Creatine Scientist Explains 9 “Dangers” of Using Creatine - What to Believe
Summary
TLDRDr. Darren Candow, a leading creatine researcher, debunks common myths about creatine supplementation. He explains that creatine does not harm kidneys or cause baldness, and instead has beneficial muscle building, bone strengthening, and fat burning effects. Proper dosing strategies are provided for average gym-goers seeking performance benefits versus high-level athletes requiring rapid boosts before competitions. Candow concludes that creatine is one of the most researched performance supplements, with proven safety and efficacy when combined with exercise.
Takeaways
- 😀 Creatine does not impair kidney function or cause kidney damage according to research.
- 💪 Creatine can increase strength, endurance and power output.
- 😥 There is no evidence that creatine causes hair loss or baldness.
- 🚰 Creatine helps hydrate muscles which may prevent cramps and injury.
- 🧪 Creatine is one of the most researched sports supplements.
- 🧠 Creatine may have cognitive and bone health benefits.
- 💧 Creatine can cause water retention initially but levels normalize over time.
- ❌ Creatine is not an anabolic steroid.
- 🏋️♀️ Creatine benefits both men and women.
- 📉 Adding creatine to a training program may help reduce body fat percentage.
Q & A
What evidence is there that creatine does not harm kidney function?
-Multiple studies show creatine does not impair kidney function even with long-term use and different dosages. Creatinine levels return to normal when creatine use is stopped, indicating no permanent kidney damage.
Where did the myth originate that creatine causes hair loss?
-From a study on rugby players taking high-dose creatine for 7 days. It caused an increase in DHT levels, which has been linked to hair loss, but no actual hair loss occurred in the study.
How might creatine supplementation help with muscle cramps and dehydration?
-By pulling water into muscle cells, creatine hydrates muscles. This could prevent dehydration and reduce likelihood of cramps during hot weather training.
Why does creatine sometimes cause water retention and how can it be prevented?
-The "loading phase" with high doses causes temporary water retention. Taking 3-5 grams daily instead prevents retention while still being an effective dose.
What evidence suggests creatine may improve bone health, especially for postmenopausal women?
-Some studies show creatine plus resistance training increases bone mineral density and strength in postmenopausal women. It may help bones remodel faster and become more fracture-resistant.
Is there evidence creatine causes fat gain?
-No, studies show creatine alongside training may lower body fat percentages by increasing muscle mass and metabolism.
Can creatine benefit both men and women?
-Yes, research now shows benefits for muscle, bone, and brain health in both sexes and across age ranges.
What causes some people to be "non-responders" to creatine supplementation?
-People who already have high natural creatine levels from diet have limited room for further storage in muscles. Vegetarians tend to respond better.
What are effective daily creatine dosage strategies?
-3-5 grams daily for general health and fitness. Up to 10 grams daily focusing on bone and brain benefits. 20 gram "loading phase" for rapid boost before athletic events.
What are the main studied benefits of creatine supplementation?
-Increased muscle mass and performance, improved bone strength and fracture resistance, enhanced brain function, potential fat loss when combined with training.
Outlines
😮💨 Creatine Doesn't Damage Kidneys or Cause Baldness
The myth that creatine damages kidneys originated from temporarily elevated creatinine levels (a byproduct of creatine metabolism). But studies show no impact on kidney function. The mistaken belief that creatine causes baldness stemmed from one study showing a minor DHT increase within normal range. No evidence substantiates hair loss.
😅 No Evidence Creatine Causes Cramping or Dehydration
Creatine does not dehydrate muscles or increase cramping. Rather, it draws water into muscles, hydrating them. This could prevent dehydration and cramps during hot summer training. Smaller daily doses avoid water retention concerns.
🧐 Creatine Doesn't Increase Fat Gain or Cause Acne
Contrary to myths, studies suggest creatine paired with exercise may slightly reduce body fat percentage. Possible reasons are increased muscle and energy expenditure. Acne misconceptions likely stem from increased stimulating exercise, not showering post-workout, etc. Creatine is one of the most researched supplements.
