A healthy brain likely doesn't need any

creatine. But what if you're stressed?

What about sleep deprivation? Night

shift workers, university students

cramming for a midterm. Then all of a

sudden, the healthy brain becomes a

metabolically stressed brain. And most

people fall into the stressed

environment. And that's where creatine

comes to the rescue. And we'll talk

about how much, but the more stressed it

is, the higher the dose seems to come

into play.

>> And is there anyone that shouldn't take

creatine?

>> Well, I've published over 120 papers

just on creatine alone. And we've done

at least 30 to 40 studies in our lab.

And I can't find anybody that can't or

shouldn't take creatine. So, for

example, at recommended dosages,

creatine can not only have potential

anti-cancer properties, but really speed

up rehabilitation. And there's a lot of

hope, especially around Alzheimer's.

>> And what about kids?

>> The current body of evidence suggests

they want to get at least one gram per

day because in children, they want to

have optimization for bone health as

well as muscle development. And so I'm

fascinated that this nutrient discovered

in 1832 like boring for the longest time

as having these profound benefits we

never even thought would happen. And

[music] so your viewers today will be

surprised about some of the things I'm

going to talk about including micro

doing

>> and we've got this thing here in front

of us. This is the dosing dilemma. And I

want to talk about how much I need to

take for all these [music] things. And I

want to talk about nutrition, protein,

weight training, etc. But before that,

you've got five myths in front of you.

Can you reveal one by one what they are?

>> So this is Oh, I can't believe you did

this one to me. Creatine causes hair

loss. I was going bald before I started

taking creatine. Myth number two. Oh, so

this is by far the biggest myth and that

is

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[music]

>> Dr. Darren Kandow, what is the mission

that you're on in your life?

>> I think right now it would be to promote

health and make people live longer free

of disease. It's fascinating how we've

transcended our understanding of weight

training and now weight training is

seeming to have these profound effects

that cardiovascular exercise has and it

gives you a bit more. So really focusing

now on the benefits of lifting things

around the house and how exercise and

then of course nutrition. We're going to

talk about creatine but also how other

macronutrients especially protein come

into play. And then when you combine

those two, are we doing enough to

optimize longevity? And we hope that we

are. Yeah. And so what are the reference

points you're drawing on? How do you

know the things you know? Are you doing

your own research?

>> Yeah. So I did my uh graduate school in

Canada uh cell biology degree and then I

moved into my masters and PhD looking in

kinesiology. So it's interesting that I

fell into creatine supplementation

research by accident. I was doing my

masters on an amino acid called

glutamine. And at the time about 20 30

years ago, glutamine was the biggest

rage. Everybody was taking this

non-essential amino acid and hoping that

it would have body composition

improvements. uh and I sort of

determined it was worthless in young

healthy individuals from a body

composition uh standpoint. And at the

same time, a good colleague of mine was

doing creatine and I started to know

that these young biological males were

getting bigger, stronger, faster. And

then another study bigger, stronger,

faster. And then when you go to the

research on creatine, it was very

stimulating in a sense that we're now

improving things that we know with aging

go down. So then I turned my focus

completely to healthy aging and trying

to get, you know, grandparents and

great-grandparents and your parents to

live longer, free of disease. But wait,

let's start young. Start as early as you

can and move forward. Yeah.

>> And so you got really compelled by

creatine. I want to talk about all these

things, nutrition, protein, weight

training, etc.

>> But on this subject of creatine, what

was it that compelled you so much to

start you you did started doing your own

research on creatine?

>> I did and I started to take creatine.

So, you know, it was this natural

metabolite that we're synthesizing in

the liver and brain. If you take a

little bit more, not a lot, just a

little bit more than what we're probably

taking in from the food, uh, sources

such as red meat and seafood, can it

have benefits? And sure enough, it's now

the most researched supplement out

there. It's overtaken protein and

caffeine, uh, from an erogenic

perspective, and it's gone global, not

just for males, but of course, uh,

females and centurions and elderly. So

it's very fascinating the explosion in

this research project.

>> What is the sort of um not evolutionary

backdrop but I guess physiological

backdrop of why humans need creatine but

also why they might not be getting

optimal amounts.

>> Yeah, that's a great question. So uh

adenazine triphosphate or ATP is the

energy currency of all our cells. And

think of your muscle doing work or

shoveling the driveway or or walking.

You're using your muscles and you need

to maintain that level of energy to to

maintain exercise. Well, creatine comes

to the rescue to help maintain your

energy currency. So, if Batman, which

gets all the press, is ATP, Robin is

creatine. Creatine comes to the rescue.

It's his best friend to help maintain

these levels. Now, when you exercise at

a high intensity, you know, sprinting,

weightlifting, those ATP stores do

become jeopardized, and that's why

creatine sort of sacrifices itself uh to

come to the rescue. So that's why

anorobic sports the world cup just

started. These individuals will be using

a lot of creatine stores in their

muscle. The question is do they have

enough and if they had more could they

play better and so our body makes

creatine naturally.

>> That's correct. It is making about 1 to

three grams a day but only in two areas.

