An Overview of ‘Creatine’ – Its Functions, Benefits, and other Key Characteristics
Last Updated on March 2, 2025 by Robert Dowling
Creatine is an organic substance occurring inside the human body. It is also manufactured as a health supplement and is one of the cheapest and safest supplements out there. It is generally used by athletes and people who want to work on building muscle mass and volume in their body as dietary supplements. It is quite popular across the globe when it comes to being a great source of energy producer and muscle builder.
Where Can Creatine be Found?
Creatine occurs naturally inside the human body in the liver, kidneys and pancreas. It can also be obtained through other dietary substances. Food products such as red meat, shellfish, and animal milk are rich sources of Creatine. Foods like pumpkin seeds, spinach and other stuff that is rich in amino acids also helps synthesize the creatine found in the human body. These days, people also take creatine supplements in the form of powders, energy bars, tablets, etc.
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Functions of Creatine
Energy Production
Various studies have suggested that creatine is a great source of energy for the human body. For athletes and people who usually go to the gym, intense exercises lead to the reduction of adenosine triphosphate or ATP, in short. ATP helps in alleviating the performance of the person and in muscle recovery. Creatine helps in replenishing ATP in an expeditious manner and therefore, helps enhance the performance of the person.
Decrease Exhaustion
Post heavy and intense workouts, the body can suffer much damage and fatigue. What Creatine does is provide the body with the requisite amount of energy to not immediately crash after an intense workout. It helps manage and decentralize the energy throughout the body. This helps increase the efficiency of the person and further helps alleviate the quality of their life.
Growth of Muscles
Various studies have also linked Creatine with causing a growth in the muscles and increasing their volume. People who take creatine have the water content in their muscles increased which helps with the nourishment of the same. Further, creatine also helps with synthesizing protein which helps repair and grow the muscles. Therefore, one can not only gain additional energy from creatine but also increase the muscle mass and volume.
Performance Appraisal
Creatine helps improve the performance of a person while undertaking physical workouts. It does so through helping intensify muscle repair and growth and acting as a constant source of energy supplementing the ATP in the body. People who lean towards weight training and building muscle mass have seen an improvement in their overall performance and the condition of their body post taking creatine supplements.
Improves Brain Health
People who take creatine have also seen an improvement in the health of their brain. Brain functions have been seen to have increased post taking this supplement. Short term memory, reasoning skills, etc. have been seen to be enhanced through the intake of Creatine. However, Creatine should not be taken just for this purpose and a healthcare provider should be consulted before administering it to yourself.
Reduction in Skin Ageing
Research also shows that creams that contain Creatine, if applied at regular intervals, helps prevent skin ageing, sagging and wrinkling. Because of the presence of folic acid and creatine, such creams can help reduce sun damage caused to the skin as well.
Improves Entire Lifestyle
A healthier more energized body helps protect and alleviate the performance of your entire body functions perfectly. So, it helps a person undertake their daily activities more efficiently and effectively without getting exhausted. It improves the overall quality of their life. It also helps them improve their overall confidence in their body which in turn improves their social life as well contributing to a better and happier overall lifestyle.
Administering Creatine
While studies have widely shown that it is indeed safe for people to take creatine supplements, it is still recommended to not go over the board while taking the same. Athletes and people active in physical exercises usually take it for short bursts of energy, Creatine can be administered in moderate amounts. However, certain categories of people must consult a health professional or a health care provider prior to taking Creatine. These people include those that have diabetes, or kidney or liver disease. Women who are pregnant or are breastfeeding should also take consultations before taking the same. This is to ensure that the safety of one’s being remains intact.
Procedural Aspect of Taking Creatine
Creatine is one of the cheapest and the safest supplements available. However, its administration, like any other supplement, is also required to be done in a careful manner. The majority of creatine is used by your skeletal muscles, which then transform it into phosphocreatine or creatine phosphate, a mixture of creatine and phosphoric acid. One should not take creatine every day. It ought to be used sparingly. Because each individual’s body is different, there are a lot of factors that affect the amount of the intake and the frequency of such intake. It is recommended that a healthcare professional be consulted prior to taking creatine or setting any rigid goals regarding its intake. This will help you safely administer the same to your body and alleviate your overall health and well being.
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Side Effects of Stop Taking Creatine
Once a person stops taking creatine its levels in the body naturally drops. This may have or create several side effects on the body. However, these are natural effects of the drop in creatine levels in the body and if experienced for prolonged periods or intensely can be checked out by professionals. These may include:
Fatigue and lack of energy
The primary function or rather effect of creatine is to produce energy in the body. Once a person gets off of creatine, that additional source of energy is gone which may result in the person feeling tired. Feeling a sense of fatigue and lack of energy are actually one of the more common side effects that arise once a person gets off creatine.
Effect on muscle mass
Creatine helps alleviate the level of muscle mass and volume upon its administration. However, as one decides to get off creatine completely, it may result in an immediate or in some cases a gradual decrease in the muscle mass or volume. Note that Creatine gains are not always permanent if not supplemented with the right amount of exercise and the necessary diet to supplement the muscle gain. This is why a reduction in muscle mass and loss in weight is experienced once a person goes off Creatine administration.
Effect on body weight
In some cases, due to the lack of water retention in the body, there may be a reduction in the body weight of the person going off creatine. In addition to this, the loss of muscle mass also creates a sort of deficit which causes the loss of body weight. This can be avoided by taking proper care of the nutrition of the body. In some cases due to reduction in the body mass, weight gain can also be seen as a result. This can be managed by proper exercise and nutrition of the body.
Reduction in natural creatine levels
One of the side effects of getting off supplemental creatine is also the reduction in the creatine production within the body naturally. This is because the body gets adapted to a different cycle and amount of creatine supply. However, usually with time the body gets used to the loss of additional creatine and regulates the levels accordingly.
Should you take Creatine?
Like any other supplement product out there, creatine too does not work for a small number of people. People who follow a vegetarian or vegan diet may benefit more from these supplements because of the reduced amount of natural creatine. Moreover, creatine like other supplements only works when supplemented with proper diet and exercise.
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Final Words
While creatine is readily available as a popular supplement for energy production amongst health conscious people, its use has to be moderated and administered properly. It is important to use it with proper information about one’s health and the suitability of the same to their body. The supplement has numerous health benefits and is generally regarded to be safe but sole reliance on it is not healthy. Its usage must be supplemented with healthy lifestyle choices in terms of diet and exercise. Further, even professional help can be sought to help administer the same properly to approach health and well being more holistically.