😊 Creatine Benefits Bones in Aging Adults
Emerging research shows creatine plus resistance training can increase bone mineral density and strength in postmenopausal women and older men. This could reduce fractures from falls. Creatine seems to slow bone mineral loss and may improve bone remodeling.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Creatine
💡Kidney function
💡Hair loss
💡Hydration
💡Water retention
💡Bone health
💡Body fat
💡Brain function
💡Vegetarians
💡Dosing
Highlights
Creatine does not impair kidney function or cause kidney damage according to multiple studies
Creatine can increase creatinine levels which is often mistaken as impaired kidney function
There is no evidence linking creatine use to hair loss or baldness
Creatine helps hydrate muscles which may prevent cramps and strains
Creatine does not cause dehydration; it may have benefits for athletes training in hot weather
Creatine is not an anabolic steroid but it does have anabolic properties
Creatine can benefit both males and females including for bone health and pregnancy
Creatine does not harm the liver
Around 30% of people may be "non-responders" to creatine for muscle building
Creatine improves bone mineral density and strength especially in postmenopausal women
Creatine may help with fat loss when combined with exercise
Common dosage is 3-5 grams per day, up to 10 grams for broader health benefits
20 gram "loading phase" rapidly boosts creatine over 5-7 days but causes water retention
Creatine and caffeine are the most researched sports supplements
Always pair creatine with exercise for benefits; it is not a magic pill
Transcripts
I remember once my grandma told me that
I was going to absolutely destroy my
kidneys because I was taking creatine
when I was I don't know 18 years old I
remember her telling me that you know I
was on steroids and that that was just
going to destroy my kidneys those are
the two things I remember from from my
grandma and I now that I've got Dr
Darren kandow here who's one of the
leading researchers in the world of
creatine we want to go through some of
the side effects of creatine and some of
the things that maybe are thought to be
side effects but aren't quite let's
start with this prot one or let's start
with this this kidney one you know CU I
think that's a big one I've seen it on
Instagram creatine's bad for your
kidneys like where did that come from
and what does the data actually suggest
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seed yeah this is kind of Taken on a
life its own so the theory is that since
the kidney is the the main organ that
starts the processing creatine synthesis
that by taking creatine it was going to
wreck your kidneys and I think a lot of
us when we go to the blood or get an
annual physical and you get blood work
there's going to be something on the
blood requisition form that says
creatinin and when creatine is put in
our muscle and it breaks down with
exercise it's released in another
compound called creatinin and that is
highly used by a lot of nephrologists
and general practitioners to be an
estimation of kidney function well what
they don't tell you is when you take
creatine supplementation creatinine
levels have to go up because you have
more creatine in the muscle and
unfortunately from a medical practice
standpoint if you have more creatinin in
the in the bloodstream that's an
indication that your kidneys are not
filtering it like they should so lo and
behold a lot of people would take
creatine go to their doctor have high
creatinin levels and the doctor would
say you got to stop taking creatine
supplement Pati because it's killing
your your kidneys and so the theory was
there but the problem is when you stop
taking creatine creatin levels go back
to normal so obviously your kidneys were
not impaired with functionality it was
just a pro byproduct of creatine
metabolism um and so that's where it all
stemmed and when you look at study after
study different dosages long periods of
time there's no effect compared to
Placebo on Creatine causing kidney liver
or any other type of renal abnormality
do your creatinine levels eventually
come back back down they do because
you're reducing the amount of creatine
that's coming into the body so a lot of
people get something called an estimated
GFR test uh at with their doctor um but
if you're going to do that please tell
them you're on Creatine supplementation
you're well aware that creatinine levels
will be elevated acutely and that could
cause an alarm or false alarm and um we
see this time and time and time again um
and it's just a product of creatine
metabolism got it okay well the other
big one that's one that people are well
aware of uh is uh you know creatine is
going to make me go bald I mean that's a
big thing I mean it's absolutely uh
perfectly valid to uh to think that
right
no what's what's going on there where
did that myth come from yeah yeah so I I
was going ball before I took creatine
we'll talk about that after so it comes
back to this one study there's and again
