Creatine is the most on trend supplement of the year there is no doubt about it and Creatine has huge benefits for the body and brain.

Most folks would associate creatine with body builders shredding and making huge muscle gains but its benefits extend well beyond muscle mass.

Creatine supports your body’s ability to recycle and regenerate ATP energy at a cellular level. Having more energy available to power your mitochondria = less fatigue, quicker recovery, reduced aches and pains and less brain fog.

Creatine is most abundant in animal protein however it is significantly reduced in the cooking process – one kilogram of rare cooked beef will yield roughly 5g of creatine to meet your daily quota but, unless you’re doing Carnivore, that’s a lot of meat to eat, expensive too. Creatine is significantly reduced during cooking so if it ain’t rare the creatine yield will be much less.

Creatine supplementation can likely benefit everyone however there are groups for whom it can be a real game changer –

• Peri/menopausal women stand to gain better longevity, mental clarity, improved mood and bone density to name a few.
• The elderly for muscle maintenance, improving bone strength, maintaining and enhancing cognitive function whilst warding off depression.
• Plant based or Vegan individuals who are prone to creatine deficiency can see huge benefits both physically and mentally from creatine muscle saturation.
• Sleep deprived and or highly stressed women (hello modern life and postpartum) can benefit greatly from the improved physical and brain energy boost.
• Individuals suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Myalgic Encephalitis or Long Covid to restore energy metabolism and reduce symptoms of expression.
• Those with double MTHFR mutations. Creatine supplementation reduces the demand for methylation in the body by around 50% (huge!) thus freeing up methyl donors in the body for use in other biochemical pathways.
• Restless Legs Sufferers – Creatine is a godsend for many!
• Those looking to create more lean muscle mass and quicker recovery times post exercise.

Creatine’s effects on energy and performance typically become noticable within 1-4 weeks of consistent daily use. As your muscles achieve saturation, the boost one can feel is significant.

Now if increasing lean muscle mass is the priority goal for you, there is a catch – A 2023 study showed that creatine alone won’t do much in the short term unless it is combined with resistance training. Over a ten week period creatine paired with resistance training significantly boosted lean muscle mass, strength and power output, especially in older individuals. This highlights that creatine is less about quick fixes and more about long term benefits.

If you’re hoping for a miracle booty butt lift without doing a single squat, my friend you will probably go disappointed, I’m afraid you do have to do the work BUT, potentially you will be in a happier mood with a sharper mind despite that.

Bloating and gastrointestinal discomfort can be a common side effect of poor quality creatine and or following a loading program. 3-5G is sufficient for majority of folks who are not body builders and dosing beyond that can make you feel rather uncomfy.

Not all Creatine supplements are created equal though and research has found that many brands on the market are either heavily contaminated with toxic metals and chemical residue from manufacturing OR they aren’t even creatine. Buyer beware. 

Avoid creatine of Chinese origin, many of the Chinese powders actually contained Creatinine instead of Creatine which is utterly useless to supplement with. Crazy. This is why we’ve done the research for you so that you can be confident you are getting a pure, clean and trustworthy product.

The German manufactured Creapure Creatine Monohydrate is considered to be the gold standard, the creme de la creme of Creatine’s on the market. Micronised for maximum bio-availability, zero additives and rigorously tested to be free from contaminants. Thoroughly endorsed by the likes of Chris Masterjohn, Andrew Huberman and Alex Fergus amongst other great researchers.

Ditch the silly Push Gummies which are of very poor quality and try ATP Sciences Creapure Creatine Monohydrate instead which is in the shop for you.

When it comes to use in pregnancy and breastfeeding, you do need to consult with your healthcare provider. However, there is some great information for you to peruse to help you arrive at your own conclusion.

Given 45% of methylation is used for creatine synthesis, we could extrapolate this and make the case that for women with compromised methylation and perhaps double MTHFR mutations – creatine supplementation could be very useful and even protective to both pregnancy outcomes and baby’s health.

If you’re not methylating well, you’ll synthesize less creatine from the food you consume and creatine is very important to the growth of bub’s in utero. The Brewer’s Diet which aims to mitigate all the common pregnancy complications via a high protein, high creatine, deep nutrition philosophy is a great example of this.

MTHFR Australia thoughts – “The reproductive system requires A LOT of energy, ATP requirements increase and subsequently women require more creatine during menstruation. For men, sperm production requires adequate creatine, specifically to get the sperm moving. Mitochondria (the home of ATP) is found in abundance in the head of the sperm, which sends energy down to the tail to provide energy for movement. Only the strongest swimmers will make it to the egg. Supplementing with creatine around these times reduces the pressure on our body’s to make enough creatine to support these processes. Once pregnant, a woman’s creatine needs increase again, as it is required for brain development for bub and reduces risks associated with pregnancy for mum.”

“Creatine is the fuel for the ‘backup energy battery’ of many vital cells in the brain, so we have been studying its use in cases of energy failure in the fetal brain when oxygen levels drop, and whether this simple supplement can prevent injury.” – Dr Stacey Ellery

“We know that that a creatine plays a role in healthy pregnancy progression and in utero development, and our latest research shows that it is also beneficial to the baby before birth, especially in compromised pregnancies.

This study is based upon foundational evidence that creatine supplementation has a positive effect on the biochemical changes that lead to brain injury,” she said. “It provides a foundation of evidence to show that creatine supplementation can suppress the cellular and physiological changes within the brain that cause brain injury.” Dr Nhi Tran

Chris Masterjohn on use during breastfeeding recommends the following –

“In terms of safety in breastfeeding, I don’t think there’s any evidence one way or another. It’s probably safe because you could get this from meat, and there’s no evidence of harm. But if you wanted to be hyper careful, I don’t think you need to do this, but if you wanted to be like super, super careful, what I would do is divide the 5 grams over three or four meals evenly on the basis that there are very, very trace amounts of byproducts of high-dose creatine.”

So there we have it folks, a fairly comprehensive rundown of the many and myriad benefits of Creatine supplementation.