So this will be quite shocking for

people. We're only actually making it in

the liver and the brain. We don't make

it in skeletal muscle but you store 95%

in our muscle. So when it's being made

in the liver or brain, the brain will

keep it there, but in the liver it will

get transported in the blood up to your

or skeletal muscle. The question is,

well, what if we need more? And that's

where dietary creatine from red meat or

seafood or supplementation comes into

play.

>> So are we deficient in creatine?

>> There are small populations with

unfortunately they were born with the

inability to synthesize creatine. Uh

they would have a deficiency and they

are required to take supplementation.

The other unique population is vegans

and vegetarians. So vegan and vegetarian

diet is extremely healthy. The downfall

though is they're not getting any

dietary creatine because creatine is

only found in animal-based flesh. So red

meat, seafood, and poultry. They're

naturally synthesizing about one to two,

maybe even three grams a day through

amino acids in their food. But vegans

and vegetarians respond literally the

best on the planet because now they're

taking in a supplement to allow that in.

And is it thought that historically we

would naturally have consumed more

creatine?

>> That's a good point. So back, you know,

hunter and gather age, a lot of meat,

they were consuming quite a bit through

dietary products. Just say if you only

wanted to get three grams of creatine

through food, you'd have to eat quite a

bit of meat to do that. And then it

comes into the dilemma of what if you

don't eat meat or you just can't afford

it. Yeah, [clears throat]

>> creatine has exploded over the rec over

the last couple of years. I I saw a stat

that said I think in women it had gone

up to about 3% of women take the

creatine and Um, in men it's slightly

higher.

>> It's still a little bit lower in terms

of consumption in women from the stats

that I saw. And I think that in part is

because there's still some prevailing

myths about creatine. When I when I

speak to some of my friends, people know

that I interview a lot of um, health

experts and scientists and PhDs on that

have done research on supplements. They

ask me the first question I get asked a

lot is what other supplements should I

definitely take?

>> Yes.

>> And when I mention creatine, it's always

met with a certain set of rebuttals

because there are some prevailing myths.

>> You've got some myths.

>> Yes. about creatine on the cards in

front of you. Can you reveal one by one

what they are?

>> So this is definitely the number one

myth. Creatine damages your kidneys. So

when you take in creatine to the body it

gets stored as creatine. But when you

metabolize it sort of sort of thinking

leaking from the muscle it gets leaked

out as creatinin. And most people

watching like oh that was on my blood

requisition form and right below creatin

was something called EGFR.

So glomeir filtration rate is an

estimation of your kidney health. So the

problem is when individuals on creatine

supplementation, they go to their doctor

for their annual blood work, their

creatinin might be a little bit elevated

and that's only from the breakdown of

the uh the compound and then

unfortunately their filtration rate is

lower. So then their doctor gets really

surprised and they're like stop taking

creatine because it's hurting your

kidneys. What typically happens they go

back or stopping creatine and then they

check their kidneys again and it's fine.

So I would say [snorts] 99 out of 100

times uh that it's a false positive. So,

this is by far the biggest uh myth and

there's been randomized control trials

for several years showing that creatine

causes no detrimental effects to the

kidneys.

>> I had exactly that twice on my blood

test.

>> Yes. And if you're also creatin can be

elevated if you're on a high meat diet,

a little bit dehydrated. So, those that

are exercising uh is very very elevated.

So, always tell your doctor you're on

creatine supplementation because your

creatin could be a little bit higher.

>> Okay.

>> Yep. Myth number two, creatine makes you

retain water. So, this is really

important and I think this is one of the

main reasons females were really

hesitant to take creatine. If you take

too much too soon, it can lead to an

increase in water retention. So, you've

probably heard of the creatine loading

phase. This is where supplement

companies want you to take about 20 or

30 grams a day for about 5 or 7 days.

That has been shown to increase water

retention acutely. So maybe it'll reside

there for about three to five days but

after that when you go on a maintenance

phase of about three to five grams a day

uh that water retention goes away. So in

the initial stages if done improperly or

too much it can cause a little bit of

water retention. The good news for

everybody watching is after about the

first week that water's inside our

muscle. So now we're volumizing the size

of our muscle sort of like a balloon

here. It's full of water. Now after a

while the water is now going into our

muscle. It's a lot bigger compared to a

deflated balloon or muscle that didn't

have any water. So creatine is osmotic.

Water likes to follow creatine. So by

taking it into the muscle, it gets a lot

bigger. And that's good because a

swollen muscle stimulates protein

synthesis to get bigger and stronger.

>> Oh, really? A swollen muscle stimulates

protein synthesis.

>> Synthesis. Yeah. So when you have water

coming in, that's a really good thing.

And creatine does that. And that's one

of the main mechanisms why it works.

>> So what does that mean? Does that mean

that if I have creatine in my muscle,

I'm more likely to gain muscle?

>> That is potentially the the factor

because when you're having or trapping

water, it turns on all these signaling

pathways that are involved in protein

synthesis. And one of the biggest robust

evidence is that creatine increases lean

tissue mass and regional muscle

thickness with weight training over

time.

>> Oh wow. Okay. Yeah. Because a lot of

people are concerned that they're going

to put on lots of weight and be bloated

with creatine.

