This Powder Drops Inflammation, Shrinks Fat and Builds Serious Muscle (5g per day)

0:00I just went through every published

0:02creatine research paper in the last 3

0:04years and I'm convinced there's nothing

0:05that creatine cannot do. Pretty sure it

0:07can do your taxes and mow your lawn. But

0:09the problem with the internet is all

0:11this information is scattered

0:12everywhere. We still don't even know how

0:13much to take, which I'm going to teach

0:15you. We don't know when to take it,

0:16which I'm going to teach you. We don't

0:18know about loading phases because the

0:20information is scattered. Well, I went

0:21through everything and I'm going to

0:23break it down so you have a clear

0:24picture. This video will be broken down

0:26into a few chunks. We'll talk about

0:27mechanistic stuff like new stuff we've

0:29learned about how creatine works and how

0:30to absorb it better. And then we'll talk

0:32about the gains. We'll talk about the

0:33muscle. We'll talk about the strength.

0:34We'll talk about even the fat loss. Then

0:36we're going to move into the brain. Talk

0:38about how creatine is affecting the

0:39brain in some ways that we haven't seen

0:41in the conventional regurgitated YouTube

0:43videos floating around YouTube. Then

0:45we'll move into the whole body stuff,

0:46the stuff that we had no idea creatine

0:48did because it's not usually what people

0:51want to talk about, but it's super

0:53important. And then we'll move into the

0:55myths. the myths that have been busted

0:56and the myths that have been confirmed

0:58so you know what to worry about and what

0:59not to worry about. Jumping right into

1:01the mechanism, the first thing that

1:02we've learned, hydrochloride, HCL,

1:04ethylester, and liquid forms of creatine

1:06are not bad, but they're no better than

1:08creatine monohydrate. Plain and simple,

1:10simple monohydrate, the cheap,

1:11inexpensive, easy to consume stuff is

1:13all you need. All right, moving on. The

1:15second thing we've learned is that the

1:17reason we get puffy from creatine may

1:19not be from taking too much. It's

1:21because we're not taking it with enough

1:23sodium. Combining your creatine with an

1:25electrolyte is a good strategy. The

1:28primary transporter for creatine is

1:30SLC688,

1:32which is a sodium transporter. Studies

1:34are now showing that you can get up to a

1:3547% better increase in your creatine

1:39within the muscle if it's taken with a

1:40little bit of salt. If your sodium

1:42levels are where they should be, if you

1:43do not have adequate sodium in your

1:45diet, what's going to happen is it makes

1:47it so that the creatine doesn't go into

1:49the muscle cell as well, leading it in

1:51the extracellular space, which is why

1:53you get puffy. So maybe a pinch of salt,

1:56maybe a little bit of electrolytes along

1:57with your creatine. Easy. The third

1:58mechanistic thing we've recently learned

2:00is that GAA, which is the precursor to

2:03creatine, is really important. So you

2:05can take a GAA supplement or you can

2:07take a GA plus creatine supplement or

2:10you can just look at ways on the

2:12internet how to increase your GAA

2:14levels, but that is a precursor to

2:15creatine. And what we've now seen is

2:16that combining GA with creatine

2:18increases how creatine crosses the

2:20bloodb brain barrier. So it may be super

2:22helpful for the brain. Now, let's get

2:24into the muscle stuff because this is

2:25fascinating. July 2024 systematic review

2:29looking at people under age 50. On

2:31average, looking at a ton of different

2:33studies, there was an average increase

2:34compared to placebo. That was resistance

2:36training without creatine. An increase

2:38of 2 1/2 lbs of muscle gained. This is

2:41across lots of different time frames,

2:43but essentially people gained more

2:45muscle, 2 and a half pounds more when

2:47they had creatine versus not. Here's the

2:49kicker. They saw that there was an

2:50average decrease of fat by 1 1/2 lb,

2:54a8%.

2:55So, we're seeing not just muscle

2:57building, but literal fat loss, which

2:59researchers are currently trying to

3:01understand what's going on there. It

3:02could be an inflammation pathway that's

3:04getting reduced that's allowing for more

3:06efficient lipolysis and fat oxidation.

3:08If you look at the strength and the

3:09differences between what happens in the

3:11upper body and the lower body, an

3:13October 2023 study, check this out.

3:15Creatine allowed for about an average 10

3:17lb more strength increase in the upper

3:21body. So across 23 different studies, on

3:23average, people pushed across all lifts

3:25about 10 lbs more with their upper body.

3:27Just to give simple context cuz we're

3:28breaking it down very simple here. For

3:30the lower body, there was an average of

3:3225 lbs more pushed across various lifts.

