of 3 amino acids: glycine, arginine, and methionine. Amino acids, as you already know, are structures that make up proteins. Contrary to what many people think, our body synthesizes about 1 gram a day of creatine. As you can see, everything is chemistry, so the next time you hear someone say: “I don’t eat that, it’s all chemical”, smile =) Because you, me and the countless processes that occur in our bodies so that this work are chemistry. But creatine is also found in food, approximately for every kilogram of meat there are 5 grams of creatine. Exactly, your grandparents drink and are not going to join the CrossFit Games.
2. Which creatine is better?
To market creatine there are products such as alkaline creatine or ethylmethyl. These formulas are significantly more expensive and there is no evidence that they produce the same benefits. The ideal is to consume creatine monohydrate, preferably with the name creapure , which is the one that has been shown to have the most evidence.
3. What is creatine used for?
Creatine has long been thought to be useful only for people seeking muscle mass gain . The truth is that in people seeking fat loss, in addition to providing resources to maintain performance at high intensities , it will also help maintain our muscle mass during the process. Why? Because it increases intracellular fluid. This causes the muscle cell to be well hydrated, which results in the cell burning more fat and consuming less muscle protein. In some athletes it is also used during rest, injury or vacation phases so as not to lose so much muscle mass while standing.
4. How should I take creatine?
It has been observed that the absorption of creatine with water is really good. It would not be necessary to consume it with juices, sweet liquids, honey or other foods with a high glycemic index as you have surely heard or read out there. It is important to know that when we supplement with creatine it is recommended to drink more water than we usually drink.
5. When should you take creatine?
Although it is recommended to consume it before or after training, it is not necessary. It can be taken at the time of day you want, since what we are interested in is having good creatine reserves in the muscle in the form of phosphocreatine. This molecule gives up a phosphate group to regenerate ATP, which is the compound that provides us with energy in the short term.
6. How much creatine should you take?
It is not necessary to take large doses (15-20 g per day) when we start to supplement, although it can make the results appear sooner. With an intake of about 0.08 g / kg of weight it would be enough to reach adequate levels. For example, for a person weighing 70kg it would be exactly 5.6g per day. It is true that when we supplement with creatine, our body stops manufacturing a part of it, but nothing happens. When we stop taking it, our body will make it again with total normality. Yes it is advisable that every 5 weeks of taking, we do 2 or 3 weeks of rest without taking it.
7. Is creatine safe?
As we have already mentioned, creatine is a safe supplement , effective and accessible to everyone due to its low price. It has been shown in numerous studies that does not produce harmful effects on the liver and kidneys, in the short or long term. In fact, apart from its benefits in sports performance, it has been shown that at a health level it produces benefits such as: cognitive improvements, glycemic control in type 2 diabetics or anti-stress effects.
But although it is one of the supplements that has been studied the most and produces the best results, its effect is highly variable depending on the person . About 20-30% of people do not respond to this supplement. Therefore, there is a small chance that it is not the right supplement for you. After all, your diet and supplementation require personalized planning, justification and monitoring.
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