>> The interesting there is if you take

smaller, more micro doing there's hardly

any effect. And this might come

surprising, but if you did a 6 week

study pre and post after creatine, you

only increase mass by86 kg.

>> Oh wow.

>> And the majority of that is lean mass.

So at the end of the day, you know, a

pound and a half is not a lot.

>> Lean mass.

>> Lean mass. Yeah.

>> Which is

>> we think of lean mass, most people think

of it as muscle, but lean mass in our

body, that includes water, connective

tissue, organs, as well as skeletal

muscle. And about 50% of our lean mass

is muscle.

>> Okay. Yeah.

>> It's great.

>> Okay. Okay, myth number three, creatine

is only for men. Uh this is 100% false.

When you go through the totality of all

the evidence, uh females respond

extremely robustly to creatine

supplementation. They get profound

benefits in strength, endurance, and

performance. They lose a little bit of

body fat. So, there's another idea that

people thought water retention was

causing an increase in in fat mass.

We've done some meta analysis now

showing that creatine reduces fat mass.

Uh, [snorts] females get an increase in

lean mass as well. Uh, and I'm happy

this one came up because from our lab

with bone health, females do respond

very favorably with creatine and bone.

And we can talk about that as well. Myth

number four. Oh, I can't believe you did

this one to me. Creatine causes hair

loss. So, obviously looking at me and uh

I'm a prolific uh creatine researcher

and taking creatine religiously for like

the last two and a half decades. People

would look at me and say, "Well,

obviously looking at him, creatine

caused this." And I was going bald

before I started taking creatine. This

myth came from a study in rugby players

decades ago, uh, where creatine about 20

to 25 grams a day for 7 days, increase a

hormone called DHT. It's a precursor for

testosterone, which unfortunately has

been linked to hair follicle loss and

thinning. Uh but the ironic thing is

when creatine was given to these young

males the hormone went up but it was

still within the biological range and no

measure of hair follicle thinning or

loss uh was done. The cool thing is just

a few years ago they decided to put this

uh uh theory to the test and 5 g in

young males for about 6 to 8 weeks of

training caused no uh detrimental effect

uh from hair thinning foll so my

appearance was probably based on

something else. So there's no evidence

to that as well. Myth number five,

creatine causes muscle cramps. No, I

think this is so overplayed. When

creatine t is taken into the body and

water will follow it, now you're super

hydrating the muscle. So, one of the

main issues with muscle cramps is it

could be, you know, uh uh dehydration in

the muscle. Some people have heard of

sodium potassium. That's why Gatorade

was invented. But if anything, sodium

decreases muscle cramps and it super

hydrates. So, in the hotter

environments, June, July, August,

creatine is going to be one of your best

friends.

So those are the five myths. We talked

there about weight training. What is

this very curious graph? It seems to

show that creatine

helped gain muscle mass through a

training regime.

>> Oh yes. So this is actually showing now

that uh when you take creatine

supplementation, you're actually getting

an improvement in training volume. So

when you go in the weight room, you look

at the load you're lifting by the reps

by the sets. So it actually goes up. Um,

and then when you don't, obviously, it

would go down over time as well. So, the

cool thing here is that one of the main

reasons you get an enhancement in

performance is that creatine seems to

enhance training capacity. So, a lot of

people say, I've taken creatine, now I

got an increase in the number of reps or

uh sets that I can perform that probably

leads to a stimulation over time.

>> So, this is a 8week study.

>> That is an 8week study, very short term

as well. Also, you can see that the

number of weeks came uh down when they

weren't taking creatine and then when

they started to take it, it went up as

well. And this leads to another

important point. So, and it's often not

talked about when you take creatine for

at least a month. People say, "Well, how

long does it stay in my muscles if I go

on vacation? What if I can't take

creatine?" And in skeletal muscle, it

takes about a month for those elevated

levels to come back down. In the brain,

we don't have a lot of evidence, but

it's speculated it takes about anywhere

between five uh weeks to about three

months for those elevations to come back

down.

>> And this essentially means that if I

take creatine, I will be able to train

harder,

>> harder or longer or more frequent. So,

one of the things with creatine, it

allows the muscle to recover quicker.

So, you might be able to get back to the

uh you know, if an athletes training

twice a day. Um, so either one of those

seems to be one of the most plausible

mechanisms. And why is there a big dip

in the middle of this graph?

>> So that is actually showing where the

individuals would train and then without

creatine and then take it over time as

well.

>> Oh, okay. So they'd they'd stop.

>> It's a draining and then taking it

again. Correct.

>> Okay. So they start taking it

>> uh taking it at at week four and then

that's where the elevations go up.

[snorts]

>> Oh

>> yeah. So it goes to show that when you

have creatine everything is elevated. If

you stop taking it, it takes about four

weeks to come back down. But you'll

notice that it was at the same level as

a placebo. And then when they take it

again, they get a rebound effect. So I

think this has application for people

who have injured themselves and they now

need to go back and start training. If

you take creatine, it can accelerate the

rehabilitation program.

>> H and it does it I guess because it

makes your training volume increase.

Correct.

>> It makes your muscle mass gain increase.

>> It can gain increase in muscle mass.

It's not great. That's probably going to

be a bit surprising to a lot of people.