there's over a thousand studies on
Creatine but there's one signal single
Sunday um from Australia where they
looked at rugby players who took a high
dose of creatine for 7 days and they
measured a hormone called DHT which is
derivative for precursor from
testosterone production the interesting
thing with DHT is it's increased
naturally with resistance training um it
has been implicated in hair follicle
loss and thinning and lo and behold when
they measured the amount of DHT in these
young in this young population uh DHT
levels did go up with creatine compared
to Placebo however it was within the
normal physiological range and just
because a hormone goes up means nothing
so I'll give you an example you can have
a hormone go up regarding muscle protein
synthesis but just because testosterone
went up after post exercise that does
not correlate to an increase in muscle
mass unless it happens accumulating over
time and lo and behold DHT went up uh
but no measure of hair follicle loss or
or stimulation occurred and that's the
only bit of evidence that has been
linked to this myth and it's probably
the most popular myth worldwide it's a
question I get almost on a daily basis
and since creatin and there's no
evidence to suggest it and and I go back
to sort of subjective data that I've
probably worked with a thousand people
and not a single person has ever come to
me on long-term dosages and said my hair
is thinning and I think those people
that would be one of the first things
that they would they would say so right
now there's no current evidence uh to
suggest that creatin causes baldness
yeah you never know I mean in that
particular study what did their training
demand uh go up or down even that week A
lot of times you see like in training
demand uh decreases and things kind of
get chance to recalibrate testosterone
levels come back up when they're not
taxed were they in seon were they offse
was at the end of the season you know
and I know in a lot of athletic settings
they uh they do a lot of testing in the
uh in the offseason specifically so were
they you know what was their training
like so exact it's a very difficult
thing to be able to you know could have
been a million different reverse
causation going on there as well genetic
predeposition now there's a lot of
things with that so and it's ironic that
no other study has ever assessed it uh
and that's something we still need to do
ironically yeah so okay what's uh what's
another one that comes up all time
probably another big one is muscle
cramping or dehydration so this has huge
implication for athletes are exercising
in hotter environments so one of the big
myths was that where creatine will take
water from the bloodstream into the
muscle area people thought it dehydrate
or or increase muscle cramping uh well
you would flip that around if creatine
is causing muscle to come into the uh or
sorry creatine is causing water to come
into the muscle environment it's super
hydrating the muscle and that will
decrease the incidences of dehydration
in muscle cramping so that's probably
one of the bigger myths as well that
creatin could be a very viable strategy
in hotter uh uh months during the summer
for example when training outside and
that could uh sort of hydrate the muscle
and that could cause uh a decrease in
dehydration metabolic stress and even
muscle cramping and strains and that
might be sounds like that might be one
instance where creatine can have a
little bit more of an immediate effect
correct yes uh almost well within a few
hours it will cause water to be be be uh
taken into the muscle within about two
hours so that could have some
application um especially as we approach
the hotter summer months yeah so it's
something that you could almost pregame
your uh your you know outdoor activities
with that's correct yeah why we're on
this same topic uh it's probably good to
address the other sort of it's viable is
going to be the water retention right
and that's I know it keeps a lot of
ladies away from from touching the stuff
A lot of times guys don't care that's
like oh whatever I'll retain a little
bit of water if it means I get stronger
but you know my wife um you know her her
doctor who is awesome uh for even
suggesting this is okay you know yeah go
on some creatine it might help you with
your your cycles and recalibration like
that might help with your energy um and
she was concerned that she was like I
don't want to gain weight I don't want
to have water retention uh why is that
actually happening because it's in the
same vein as the hydration discussion
it's a very viable concern it's probably
one of the main reasons a lot of younger
females primarily will not take creatine
and that's primarily around the loading
phase so a lot of regimens will do 20
gram a day for 5 to 7 days and by taking
that high volume of creatine that will
cause what we see is an acute water
retention primarily intracellularly in
the in the muscle and that can cause an
increase on the scale and a lot of
people don't like that if you don't want
to have any chance of water retention or