3:34We're talking bigger muscles that push

3:36more. But the bottom line is that when

3:38you looked at all this data from this

3:39big meta analysis, systematic review,

3:41creatine packed a more powerful punch

3:43for the lower body. Okay? Seems like

3:46maybe we have more receptors, more

3:47transporters there that are allowing

3:49creatine to uptake. Who knows? The

3:51bottom line is once again, trying to

3:52boost leg performance, you're going to

3:54get more out of creatine than if you're

3:55trying to boost upper body performance.

3:57But what if you're trying to build the

3:59upper body? What if you're trying to

4:01build the lower body? Well, you can dose

4:04and time differently. We learned that

4:06too. 2021 study published in nutrients.

4:08I know it's a little past three years,

4:10but they found that generally speaking,

4:12generally speaking, seven grams is the

4:14sweet spot. That kind of throws away the

4:16old 5 g. 7 g seems to be the sweet spot.

4:20But there's more to it. What about if

4:22you wanted to go upper body? What they

4:24found with the upper body is that if you

4:26did a loading phase, the traditional

4:28loading phase of like 20 grams a day for

4:30a few days and then dropped down to like

4:32five grams a day, that seemed to elicit

4:35a better upper body result. So, what

4:38does this tell us? This tells us that

4:39creatine transporter density may differ

4:41between the upper and lower body. And

4:43that's not a huge surprise because we

4:44actually see a difference in like

4:45androgen receptor density between the

4:47upper and lower body, too. So, it's not

4:48a huge surprise. But what this tells us

4:50is that we can maybe dose our creatine

4:52appropriately for whatever we're trying

4:54to grow or train. So trying to do more

4:57legs, maybe just go moderately high dose

4:59all the time. Trying to do more upper

5:01body, go a big dose and then bring the

5:03dose down. That's kind of a cool little

5:04hack to find out. I titrate and adjust

5:06my creatine dose all the time depending

5:08on if I'm running more, lifting more,

5:10more stressed, not sleeping as well. And

5:12I find that I've kind of have this

5:14little performance adjustment that I do.

5:17I use create creatine. It's a really

5:19good creatine. It's they have a stick

5:21pack, but then they also have the

5:23gummies that are really really good and

5:24they're sweetened with alulose, but they

5:26have sort of the right makeup of just a

5:28few carbohydrates in like a serving of

5:30gummies along with the creatine. So,

5:32you're aiding that uptake a little bit

5:34more. They've done the research there,

5:35but also their gummies taste unreal. And

5:38they're one of the only ones that in a

5:39recent third party test had the amount

5:41of creatine they say they have. So,

5:42their creatine gummies are actually

5:44legit. So, I linked out to them down

5:46below. That is a 54% off discount link

5:49on their gummies. I also put a link down

5:51below for the stick packs as well if you

5:52want to just do the simple monohydrate

5:54flavored stick packs that are super easy

5:56to add to like a bottle of water. So

5:57again, up to 54% off using that link

6:00down below. That is a screaming deal. So

6:02I definitely think for creatine, they're

6:04the bees. They're the best. Now I want

6:06to pivot over to metabolic health, fat

6:08oxidation, even endurance work, but also

6:10just flatout metabolism. There was a

6:122023 meta analysis with looked at a lot

6:15of studies that saw that there were

6:16similar performance improvements in

6:18anorobic exercise like strength training

6:20and aerobic exercise. Now, I'm not

6:21saying this because you're an endurance

6:22person or not. What I'm saying is that

6:24when you see improvements across aerobic

6:26pathways, it makes you say, "Well,

6:28what's going on here?" Because this

6:30shouldn't be using creatine. But we're

6:32realizing that the creatine was helping

6:34support even like oxygen utilization,

6:37inflammatory pathways. Anyway, here's

6:39what the research said. They found that

6:40creatine reduced inflammation, it

6:42reduced oxidative stress, it improved

6:45acid buffering, and it ended up

6:47improving glycogen replenishment. So

6:49essentially in recovery, it was making

6:51it so that carbs would go to the right

6:53place. There was less oxidative stress

6:55and ultimately less inflammation and

6:57less just acidic state. It helped the

7:00buffering of that to clear lactate and

7:02be able to get the cycle moving clear so

7:04you can recover. This is tremendous for

7:06all kinds of situations. Whether you are

7:08doing endurance work or whether you are

7:10just flatout run down and stressed, it

7:13helped big time. The next thing that

7:15we've learned recently is that women

7:17need more than men. Why is this? Well,

7:19what we're finding, there was a

7:20relatively newer study that noticed that

7:22creatine didn't affect women the same

7:24way it did men. And it was a little

7:26frustrating. Not as much improvement as

7:27men with the same dose. But what they

7:29found when they looked at earlier

7:30research was that women end up having a

7:3310% higher creatine store baseline in

7:36their muscles, but they have a 70 to 80%

7:39lower indogenous production of it. So

7:41they have a storage in their muscle

7:43that's already higher, which means they

7:45need a little bit more to tap up above

7:48that. So women should consider taking

7:50about 10 to 20% more creatine than men,

7:53which is kind of wild because they might

7:54do the opposite. I don't want to retain

7:56water. I don't want to get too bulky.

