Andrew Huberman· PhD
creatine monohydrate is definitely the most studied form and so people are are trying to to introduce these and with the kind of claim that that somehow it would be better or that um you know you won't bloat as much.
Loading…
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.
creatine monohydrate is definitely the most studied form and so people are are trying to to introduce these and with the kind of claim that that somehow it would be better or that um you know you won't bloat as much.
Every Sunday: the week’s new conflicts and verdict changes — and nothing else.
Native comments, Twitter mentions, and Reddit threads about this claim — surfaced together so the conversation isn't fragmented across platforms.
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?
But I've had other people be like, "No, actually HCL, you don't retain as much water." Yeah. I mean, you look at the data here. Um, and the data on monohydrate is so clear. Like monohydrate has been studied time and time again. Monohydrate works, right? You know, mental benefits, bone benefits, strength benefits with weightlifting. So, there's no question that monohydrate works. I'd have to look at the data on monohydrate for actual water retention, but I know from again anecdotal experience with my friends and myself, I don't really get GI side effects from monohydrate, but some people do. And when those people that I've recommended HCL to, they can tolerate it better from a GI perspective.
The reason creatine can give you bloating is because undissolved creatine sits in your gut and draws in water. That can cause osmotic diarrhea and gas.
In that case, creatine hydrochloride (HCl) may be one option to ease GI distress (but it's not as well studied as monohydrate).
creatine monohydrate has been shown to increase intracellular water so it's based on the doorway it sort of brings water with it and some people get GI tra irritation or some weight gain and other forms of creatine are marketed to not do that um I argue if it doesn't do that it's probably not creatine in other words creatine is osmotic if you're taking a form of creatine that doesn't increase intracellular water a little bit I would question the validity of that type of creatine
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.