A lot of people take creatine for huge

increases in muscle. You get an increase

in lean mass by about 1.2 2 kg. But as I

I said previously, remember only half of

that is skeletal muscle. So creatine,

yes, can with weight training improve

muscle mass, but it has more robust

evidence for muscle performance.

>> Is there anything else we need to know

about creatine's link to muscle mass?

>> I think one of the big things is that it

decreases something called protein

breakdown. So that might allow the

muscle to maintain its integrity or

recover quicker. Uh but overall when you

combine creatine with a standard weight

training program you should expect a

greater increase than weight training

alone. Absolutely. And that is that's

across all ages which is really

important.

>> Okay. And the studies you've done in

your own lab what are those? How wide

varing are those and how many have you

done?

>> We've oh god we've done at least 30 to

40 studies um in our lab. I've published

over 120 papers just on creatine alone.

Wow. And the interesting thing is that

from young individuals to middle age to

older adults, we see a very common uh

theme that combined with weight training

uh creatine about 5 g or more uh we use

typically a little bit more seems to

have uh beneficial effects on muscle

mass uh muscle strength as well as

performance. Absolutely.

>> Can you show me what 5 g looks like?

>> Absolutely. So this would be a standard

5 g dose

>> which is one scoop really

>> one scoop. Now, keep in mind that can be

found in in meat or seafood, but you're

going to require a lot. Yeah.

>> Okay. So, 5 g is one scoop.

>> One scoop.

>> And you're saying we don't necessarily

need to do this loading phase that

bodybuilders would

>> correct. So, the loading phase is the

most rapid way to saturate your muscles.

Now, that's very beneficial, but that

would be four scoops. So four scoops is

a loading phase per day and it's very

effective but the issue is can it cause

some adverse GI tract irritation things

like that's where anidoli people report

that but a lot of people from a muscle

perspective will start with just five

grams a day and that's very beneficial

>> and at five grams a day what benefits am

I getting

>> five oh across from a skeletal muscle

perspective you get a whole plethora so

you definitely get an increase in lean

tissue mass or muscle size uh and then

again muscle performance uh muscle

strength power and endurance and the

other one that never gets a lot of press

which should is function functional

ability, an older adult to sit to stand.

Uh, this has applications getting off

the toilet, out of the bed, out of a

car. So, as we get older, we're losing

muscle strength and performance as well

as functionality, and creatine and

weight training seems to come to the

rescue there.

>> And is there anyone that shouldn't take

creatine,

>> you know? I can't find anybody that

can't or shouldn't. The safety profile

is exceptional. If they have

pre-existing medical conditions, they

definitely need to speak to their

doctor. Uh besides that, I'm not seeing

any reason a healthy individual can't

take or shouldn't take creatine

>> and pregnant women.

>> So that's an interesting uh colleague of

mine, Dr. Stacy Eller of Australia is

now finally looking at human uh trials

with pregnancy uh going into breast milk

into uh the fetus. So uh it's still in

its infancy. The jury is still out, but

as it currently stands, it seems to be

relatively safe and well tolerated.

>> Okay. So not all creatine is made the

same,

>> right? Correct.

>> There's lots of different types of

creatine. People Some people take

creatine gummies. Um, I mean I have some

different types of creatine here.

Creatine monohydrate, creatine

hydrochlorate.

>> Okay.

>> I remember looking when I was in a shelf

a couple of months ago and seeing like

five or six different types of creatine.

>> Um, what is the the optimal type of

creatine to take and why?

>> So, by far creatine monohydrate

>> and that goes against all the new

marketing forms. So, creatine

monohydrate is simply creatine linked to

one water molecule. When you take it

into the body, the water molecule

dissolves. is identical to uh what's

being produced in the liver and the

brain. All the evidence that you ever

hear about the safety and efficacy of

creatine is based on the old boring from

1832 creatine monohydrate. There's

[snorts] new market forms of creatine

such as hydrochloride which does have

evidence behind it. There's many other

forms, but the only downfall with all

these market forms is it's never been

shown to be safer or more effective than

creatine monohydrate. The other big

thing for your viewers is make sure it

has crea pure or some form of creatine

monohydrate on uh the label and then and

that it's also third party tested.

>> Create pure.

>> Creapure is from Germany. It has the

highest um standard of of qualification

and um scrutiny and then NSF certified

or another third party certified. So

those are the three things that I

personally would look for. Monohydrate,

creure is the type and then NSF

certified or third party certification

>> which is that little logo at the bottom.

>> That little logo here at the bottom.

That's right. What does that mean? So

NSF is the National Sanitation

Foundation. It's a third party

organization that will independently

take the the supplement and then third

party test it and then you get a

certificate of analysis to make so there

there's no contaminants like lead or

arsenic or things like that. So that's

something for the consumers watching to

definitely be aware of when you go to uh

the store.

>> And we've got this uh thing here in

front of us. This is the dosing dilemma.

>> Um we talked about muscle there.

>> Have we checked muscle off or is there

anything else to cover?

>> No. So, how many scoops do you think is

optimal for skeletal muscle? [snorts]

>> Oh, uh, skeletal muscle.

>> Yeah. Your bicep, your tricep, you know,

Arnold Schwarzenegger.