7:58But the reality is taking it with a

8:00little bit of sodium, you won't get the

8:01water retention. And also taking a

8:04little bit more, you're going to notice

8:05the positive effects better. Now, I

8:07promised you we'd move into the brain.

8:09This is some wicked cool new research.

8:11What if I told you that you could take

8:12creatine and it would change your entire

8:15brain? It would change how your brain

8:18oxidizes fuel. Well, bottom line is the

8:20newer research shows that taking

8:21creatine increases your phosphocreatine

8:23stores in the brain. And what happens

8:25when that happens is you now have

8:27available instant energy and the brain

8:29is operating in very much so a fast

8:31state where it's demanding energy quick.

8:33So you're changing the entire energy

8:35dynamics of your brain. There was a 2022

8:37study that showed that just

8:38supplementing 5 g of creatine per day

8:40ended up increasing memory significantly

8:42and marketkedly more in those that were

8:4465 or older. So we know it's doing

8:46something with just allowing us to

8:48access information in our brain at a

8:49faster rate. But the big answer is

8:52coming from the metabolic stress side of

8:54things. Remember how when we talked

8:55about endurance work, how creatine

8:57affects the just the stress of the body,

8:58that metabolic stress. Well, we're

9:00seeing that just 8 g per day, which is a

9:02decent amount, reduces oxidative stress

9:04in the brain, but increases the amount

9:06of oxygen that goes to the brain and

9:08ultimately reduces the stress and the

9:10brain fatigue. So, if you're just not

9:12necessarily even sleep deprived, but

9:14you're just using your brain a lot,

9:16creatine is what's going to allow you to

9:18keep up the force, keep that stamina up.

9:21And the dose for that is about 8 grams

9:23per day. So, if you're going through a

9:25period where maybe you're, I don't know,

9:27going five days in a row of filming 15

9:29videos each day, like someone I know,

9:31that would be a day where you may want

9:32to say, "Okay, I'm going to do eight

9:34grams a day during this week." But the

9:36big one that came out over the last

9:37couple of years is the 20 gram a day

9:39serving study. Holy cow. What happens

9:42when you go to 20 grams a day?

9:43Basically, they found that if subjects

9:45were seriously sleepd deprived, going to

9:4720 grams per day for 7 days ended up

9:50restoring almost their entire executive

9:52function. It basically brought their

9:54brain back online to a normal state and

9:56improved their mood significantly. No

9:59more grumpy gills when you're not

10:01sleeping well. This is going to make it

10:03so you just feel better. Maybe you

10:04weather that sleepd deprived storm a

10:06little bit better. There was one more

10:08absolutely flabbergasting thing. anxiety

10:10and depression. They used magnetic

10:12resonance spectroscopy to see that when

10:15creatine levels were low in the

10:16prefrontal cortex, that's when

10:18depression would hit. We are learning

10:20now that depression and anxiety are poor

10:22metabolic states in the brain. I

10:24recently had Dr. Matt Bernstein on my

10:26channel and he went off for like an hour

10:28on this, how the poor metabolic state of

10:30the brain is what actually leads us to

10:32more anxiety and depression. But now

10:34we're seeing creatine can help us get

10:35over that hump. Now, the whole body

10:37stuff, this gets so wild. Check this out

10:41on bone health. So, there was a 2024

10:43study where people were like, "Nah, it

10:45turns out that creatine does not

10:47increase bone density. Forget it."

10:49Right? People jumped the gun on this

10:51study. It did not improve bone density.

10:53That's correct. But it did something

10:55even cooler. They found that creatine

10:57influenced the bone cells to remodel and

11:00restructure, particularly in the femur,

11:02the entire bone into a more fracture

11:05resistant form. This entire remodeling

11:08made it so that you could put more

11:09mechanical load on the skeleton during

11:12exercise which eventually triggered an

11:14adaptation of the bone cells and the

11:16bone to get stronger in a functional

11:18way. So it remodeled it's like it made

11:21the bone cells smarter. Our bone cells

11:23are not just dumb bone cells. They learn

11:26to get stronger where we put load on

11:29them. and creatine encouraged the

11:31remodeling of those bone cells to make

11:33the bone more structurally sound.