water or or body weight gain I would
suggest a smaller dose more frequent
throughout the day um so again 3 to 5
grams a day is a very effective dosing
strategy from a muscle performance
perspective and that will reduce any
chance of water retention so I think the
loading phase is only for those
individuals that really need a rapid
acute burst so to speak if if a a world
championship is coming up or something
that's uh demanding but from the average
person a lot smaller dose throughout the
day will accumulate uh that'll probably
not result in any uh water retention
whatsoever and that's probably something
that may motivate individuals to stay
with creatine more often from a back to
the hydration aspect then so I mean if
that's kind of understanding how it's
working based on you know basically
drawing sodium in as well can having a
small small amount of carbohydrate with
it improve the hydration aspect of it it
can because every time you take in one
gram of carbohydrates you store about 2
to three gram of water in the muscle so
combining carbohydrate with creatine can
almost give you a super hydrating effect
okay and then of course there's a got
the glycerol aspect as well too which is
kind of interesting I know some people
in Long ultr Runners will do creatine
glycerol sodium and glucose and that's
kind of their little secret cocktail and
definitely when I do it I get GI upset
from that that's too much but I've seen
a lot of people in the ultra do that
that's kind of interesting okay what's
what's another myth that we hear all the
time oh God there's many um one is it's
not an anabolic steroid uh it has
anabolic properties but a lot of people
thought it was a steroid at first and no
they're totally different uh derivatives
with that as well it can also have
enormous benefits across both sex so
males and females a lot of people were
speculating it was only for males and
now we're seeing great benefits for
young females middle-aged females and
now postmenopause females into late
years having huge beneficial effects on
muscle uh performance as well as bone
health um and the other one is during
pregnancy there's some evidence from
Australia that creat can have some
beneficial effects for the mother and
for fetal development um but that's in
its emphy in an area that we definitely
need to to improve on uh it does not
have any detrimental effects on the
liver very similar to the kidney as well
um so there's a lot of potential miss
that we've put out some papers to try to
dispel those based on evidence-based
research yeah the other one that I've
hear heard all the time is uh is acne
which that probably just comes again
from the DHD discussion there and also I
would speculate with acne or some people
have mentioned sleep depr or sleep
issues um I think with creatine you
probably engage now in an exercise
training program which can cause a
stimulating effect and maybe you might
be slightly dehydrated or overhydrated
maybe change your diet so I think
there's a lot of factors that go into
that uh when people take creatine my
theory is that they're also engaging in
exercise and maybe at a higher intensity
which some stimulating effects to the
metabol or metabolic rate not to mention
you know oily skin and not taking a
shower right after a workout and keeping
it you know um then a potential I guess
not even necessarily a side effect but a
a risk if you want to call it the risk
of being a non-responder so the
non-responder is purely based on muscle
and there's good logic to this so
unfortunately in our muscle we only have
a maximal storing capacity for creatine
so the average person stores about 120
to 140 grams of creatine in in their
body vegans are a lot less and there was
a uh in 1992 one individual got to about
185 but those individuals were about 70
to 80 kilograms and nowadays we have a
lot of really fit individuals 100
kilograms 120 so the maximal storing
capacity of muscle seems to be finite
that means we have a maximal amount and
if you're eating a lot of red meat or
seafood uh if you're synthesizing a lot
you probably have a lot of of creatine
already in the muscle and you might have
a small area of improvement if you're on
a carnivore diet from a muscle
perspective you may not respond on the
other hand a responder is someone when
they consume Creatine supplementation
they get an improvement in muscle mass
strength endurance power so on and so
forth we see the best improvements in
vegans and vegetarians and the logic
there is they have half the amount in
the muscle they have double the capacity
to respond we don't know a responder or
non-responder from a bone or brain
benefit yet this is only from a muscle
performance perspective interesting now
speaking of the the bone side of things
like that's actually news to me I did
not realize that there was such a
benefit uh to bone health is to why is
that yeah this is probably the one of
the main areas of focus in our lab
recently and it's primarily focused on
postmenopausal females because they're
more susceptible to osteoporosis or