>> Five. Five grams.

>> Five grams. So, that's only going to be

one little scoop.

>> Okay.

>> Okay. That's probably very viable. And

you're correct. Across the lifespan,

five grams has been shown to be

effective. But here's a little bit of

caveat. If you're over the age of 50,

maybe you want to have a little bit more

because as we get older, the creatine in

our lower legs is more jeopardized and

therefore you might need a bit more.

>> Okay.

>> Okay. This is without the loading phase.

So this is if you just want to take a

little bit per day

>> and do you have to take it consistently?

>> Good question. So ideally, yes, there is

evidence that you can just take it on

the training days, but we haven't talked

about the brain yet. And the reason why

I think you should take it every day is

it likes to go to other tissues on a

daily basis.

>> So that's about seven grams. How much?

>> That's about seven or eight grams. And

that seems to be very safe and viable uh

dose to be shown to be effective for

improving muscle mass.

>> Okay.

>> And performance.

>> I I do have um an issue sometimes when I

take a little bit more creatine which is

I feel

>> I wouldn't say laded but I get a little

bit dizzy almost.

>> 100%.

>> What is that?

>> So there is a mechanism. So creatine is

the biggest methyl scavenger in the body

and without boring your viewers but

methyl groups are used for everything.

They're also used to synthesize

something called adrenaline and our

neurotransmitters. You know the things

that we get excited about. So when you

take in too much creatine typically on

an empty stomach or in a dehydrated

state [snorts] that will spare methyl

groups in the body to be used because

you're taking so much in and then it

says where can I go? So since creatine

is now being taken into a supplement,

these methyl groups are available in

your body to go elsewhere to do work and

they like to synthesize adrenaline and

that's why you feel more uh um energetic

so to speak.

>> When you say synthesize adrenaline, what

does that mean?

>> Yeah, that means you're creating more of

the hormone called epinephrine and that

you know you hear about fight or flight

or you're nervous or whichever it is, it

gives you a little bit more of that. So

that's why sometimes you feel a little

bit jittery or things like that.

[clears throat]

>> Yeah. Sometimes I can feel a little bit

sick as well if I do too much.

>> Yeah. And so that's where it's sort of

the new area of interest for me is this

micro doing based on that. So we're

starting to see some evidence now that

if you take smaller amounts all

throughout the day, it does not have any

adverse effects. If anything, it seems

to be a little bit more tolerable. Um so

you could take a few grams in the

morning, a few grams in the evening or

whichever. I think one of the best uh

ways to take it that never gets any

press is I put five grams in my water

bottle during my workout. Mhm.

>> And so [clears throat] now I'm consuming

a little bit of creatine as I do my

weight liifting or cardio and then I'll

consume a little bit in the morning as

well. So I take about 10 grams a day at

minimum on on a daily basis. Other

people will take more or less but that's

just how I get it in. Yeah.

>> I find that if I do take a little bit in

the morning and then a little bit later

it's much better.

>> 100%

>> into I don't get any weird feelings.

>> That's correct. And uh it seems to be

more consistent and appreciated for

individuals because if you do or are

susceptible to any fluctuations in

weight gain, water retention or GI tract

irritation, those seem to to definitely

go away. And we've god, we've assessed

over a thousand individuals in my lab

and that seems to be a very viable

approach.

Not a lot of taste to it, is there?

[laughter]

>> It's not the best tasting.

>> It's very bland, very boring. Um but

there's other companies trying to make

it more flavorful, things like that. The

cool thing is with uh creatine, you can

put it in anything. You can put it in

yogurt, uh, uh, a juice, whichever it

is. You can now put it in coffee.

There's a little bit of controversy over

the dose of caffeine. I think anywhere

lower than 350 milligrams is fine, and

that's going to be most standard uh,

coffees or teas as well. So, whichever

allows you to become consistent is is a

great way to do it. Yeah,

>> there should be a button just down below

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And if you're not subscribed, please

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Thank you so much.

>> Okay, so bone. Tell me what I need to

know about bone.

>> So now we talked about muscle. How many

do you think for the skeleton here?

>> Um, the same.

>> Okay, seven.

>> Unfortunately, the lowest dose ever been

shown to have bone benefits is 8 g all

the way up to 12. So now we're in a

dosing dilemma already. We just started.

We have a little bit disconnect between

muscle and bone. 3 to 5 gram seems to be

really good for muscle. A little bit

more is fine, but bone needs to be a

little bit more. And that's primarily

based on some of our work from our lab

where we've shown that about 8 to 12

grams a day with exercise and that's

crucial. If you do not exercise, there's

never been a study ever uh shown to have

bone benefits. But if you do perform

weightlifting, one of the very cool

things in post-menopausal females is

that creatine seemed to reduce the rate

of bone mineral density loss around the

hip region. So it didn't increase bone

density, but it decrease bone density

loss. And it also seemed to maintain or

improve the structure of the bone a

little bit more. So that has profound

beneficial effects, especially as we get

older. If those individuals on creatine

were to fall, maybe they might not

fracture their hip. And as we both know,

if you fracture your hip, you're going

to be placed in long-term care or you're

going to be inactive for at least 6

months. So, creatine has some bone

benefits. They're not great. They don't

improve bone density. So, they're not

going to be an osteoprotic cure, but

there is something there, especially if

you're prone to uh osteoporosis or

osteopenia.