11:35Probably my favorite new thing that's

11:38come out with creatine is the immunom

11:39modulatory effect. We are now seeing and

11:41when I had Dr. Darren Kandal on my

11:43channel a few years ago, this wasn't out

11:45yet. We are seeing that creatine reduces

11:47pro-inflammatory mediators, actually

11:50making it so that our bodies in a less

11:52inflamed state. There was a 2022 pilot

11:55study that found that creatine was

11:57increasing ATP in what are called

11:59neutrfils. So a form of a white blood

12:01cell. It was increasing ATP in these

12:03white blood cells making it so that it

12:05was better at going after bacteria or

12:08whatever potential pathogen is there.

12:10What the heck? We didn't even realize at

12:12the core fundamental level that our

12:14white blood cells and our immune cells

12:16need ATP too. But now we're seeing this

12:18research unfolding and it's

12:19mind-blowing. The myths. I promised you

12:21we'd talk about the myths. What if all

12:23the things you've been worrying about

12:24with creatine were nothing to worry

12:25about? But there's actually this thing

12:27you should be kind of concerned with.

12:29Well, let's check it out. Hair loss. Do

12:30not worry about that. 12week randomized

12:33control trial. Case closed. They

12:35measured DHT to hydrotestosterone. They

12:37measured DHT to testosterone ratios. No

12:39change whatsoever. Plus, they measured

12:41their follicles, their follicle density.

12:43Zero change in the hair whatsoever. Put

12:44it to bed. Kidney health. Okay, there is

12:47an increase in creatinine. But what they

12:49found is that is a perfectly normal

12:51response and there was no damage or

12:54stress to the kidneys with even very

12:56high doses of creatine the liver. Oh, I

12:58saw some comments recently saying that

13:00creatine's affecting the liver because

13:01there was one rat study where they gave

13:03them a ridiculous dose with no exercise

13:05whatsoever and they saw an increase in

13:07some of these liver enzymes. People

13:09really ran to the bank with it. No,

13:11there is no change in any of the human

13:12data. you'd have to take hundreds of

13:15grams of creatine to even affect it

13:17remotely at this level. The cramping and

13:20dehydration piece, there are a number of

13:22people that have claimed they get cramps

13:24or get dehydrated on creatine. That is

13:27one that you could say is plausible. And

13:30the reason is is because if you're not

13:32adequately hydrated ahead of time with

13:34good minerals and good electrolytes,

13:36then the creatine's going to different

13:38areas. it's not going into the muscle

13:39might draw water out of the muscle a

13:41little bit more or at least at the very

13:43least not get into the muscle. So then

13:44you're in this weird isotonic state

13:46where you're having more water in the

13:48extracellular fluid. So we factor all

13:50this stuff together and when we remember

13:51that the basic energy function within

13:53our body is ATP, right? We need ATP. We

13:56need energy. Then there really isn't

13:58anything creatine can't do. And how many

14:00more studies do we need to show us that

14:02it's amazing? But what's the takeaway

14:04here? 7 g as a minimum. Okay, as a

14:07minimum for that muscle building effect,

14:09if you want the brain effect, minimum

14:11eight grams, really going for more like

14:1415 or 20. Okay, if you're looking for

14:17less water retention, as a recap, take

14:19it with a teaspoon of salt or a little

14:21bit of like element electrolytes or

14:23something that has a little bit of salt

14:25in it. If you're looking for more bone

14:26health strategies, a simple 5 to seven

14:29grams per day is probably all that you

14:31need. If you're older, you may want to

14:34consider taking more. If you're over 50,

14:36you may want to consider even the 15 g

14:38range simply because the receptors, the

14:41transporters might not be as efficient.

14:43If you're looking to build strength and

14:45mass in the lower body muscles, then you

14:47may want to take a consistent dose. If

14:48you're looking for more upper body, then

14:50do more peaks and occasionally like do a

14:52higher dose and then come back down to a

14:53moderate dose. And the two last things,

14:55monohydrate is the bee's knees, and it's

14:57simple. And also, you can look for GAA

15:00plus creatine if you're looking for an

15:02added brain benefit. I did a video with

15:04Dr. Darren Kandow which breaks down a

15:06lot of the interesting research on

15:09creatine and the depression and anxiety

15:11market. Quite interesting. I put that

15:12one right here. As always, I'll see you

15:14tomorrow.