Creatine Benefits and Side Effects: What You Need to Know

Learn more about the benefits and side effects of creatine in our YouTube video above – and don’t forget to check out the Kinetica Sports channel for more…

What is creatine?

Creatine is a nitrogenous amino acid that occurs naturally in the body. Around 95% is stored in your muscles, with the other 5% found in other areas of the body1. Arguably the most important role creatine plays in the body is in the production of adenosine triphosphate (ATP). This is the primary source of energy for the muscles, making creatine essential for everyday life. 

Note: think of ATP as a tiny battery that helps your muscles move. When you exercise, your muscles use up a lot of ATP, so you need more to keep going. Creatine helps make more ATP so your muscles can keep working hard, helping to increase strength and power.

Learn more about What is Creatine & Who Should Use it? in our guide.

Benefits of Creatine

As one of the most researched supplements in the world, scientists have developed a pretty good understanding of creatine benefits. In fact, this research shows that creatine benefits everyone, from professional athletes to weekend warriors and gym enthusiasts. Some of the benefits of creatine include…

Increased muscle mass and strength

One of the most well-known creatine benefits is that it can have a positive effect on muscle growth and strength increases. While we’re still not entirely sure how this happens, there are a selection of different possible mechanisms of action, including2:

• Creatine supplementation encourages your body to stimulate muscle protein synthesis, which causes your body to build more muscle. This may either be via osmosensing, or modulating the mTOR pathway.

• Creatine may affect the formation of muscle tissue more directly through impacting different parts of the myogenic process (the scientific term for muscle formation).

For most of us, how it works is less important than the fact that it does. And there’s loads of evidence to support the conclusion that there are clear benefits of creatine supplementation and muscle growth. This is only enhanced when combined with a resistance training programme, which puts your muscles under the right conditions to encourage growth in muscle mass and strength3.

Note: as we will discuss below, creatine can benefit your performance. One of the gains from increased exercise output is the corresponding improvements in strength. After all, working out more effectively, and sticking to an exercise programme, is the best way to gain strength.

Improved athletic performance

Another benefit of creatine to consider is the effect it has on your overall athletic performance. 

The evidence consistently supports the benefits of creatine supplementation for high-intensity, short-duration activities. As a key component of energy production, having elevated levels of creatine in your body helps you remake ATP, giving you more energy. This means you may be able to exercise for longer, or maintain a higher standard of form to help get the most benefits from the exercises you do complete.

But the benefits of creatine aren’t just for weight lifters or resistance exercisers to enjoy. There is a growing pool of evidence to suggest that creatine benefits athletes competing in high-intensity or high-duration events. For example, research suggests that when taken with carbohydrates, or carbohydrates and protein, creatine supplementation helps your body to store more glycogen in the muscles4. As glycogen stores are essential for recovery and reducing the risks of overtraining, creatine may be beneficial during training or competitions.

The benefits of creatine may even extend to improving athletic performance in the heat, as it has been shown to help athletes hyper-hydrate; and therefore improve tolerance to increased temperatures.

Augmented recovery and faster injury rehabilitation

Whether you’re a pro athlete, or a weekend warrior, proper recovery after exercise is essential. Your muscles need a chance to replenish their energy stores (which we already know is something in which creatine excels), conduct repairs, and regain their strength before you begin again. 

But, recovery isn’t just limited to making sure you have rest days within your training programme. There are actually different types of recovery – and the benefits of creatine may be seen throughout these stages4.

• Recovery between exercise: during intermittent exercise, your body needs time to recover between each set. Supplementing with creatine helps your body resynthesise ATP, offering more energy for the next bout of exercise. This is important for recovery from sprint or weight training.

• Post-workout recovery: preliminary research suggests that creatine benefits post-workout recovery due to reducing muscle damage and soreness, and potentially dampening inflammation. Easing this damage can help to facilitate recovery after exercise.

• Rehabilitation after injury: evidence suggests that supplementing with creatine during injury recovery may minimise muscle atrophy (muscle loss through inaction) and support your body during rehabilitation by helping the resynthesis of ATP.

Improved brain function

Aside from the various exercise-related benefits, creatine has been shown to potentially improve cognitive function, memory, and learning. Again, while we may not know exactly why this happens, there are some promising theories5:

• Creatine helps with ATP recycling, offering more energy for the brain to use during tasks.

• Creatine may benefit your memory through improving neurotransmitter function, helping your brain make better connections. It may also help with synaptic plasticity – which is how you learn new things.

Creatine side effects

Despite its many benefits, there are some potential side effects of creatine that you should be aware of. This isn’t uncommon when taking supplements, and creatine side effects can vary for everyone. However, many of the supposed creatine side effects have been debunked by scientific research. Below, we’ll explain some of the most common side effects of creatine, and what the evidence says.

• Kidney damage: there is no evidence to suggest that creatine causes kidney damage in healthy people4.

• Dehydration: creatine can cause water retention in the muscles, but there is no evidence to suggest that it causes dehydration4.

• Digestive issues: some people may experience digestive issues such as bloating and diarrhea when taking creatine, but these side effects are usually mild and temporary. There is no evidence of ‘clinically significant side effects’6.

• Water retention: one of the most talked about creatine side effects is water retention. Creatine is hygroscopic, and can increase water retention in the short term. However, these changes are not seen in longer term studies, suggesting that it is a temporary side effect. You should also remember that this will subside once you stop taking the supplement7.

• Weight gain: some people worry that taking creatine supplements will cause them to gain weight. While it is true that creatine can cause your muscles to retain water, which can lead to some initial weight gain, this is not the same as gaining fat. In fact, research has shown that creatine supplementation does not lead to significant fat gain4.

How much creatine should I take?

Creatine benefits may be provided by ensuring habitual low dietary intake of 3-5 g/day. There is no need to "load" creatine (taking a high dose before moving to a maintenance dose). Some people may choose to take a higher dose of creatine for the first week or so to help saturate their muscles with the compound more quickly, but this is not necessary.

Why choose Kinetica Creatine?

If you are considering taking a creatine supplement, it is essential to choose a high-quality product. Here at Kinetica Sports, we’ve put our all into making sure our products are made with premium ingredients that meet our exacting standards. To do this, we’ve made sure:

• Kinetica Creatine Powder is made from Creapure®, which is the highest-grade creatine available on the market. The creatine monohydrate form is highly bioavailable, for maximum absorption.

• Our creatine is also WADA batch tested and Informed Sport approved, so you can be sure it doesn’t contain any banned substances.

• Our creatine is manufactured to the highest standards, so you can be sure that you are getting a safe and effective product.

• Our creatine is suitable for vegetarians, and gluten-free, to suit a variety of diets.

Achieve your goals with Kinetica Sports

Whether you’re a weekend warrior hoping to improve, or a professional athlete hungry for the win, find the support you need from Kinetica Sports. We have a superb collection of performance supplements – from Protein Powder to Health and Wellbeing support. And, with Informed Sport certification, you can trust that you’re getting a safe, premium product.

To learn more about how supplements can support your athletic performance and overall health, check out the Kinetica Sports blog. We’ve packed it full of useful advice, buying guides, and more…

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