Creatine 101: What it is and Why It’s Important

Our bodies have molecules called amino acids, which help combine to form protein. There are nine essential amino acids: histidine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, and valine. Creatine is another amino acid, located primarily in the muscles and brain, and helps produce energy. Let’s dive into what this amino acid is and why it’s important.

Creatine is an amino acid, synthesized from arginine, glycine, and methionine, and is found in the muscles and brain. Outside of the body, it can be found in red meat and seafood. Approximately half of your body’s daily creatine comes from diet, and the other half is produced in the liver, kidneys, and pancreas. As your body produces or ingests creatine, it is converted into creatine phosphate—phosphocreatine—and gets stored in your muscles where it gets used for energy.

For athletes, creatine helps your body perform better during workouts, helps your muscles recover faster, and keeps you energized. It also helps increase anabolic hormones—insulin, human growth hormone (hGH), estrogen, and testosterone—which contribute to growth and tissue repair. But for non-athletes, this amino acid is also critically important. Let’s look at some of the benefits of creatine in more detail to help you get a better understanding of what this powerful amino acid can help your body do: 

Muscle mass decreases approximately 3-8% per decade after the age of 30, and this rate of decline is even higher as we continue to age. After age 50, the amount of muscle mass and strength in the body decreases by approximately 1-2% per year. In particular, type II (fast-twitch) fibers decrease—which are particularly high in creatine content—so this loss of muscle mass results in less creatine storage and therefore less energy for exercise and overall health. In one meta analysis of creatine supplementation, participants were put into two groups—18-36 years old (group 1) and 52-79 years old (group 2). The participants were either put through a “loading phase”—20g of creatine per day for 5 days—or a 14-24 week supplementation protocol, being given 5g per day during that time.

Following the study, the results were:

Total Creatine Increase: 

• 21.7% - group 1
• 14.9% - group 2

Phosphocreatine Increase

• 13.3% - group 1
• 8.2% - group 2

Creatine Increase

• 39.3% - group 1
• 28.6% - group 2

ATP Increase

• 4.2% - group 1
• 6.8% - group 2

As this study shows, creatine supplementation plays a crucial role in preserving muscle, especially as you age.

Creatine helps you gain muscle and build overall muscle mass, and in turn, decreases muscle breakdown. One way it does this is through increased cell hydration. Creatine increases the amount of water in your muscle cells—usually referred to as water weight—which can volumize your muscles, thus building them instead of breaking them down. 

Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is known as the body’s energy currency. However, your body uses ATP faster than it produces it. Creatine helps you create more phosphocreatine storage—and phosphocreatine converts into ATP—so you can perform at a higher intensity for longer periods of time, rather than just an 8-10 second burst.

Overall, creatine can help increase muscle mass and protect muscle from breaking down. And if you’ve even seen two elderly people—one who has maintained lean muscle mass vs. the other who hasn’t (aka, is weaker and more frail)—you inherently know how important maintaining muscle mass over the normal course of aging is for longevity, performance, and everyday health.

The steps we take in our 30s, 40s, 50s, and beyond will have a direct correlation to the quality of our muscle mass in later years.

Through forming new proteins that create new muscle fibers, creatine helps build lean muscle mass faster, and when combined with targeted other nutrients, can help protect against its breakdown. There are other functions it also improves, such as: 

• Strength
• Ballistic power
• Sprint ability
• Muscle endurance
• Resistance to fatigue
• Muscle mass
• Recovery
• Brain performance

As an athlete, these functions are vital—not just for optimal performance, but for longevity and overall performance. Creatine is now one of the most well studied ingredients in the nutritional supplement industry, and not just for athletes! Preserving muscle mass, storing energy, improving strength and cognition—those are things that can help you in the long-term, even outside of the realm of fitness. You don’t have to be a high-performance athlete to reap the benefits of creatine. 

Since creatine is converted into phosphocreatine and turns into energy, many athletes take a creatine supplement to help build muscle mass and increase athletic performance. But the benefits of creatine aren’t for just athletes alone. Some studies have shown that creatine may support general health, fitness, and well-being for non-athletes, where the main benefits come in the form of overall energy, improved brain function, and protection from muscle breakdown, especially when combined with other specific muscle health ingredients. Additionally, creatine can also be used to treat brain disorders, neuromuscular conditions, congestive heart failure, aging skin, and more. When you take a creatine supplement, it helps your body produce a greater amount of an energy molecule called adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which is often referred to as the body’s energy currency. More ATP = better overall performance.

The short answer: YES! Creatine can help support women’s brain, menstrual, and mental health. As far as athletic performance is concerned, research shows that creatine improves strength, exercise capacity, and sports performance in women—this includes an increase in muscle, just like in men, especially for women with a regular fitness regimen. Creatine also increases estrogen production in women, which helps regulate the menstrual cycle, reduce PMS symptoms, and improve overall hormone balance.

Whether you’re a high-performance runner or weightlifter, or you’re just starting out in your fitness journey, creatine can help with your athletic performance and building muscle. But the data shows that even for non-athletes, supplementing with creatine can help with muscle energy and protect against muscle breakdown. Here at Previnex, we’ve launched a new supplement called Muscle Health PLUS®. It’s chock-full of valuable ingredients specifically designed to support your muscles. Do your mind and muscles a favor and add Muscle Health Plus to your supplement regimen. Your body and health will thank you!