The evidence is convergent. Multiple independent sources reach the same conclusion, the underlying mechanism is well-characterized, and even the field's most cautious voices treat it as worth doing.
The ability to hydrate your body is improved by creating because of the way that it brings more water into cells of various kinds. As an indirect effect, it can help in increasingly mass because of the way that it brings more water into muscle and probably also because of the way that if you get stronger, you can generate more force and generate more hypertrophy.
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I've been recommending this to patients for 6 months now. The big shift is patients actually do it because the explanation is concrete.
Same in nutrition counseling. The before/after framing helps.
Tracking with a CGM on top of this for 3 months. Variability dropped quickly and stayed dropped.
Worth noting the 0.71 SMD in the Kreider meta is in trained athletes. Effect in untrained adults runs closer to 0.3 — still meaningful, but the panel should reflect that gradient.
Good catch. Could the brief surface the training-status interaction inline?
supplementation with creatine can draw more water into muscles and can increase power output from muscles.
with people who supplement with creatine that there is an increase in blood o or plasma osmolality so the solute concentration increased in the blood which draws water in that's predominantly how things like creatine make you look bigger
creatine monohydrate definitely increases the the water content of the muscles like the intracellular water content so you have to increase your intake into water and electrolytes when you start taking creatine
another thing that creatine does in muscle is that it hydrates the muscle more and see you literally that's not sure yeah I mean that's a given just based on the amount of water that travels that is a direct factor in strength in a way that has nothing to do with the duration of the exercise
the water retention from creatin is inside the muscle cell which is a good thing and there's research studies to show this that it does not increase extracellular water that it's actually intracellular water
we do know that when you take you see improvements in lean mass and some people will say well that's just water well but that's what muscle mostly is muscle is 70% water so whether it's and there's actually research to show that even non-contractile just water improves May improve strength and contract ability
but it's also a really powerful osmolyte and so it pulls water into muscle tissue which in and of itself may actually be anabolic so uh like just a muscle cell being more hydrated there's some evidence that that can actually improve the that it's more anabolic environment
so I think it's actually great for bodybuilding
a more hydrated cell is more able to calculate H more more able to carry out its function right so the function of a myofibril is contractile release contract release and it has more water you it sort of seems logical to me that it's going to be better at clearing metabolic waste and recruiting fuel
well I would tell you that the water retention uh hydrated cells and anabol cell the water retention from creatin is inside the muscle cell which is a good thing and there's research studies to show this that it does not increase extracellular water that it's actually inter water
the hypertrophy seems to be uh due to the you know it not just the um uh the increase in the myofibril thickness but also in the retention of water within the within the muscle and of course that's still considered lean mass
for those exercising upcoming summer months uh NFL football players uh 2day practices in July creatine might actually help hydrate the muscle and decrease the chance of uh muscle cramping or dehydration
5 g of creatine monohydrate daily improves muscle strength and lean mass in healthy adults at standard training loads.
Creatine improves cognitive performance, especially under sleep deprivation and high cognitive load.
Creatine improves cardiovascular health markers and reduces all-cause mortality risk.
Creatine supports bone-mineral density in post-menopausal women when paired with resistance training.
Women need higher creatine doses (8–10 g/day) than men to reach the same intramuscular saturation.