>> And what's the mechanism there that's

stopping bone loss?

>> Yeah, it's very interesting. So, if you

understand a 24-hour cycle that creatine

sort of stimulates these bone building

cells to become more energized. Think of

Super Mario, the original Nintendo when

he got the mushroom, he became

energized. Creatine does that as well.

And then on the flip side, creatine

seems to decrease uh the osteoclass or

bone breakdown cells. So by a

synergistic uh mechanism, it seems to

cause this turnover to go a little bit

better causing the bone to maintain its

structure. It's very similar to a

bisphosphinate that someone would be

taking to maintain their bone health.

>> A bisphosphinate.

>> Yeah. It's a drug that a lot of

individuals will take if they're prone

to bone loss. Uh, obviously creatine is

not a drug, but it has some of those

similar properties.

>> So, we've got muscle. I need to take

about seven or eight grams to get those

benefits. With bone, it's a little bit

more.

>> A little bit more.

>> You don't mean additionally.

>> No, in in total. So, now this is where

we get into the daily dosing dilemma.

We've gone from 3 to 5 g or a little bit

more for muscle. Bone is maybe 8 to 10

or a little bit more. So, what do you

think on the brain? The hottest topic.

>> 10.

>> 10. Okay. So, that would be, you know,

two scoops.

>> I'm just assuming this increases.

>> Yeah. So the interesting thing here is

that the brain will naturally make its

own creatine very similar to the liver.

So since the brain is actually making

its own creatine, it may not require as

much or any on a daily basis. So here's

the brain obviously and in different

regions creatine is being synthesized

and being used all throughout. So this

organ is about 2 kg but uses 20% of our

daily energy at rest. So just think

about that. 20% of the amount of energy

we're consuming from food or using is

being used by the brain. But what if

you're stressed? Sleep deprivation. Your

dog got you up in the middle of the

night to pee and you couldn't fall back

to sleep. Uh university students

cramming for a midterm. Um now all the

countries look at the World Cup, they're

going to be up stress, you know,

different time zones. Then all of a

sudden the healthy brain becomes a

metabolically stressed brain. So your

guess about 10 grams on average is fine

because the brain on a nonstress day is

naturally making is enough and [snorts]

it's healthy. But now we get into a more

difficult what about those metabolic

stressors? So again all the neurons in

the brain are being used. So what about

sleep deprivation?

>> 10 g

>> for sleep deprived.

>> You

>> when was the last time you slept 10

straight hours?

[laughter]

>> It's been a while. It's been a while for

even you to pause there. You know,

that's that's alarming because you're

thinking, "When was the last time I got

a really good night's sleep?"

>> Mhm.

>> What if you were up for 24 hours?

>> Gosh.

>> An ER doctor traveling different time

zones, all these come into play.

>> Yeah.

>> Remember on a healthy brain, you know,

adequate sleep, uh prop the brain is

actually making enough. But when you're

stressed, night shift workers, uh,

military pilots, ER doctors, whichever

it is, that's where the brain starts to

rely on supplementation.

So, unfortunately for the brain,

creatine really struggles to get through

the bloodb brain barrier. But if it

does, now you might need longer or

higher dosages. So, what about sleep

deprived?

>> I have no idea.

>> Okay, so let's say there's five,

there's 10. What do you think?

>> It's going to be more, isn't it?

>> It's going to be a lot more. Here's 15.

Couple studies showed some benefits.

Now, let's do 20. Remember that loading

phase?

>> The best overall studies currently right

now that use an MRI for the brain have

showed about 20 grams seems to have some

effect acutely.

But the two studies last year out of

Germany even showed this. There's 25

And here's 30.

So a classic study was done last year

when they gave 30 grams to a group of

young individuals who volunteered to be

sleepd deprived for 21 hours. And that

level of creatine increased uh creatine

levels in the brain and it offset some

of the negative effects. Remember that

was an acute episode of 21 hours of

sleep deprivation. They've done a

subsequent study going down to about uh

0.2 grams or about 14 grams. it didn't

have the same effect.

>> So remember, a healthy brain likely

doesn't need any creatine, but a

stressed brain likely does. And the more

stressed it is, the higher the dose

seems to come into play. There's a lot

of nuances with the brain. Obviously, we

just show different regions, which we

don't have a lot of information, but

overall, it seems that 20 gram seems to

be the most viable dose. When the brain

is stressed, we basically need to start

dumping out quite a bit more. So when

you get from this area on, the brain

healthy likely doesn't benefit from any

type of supplementation cuz it's making

its own. But in these areas when you're

stressed, it likely does. The area of

nuance or why it's become so popular is

I think most people fall into the

stressed environment.

And if they're not getting enough

creatine through their diet and or

supplementation, that's why this big

explosion on let's take more to sort of

check off all the boxes. So I take 10

grams a day at minimum to check off

muscle, right? That checks off bone for

the most part. And I'm pretty sure over

time 10 grams would do the most part for

stress. Now, since I just flown

different time zones today, I'm taking

20 to 25 grams based on this acutely.

