Supplement
Creatine: The Energy Booster
Creatine is a scientifically recognized wonder molecule that optimizes cellular energy supply. Discover who benefits most from creatine supplementation.
Supplement
Creatine is a scientifically recognized wonder molecule that optimizes cellular energy supply. Discover who benefits most from creatine supplementation.
Line items
There are wonder molecules that are scientifically recognized as such, yet most people simply don't know about them.
One such molecule is creatine.
Creatine occurs naturally especially in highly metabolically active tissues—muscle, heart, brain, and so on. There, it is bound to the universal energy carrier of our cells: ATP.
We then speak of phosphocreatine or creatinephosphate. ATP energizes our cells and makes chemical reactions possible in the first place. Everything revolves around this energy carrier. Phosphocreatine stores these energy-rich phosphates and can release them at any moment in the short term, so it serves as "a rapidly mobilizable reserve of high-energy phosphates in skeletal muscle, cardiac muscle, and brain."
Practitioners have known this for decades: through creatine supplementation, we can increase creatine stores, especially in muscles. This becomes noticeable in athletes, who can move more weight or sprint faster without any extra effort.
Even climbing stairs in everyday life suddenly becomes easier. A secret tip, so to speak—for those who need to carry water crates up to the second floor of their home.
But that's not all. For a long time, people assumed that creatine only served short-term energy provision, but we now know that creatine itself is essential for the cell's ability to process a lot of energy—that is, to produce and utilize energy.1
That's what we dream of every day when we drag ourselves through the day, right? Everything is energy! And everything is nothing if we don't have enough of it.
How important creatine is to our lives becomes clear through the creatine deficiency syndrome (also: creatine transporter defect). This genetic defect leads to chronic creatine deficiency. The consequences include: severe intellectual disability, serious motor disturbances, and severe muscle atrophy.
All of this results from a collapse of the entire energy metabolism in cells—simply because creatine is missing. Creatine is therefore not just a nice substance to have or not have.
Studies have also shown that creatine activates the "cellular health and longevity switch" AMPK and—absolutely secret knowledge—protects against fatty liver disease.2,3,4 Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease is currently becoming an epidemic.
Okay, okay. But who benefits from creatine supplementation?
To answer that, you need to know three things:
First: Creatine is synthesized at great metabolic cost in the liver, robbing us of many important methyl groups and valuable amino acids arginine and glycine, which we often don't get enough of.5
Second: Creatine is found in food—but only in meat.
Third: You can increase creatine stores through supplementation.
Let's bring these three points together.
Creatine supplementation could be particularly useful for people who eat vegetarian or vegan diets. These individuals have reduced creatine stores and respond especially clearly to creatine supplementation.6,7,8
It's also worthwhile for competitive athletes—or hobby athletes who enjoy performing well ;-) —to supplement with creatine. Absolutely. Because they benefit from the 5-10% extra performance. Vegetarian or vegan athletes benefit even more.
Older people, whose synthesis capacity in the body declines, also benefit from reducing the burden on synthesis pathways. Older people also urgently need methyl groups (gene regulation!), glycine (collagen synthesis!), and arginine (blood flow!), and they can't afford to waste them on creatine synthesis.
And then there's us normal folks. That is, those who enjoy a good steak (plenty of creatine), are well-supplied with arginine and glycine, and perhaps like going hiking. We don't necessarily need to supplement with creatine.
But should those water crates become too heavy after all, now you know what to do. Creatine is available from us. Dosage: 3-5 g per day.
What a coincidence (really!) that we just received our new creatine in stock. It's Creavitalis®, Bavarian creatine from Alzchem, which also produces Creapure®.
What's special about Creavitalis® is the micronization. The powder is finer and dissolves better. This makes the drinking experience much more pleasant.
We're currently switching completely to Creavitalis®, so our conventional creatine is being offered at a discount for clearance.
Nabuurs et al. (2013): Disturbed energy metabolism and muscular dystrophy caused by pure creatine deficiency are reversible by creatine intake
Barbieri et al. (2016): Creatine Prevents the Structural and Functional Damage to Mitochondria in Myogenic, Oxidatively Stressed C2C12 Cells and Restores Their Differentiation Capacity
Ceddia & Sweeny (2004): Creatine supplementation increases glucose oxidation and AMPK phosphorylation and reduces lactate production in L6 rat skeletal muscle cells
Deminice et al. (2011): Creatine supplementation prevents the accumulation of fat in the livers of rats fed a high-fat diet
Brosnan et al. (2011): The metabolic burden of creatine synthesis
Beton & Donohoe (2011): The influence of creatine supplementation on the cognitive functioning of vegetarians and omnivores
Lukaszuk et al. (2002): Effect of creatine supplementation and a lacto-ovo-vegetarian diet on muscle creatine concentration
Kaviani et al. (2020): Benefits of Creatine Supplementation for Vegetarians Compared to Omnivorous Athletes: A Systematic Review
