August 11, 2024

Creatine

HI ,

A couple of months ago I started adding creatine to my morning hot beverage. Ellen and I like to start our day with our little pile of supplements and a hot beverage. For Ellen that beverage is some cold-brewed, mold-free coffee with a little iodine and stevia added. For me, I opt for a nice cup of what looks like hot chocolate, but is really a big mixture of nutrients which now includes creatine. Ellen gets this same mixture in a cold thermos to sip on throughout the day. So why did I start adding creatine? Brain health.

Traditionally, bodybuilders use creatine to increase muscle mass. As a nutrient, it and caffeine have been more heavily researched than any other nutrient. Thousands of papers have been written on each. For years creatine has been a part of the daily nutrient stack for serious folks wanting to build muscle. It builds muscle bulk, strength, and short-term endurance. These muscle gains continue to respond to creatine as you age. This is especially important as aging naturally causes you to lose muscle yearly. So what does that have to do with the brain?

Creatine is one of the ways the body stores short-term energy. It is readily converted into ATP by the body for immediate boosts in available energy. ATP is the body's energy currency and creatine is the quickest way to jump-start energy production. In muscles, the energy molecule glycogen is also stored. Glycogen is the storage form of sugar, and the muscle's ability to store sugar in this form is part of how we maintain proper metabolic balance. Generally, having a lot of muscle greatly helps us balance our blood sugar and protect our heart and arteries from damage caused by sugar. The body can also generate energy from fats, but the process is much slower and generally not used unless we are in a starvation state.

Muscles are not the only tissues that can store and use creatine for energy production. The brain can also do this. Since the brain is the most energy-intensive organ in the body, it always needs a lot of energy. Much like muscles, the brain also stores both creatine and glycogen as rapid energy molecules for use when the supply of glucose, the brain's usual energy source, is low. This is where I came across information about using creatine for Alzheimer's patients. Alzheimer's has been described as diabetes of the brain because the sugar regulation in the brain is severely dysfunctional. Creatine can step in and help support the energy requirements of these patients. Many of us more typical folks have poor energy regulation in the brain, so that is why I decided to try it out on myself. However, I may not notice much as the impact of taking creatine is most apparent when the patient is low in creatine, such as older people and vegetarians/vegans. (Vegan diets are low in creatine.)

At the time, I did not think much beyond that level about creatine. But recently I came across even more interesting information about creatine. It appears that creatine is very good at strengthening bones. The macrophage cells that remodel and build bone can also use creatine for energy. A daily dose of about 5 grams of creatine a day is being found to greatly slow the progress of osteoporosis. This dose is the currently agreed-upon ideal for most people. These findings were most noticed in post-menopausal women who were also doing some sort of resistance training. Creatine does not conflict with the use of bone loss drugs, so you can use both to get even better results.

Creatine has also been found to have neuroprotective effects beyond providing energy to the brain. It has shown itself to be an anti-inflammatory agent in the brain. It is used to treat mild depression as well as more serious conditions like Parkinson's, ALS, traumatic brain injury, and Huntington's disease. The exact mechanisms involved are still being studied. This anti-inflammatory effect extends throughout the body. In fact, the impact of creatine is about the same as using NSAIDs like acetaminophen and ibuprofen. Considering how damaging these are to the body, using creatine sounds like a much better option. At a minimum, using creatine will boost the effects of these other drugs so you won't need to use quite as much. This should lower your risk if you take them.

In a surprise finding, creatine was found to have a modulating effect on the part of the immune system that deals with autoimmunity. Specifically, it seems to down-regulate (turn off) receptors (switches) on our cell walls that make us more sensitive to autoimmune conditions. As such, creatine can actually be used to treat autoimmune conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, Hashimoto's thyroiditis, Lupus, and so on. It also shrinks the production of inflammatory cytokines by affecting the Nf kappa beta pathways much the same way curcumin from turmeric does.

Of course, we couldn't claim creatine is a true miracle unless it could make us look younger. But wait, it does! Creatine improves skin health and acts to slow aging. It has antioxidant properties which may slow down wrinkle formation by countering the effects of sun aging of the skin. Add in its energy production support and it helps the skin renew itself. There are some researchers that have put creatine into products to be used directly on the skin where it was found to increase collagen production. They found it decreased the sagging of the skin on the face and around the eyes.

Creatine is both safe and cheap. The best form of creatine to use is creatine monohydrate. In nature, it is found primarily in meats and seafood. That is why vegans are the most likely to be deficient in this nutrient. The older you are the less you are able to digest protein foods, so you too are likely to be lacking in creatine. It is vital to support your health span to keep as much muscle in your body as possible as you age. This protects you from metabolic disease which leads to diabetes and heart disease. Creatine can help you to do just this.

Creatine is a white powder that does not have much taste. It dissolves easily in water. It is very safe and very cost-effective. It costs around $16 to $25 per pound and a pound will last you about three months. So as far as health expenses go, you can not find a better bang for your buck. I think this one is a winner for us.

Take care,

David

Ellen

Ellen decided she wanted to do some painting that would work as a very light background over which she could print a principle/prayer for a client she has. I suggested she water down some of her acrylic paints to a high degree to make a very lightly tinted wash. She liked the idea, but we had nothing to put the acrylic into to water it down. A short perusal of Amazon yielded these lovely tiny glass ingredient cups that should do the job nicely. 

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"The constant assertion of belief is an indication of fear."

~Jiddu Krishnamurti

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"If we depend for our happiness on another, on society or on environment, they become essential to us; we cling to them, and any alteration of these we violently oppose because we depend upon them for our psychological security and comfort."

~Jiddu Krishnamurti

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"If we can really understand the problem, the answer will come out of it, because the answer is not separate from the problem. "

~Jiddu Krishnamurti