And then when I go back to a

non-stressed environment back to Canada,

I'll go back to my regular 10. So, I

look at the 10 g dose or a little bit

more as kind of being like a safety net.

If you're only taking three to five, you

definitely will get muscle benefits.

Will you eventually get brain benefits?

There's a small chance, but taking a

little bit more, and remember the cool

thing for your viewers, we're not

talking about protein. If we were

talking about protein, the entire thing

would be hundreds of grams. We're only

talking about maybe 20 grams. And that

may only need to be done acutely. You

know, when you're really going through

metabolic stress, look at university

students, five final exams, hardly any

sleep for a week. This is where this

would come into play. I look at flight

attendants or pilots. They'll fly from

Canada to Europe and then they go back

home. their circadium rhythms are are

all over the place. So I I think of of

all these scenarios. The area that I was

surprised I watched one of the episodes

of the Aerys tour and [snorts] you know

money can't stop circadian rhythm. So as

much as Taylor Swift would have I was

marveled by 3 hours of performance in 90

to 100,000 people of all her running

around and then when you see her they're

totally gassed. They finish the concert

they're totally mentally exhausted.

That's a situation where this could come

into enhanced performance. Then you

think of uh celebrities, you think of uh

uh athletes, these a lot of high

pressure things like imagine being in

the World Cup final. The pressure, the

mental capacity, that's where creatine

seems to come into play. There's a lot

of nuances. Um we still don't know a

lot. So I think the big takehome for

people is that if you're going through

periods of stress, a little bit more is

okay. Uh we don't know any adverse

effects. We don't think there are any.

Um, but again, if you're just taking

creatine for muscle, bone, and the

brain, you're likely going to be

checking off all those boxes.

>> And when we start getting the the brain

benefits up at this end,

>> what are those brain benefits that were

recorded in the studies? Is it I'm going

to feel like I slept or is it something

more internal?

>> You likely won't feel anything.

>> Ah, okay.

>> However, when you get to tasks the next

day, so for example, you're up all

night, you take a high dose of creatine,

then you have to go write the final or

the midterm or you can't remember. It's

those things when your memory and and

and doing puzzles or basic tasks or what

about a stroke test?

>> What's a strip test?

>> So, I'm going to get you to do this. I

apologize in advance.

>> It's one of the most fatiguing things

that you can do and it was one of the

most robust studies to show the efficacy

behind creatine. So, all I simply want

you to do is you can see that there's uh

words and then corresponding letters.

But you'll notice that the color is

incorrect. So up here you would see, you

know, you have red, blue, green, blue,

black. But the Stroop test is now

looking at the bottom part.

>> Okay.

>> So I've tried it. I can only get the

line two without making a mistake.

>> Okay.

>> Okay. So I want you to do this out loud,

but as fast as possible.

>> And am I reading the words or the color?

>> You're reading the color.

>> Okay. So the first one is green. Yeah.

>> Uh yes.

>> Okay, fine. You want to do it as fast as

possible.

>> As fast as possible.

>> Okay. So, let's see how you do.

>> Gosh, this is confusing already. I hit

the second one and I got it wrong in my

head.

>> Depends how much creatine you told me.

>> I don't think I've had creatine today.

Okay.

>> Okay. Green, red, yellow, green, blue,

black, orange, red, blue, green, blue,

pink, black, gray, yellow, red, blue,

green. Oh, [ __ ]

>> There you go. See, I failed. The study

that they did, get this, they had to do

this for 90 straight minutes.

>> Oh wow.

>> So you can imagine how fatiguing that is

for someone studying for the MCATs for

medical school or you know midterms

being sleepd deprived and you're not

sleep deprived and you struggled and you

got slower. Now you have to do this for

90 minutes. Wow. And in this classic

study they gave 20 grams of creatine uh

before they did the test and then after

and it really improved their ability

with speed and cognition there. It's

just a simple example to show wow our

brain is seeing one thing we got to me

maintain memory and cognition and

creatine can help maintain some of those

uh factors. So you won't feel anything

but performance of activities like that

come into play.

>> Do you know how much it improved the

performance on the street?

>> I would have to get the graph but it did

prove statistically significant. Yeah.

>> What else is there for me to know about

the impact that creatine can have on the

brain? Yeah, you know, I think as a as a

podcaster who sometimes sits here for

many, many hours interviewing people on

a range of subjects. I'm always trying

to find if there's any way that I can

perform better mentally.

>> Yeah. So, it doesn't boost the brain. It

likely just brings those levels back up

to normal levels before stress and it

might give you a little bit more. So, uh

there's been populations Alzheimer's

disease, clinical depression, uh

concussion. When those populations are

evident, one of the biggest uh uh

factors is that they have reduced

creatine in their brain. So maybe

supplementation can get through the

bloodb brain barrier. The brain says, "I

need help." And that's why you see some

improvements there as well. So I like to

think of the brain that creatine can act

as a safety net. Um, and it certainly

won't cause any detrimental effects. But

it's always good to have that because

you never know when I give you a stroop

test. Like I'm going to find you

tomorrow and give you this and say

you're going to be practicing all night.