Frailty as we get older and just like
muscle when you combine creatine and
resistance training um you get an
increase in muscle mass but we started
to see an improvement in bone mineral
density and primarily bone strength uh
and so that has huge clinical
applications if you take an aging bone
and make it stronger or more resistant
to fracture when that individual would
fall on an icy Road or fall inside uh um
their house uh they may not suffer a
fracture and if it's around the hip
that's very uh debilitating from a
physical activity perspective so
creatine or the bone cells that are
osteoblast and Osteo class they actually
rely on Creatine just like our muscle
for energy they turn over quicker and
then the bone building process can occur
um so there's a handful of studies and
we've done some really good clinical
work that creatine seems to decrease the
rate of bone mineral density loss in
postmenopausal females but it also
increases bone strength in
postmenopausal females and older males
so now it's starting to have some bone
beneficial effects over time and we
think it reduces bone breakdown and it
might have some beneficial Effects by
improving the bone remodeling process
interesting yeah okay another another uh
big hurdle for people and I hear this
one a lot is creatine's going to
increase the potential for you to gain
fat yes a very big one that comes up a
lot and maybe it's stemming from the
water retention maybe it's just people
being misguided but uh how do we address
that one yeah so the the good thing is
we have a couple studies uh one has been
published and one that's in uh review
right now we've looked at adults from 18
uh above that have engaged in creating
supplementation resistance training and
when you look at all the data and do
perform meta analysis uh creatine had a
beneficial effect on by reducing percent
body fat in adults 18 and above and it
had a small reduction in absolute body
fat and some of the mechanisms where if
it increases muscle mass that might
correlate to a greater energy
expenditure but there's good animal data
to suggest that creatine can actually uh
improve mechanisms directly related to
Fat metabolism improve mitochondrial
health and oxidation might have some
implications in proteins involved in
beta oxidation so here's a compound with
exercise that's the key you can't take
creatine and hope it's magic um it might
have some muscle building perspective uh
benefits bone uh we've talked about
brain and now actually add in the body
fat perspective and you might get a
synergistic effect to improving body
composition and if that allows someone
to improve activities a daily living or
Stave off metabolic diseases I think
that's a huge potential uh that we need
to look forward to as we move forward I
mean it's safe to say I think caffeine
and creatine are the two most researched
sort of enic supplements that's correct
if I'm not mistaken you know and you
know the only one that's I don't even
know anyone that are that are even
remotely close to that so yeah it's so
at the end of the day I mean as far as
people that have watched this video but
maybe not the other videos uh just a a
general dosing strategy for people that
are now not concerned with creatine
after watching this video yeah so I
think you can go three ways I think the
average person that is just looking for
the beneficial effects and they're the
average person that goes to the gym
three or four days a week or play sports
you can take as little as three grams a
day move it up to 5 grams a day from a
muscle perspective take that every day
even on the days you don't work out and
you can live your life you know very
happily and very uh optimally uh but
that now if you're looking at it from a
bone and brain health perspective I
think overall 10 grams a day uh is a
very viable strategy from a whole body
perspective you do not need to take it
in one 10 gram dose you can takeen in
multiple smaller dosages uh and it'll be
very effective but for the athletes that
say uh I got a world championship coming
up very shortly or I've been asked to
try out for a certain Sport and I really
need to get a boost and help uh increase
training capacity the loading phase
which is 20 grams a day for about 5 to
7even days is very viable it's very fast
the only downfall is it will probably
cause an increase in body weight or some
potential GI track irritation so for
individuals that are body weight
conscious UFC boxing that may not be the
most viable strategy so I think you can
do uh those two the one we use a lot is
you go on a scale you see how much you
weigh and we do 0.1 gram per kilogram so
if you jump on the scale today and
you're 70 kilograms you're taking seven
grams a day take it in multiple dosages
or take it uh in one dose it's up to you
it's very easy to consume perfect well
Dr K where can everyone finds you man I
think the easiest is at Instagram at Dr
Darren CLE perfect as always keep it
locked in here in the channel and thanks
my man thanks
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