Will you perform better? But that's just

an example of something that we go

through on a daily basis. if someone's

working on Wall Street or whichever it

is, a really high stress demand, uh you

know, stuck in traffic for two hours,

these all add up and it's a cascade of

stressors that unfortunately most people

go through. And now we have a nutrient

that is being made in the brain. But

during times of stress, it likely needs

a little bit of help. For the last

couple years, I've been working on

something that I realized every

podcaster listening to this, but

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Podcasting is difficult for many reasons

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>> What about inflammation in the body? So,

what is inflammation and is there a link

between creatine supplementation and

inflammation?

>> There is. So, unfortunately, uh I'm 49.

So, at the age of 40, I have this

systemic inflammation that went up. And

we all know this because around the age

of 30, we're, you know, you can work out

and nothing hurts. And all of a sudden,

you wake up one day when you're in your

40s and 50s and things hurt. And so,

systemic inflammation is happening all

the time. And unfortunately, it

accelerates aging. We're more sore more

often and it can lead to a lot of

arthritis or or joint pain and things

like that. Creatine does have

anti-inflammatory effects, but a big

distinction. Creatine is not like

acetaminophen or ibuprofen which

directly as a drug effect uh blocks that

but it has been shown to decrease

markers of inflammation specifically

during long duration exercise. So this

is an important distinction. Weight

training is too acute but when you do

iron man triathlon things like that

those individuals who took creatine 20

grams a day for 5 days beforehand they

had reductions in inflammation markers.

So that might allow that individual to

recover quicker, not get ill and then

perform more optimally. From a weight

training perspective, we see that it

decreases markers of muscle damage. So

it has these anti-inflammatory and anti

catabolic effects as well.

>> Interesting.

>> Yeah.

>> And what about people that have

neurodeenerative disorders?

>> Yes. So Alzheimer's is is the area we're

really starting to focus on. And a

couple single arm studies came out last

year by Matt Taylor and Aaron Smith

showing that 20 grams a day for eight

weeks did increase brain creatine levels

in Alzheimer's patients and it seemed to

improve measures of memory and cognition

there as well. So again using the same

mechanisms it decreases inflammation. It

maintains brain bioenergetics and it

might actually have a neural protection

effect as well. There's evidence in cell

cultures and in rodents that there's

some lines there but in humans we're

still in in the infancy. But if it can

have any benefit to any neurological

disease, it's huge. And there's a lot of

hope, especially around Alzheimer's.

>> There was an 8week trial in Alzheimer's

patients that also showed modest muscle

gains and a 1.9 kg increase in hand grip

strength,

>> which is a key predicator of survival in

dementia patients. Correct.

>> Um, which was a landmark study of 20

Alzheimer's patients found that taking

20 grams of creatine daily for 8 weeks

increased brain creatine levels by 11%

and significantly improved the cognitive

test scores they showed. That's the

journal of psychiatry and brain science.

>> And that one's really exciting and I

think more future studies will come out.

The limitation with those is that there

was no placebo to compare to. But again,

it's just showing that yes, creatine can

be used as an effective adjunct. Yeah.

>> And because there is impact on our

brain, is there impact on our mental

health

>> with creatine?

>> Excellent point. So the best lines of

evidence here come from clinical

depression and anxiety. Uh the group out

of Utah and the United States have

clearly shown that creatine in addition

to other therapies. So this is

important. Creatine by itself has never

been shown to be a standalone, but with

SSRIs or cognitive behavior therapy or

methamphetamine use in populations under

medical supervision, the addition of

creatine seem to improve symptoms and

it's likely going back to all the ones

we've already talked about where it

improves uh bioenergetics. It improves

uh neuro uh transmission or

neuromodulation. Uh but it also in

animals has been shown to improve a

protein called BDNF. Uh so this protein

is involved in brain plasticity. So

there's a whole bunch of emerging

evidence and hope that creatine one day

will be used uh as a treatment in the

toolbox for a lot of these clinical uh

issues. PTSD also comes to my mind.

>> There was a study in Gatorade Sports

Science Institute which PubMed published

that said a study of over 200,000 adults

found that those who consumed the least

amount of creatine in their daily diet

had the highest rates of depressive

symptoms.

>> Yes, that's correct. And the common

denominators those with clinical

depression or anxiety when you measure

their baseline creatine stores very

similar to concussion or Alzheimer's

they're reduced. So therefore obviously

this condition or series of conditions

is causing a disruption at the brain

bioenergetic level and creatine levels

are decreasing.

>> And there was another in PubMed that

said in a clinical trial of women with

major depression adding 5 g of creatine

to their daily anti-depressant Yes.

>> doubled their remission rate over 8

weeks.

>> That's correct. Yes. And that group is

from Perry Renshaw's group out of Utah.

Uh they do great work. Our hope and I'm

collaborating uh with some colleagues

now to look at creatine as a standalone

treatment versus placebo. Could it have

some beneficial effects there? So that's

very exciting to come out.

>> If I don't want to be supplementing with

creatine, is there what are the foods

that I can eat that are high in creatine

naturally?

>> They're primarily uh animal based. So

seafood and red meat. Um you know,

herring is going to have one of the

highest concentrations. uh salmon uh as

well as beef. Uh very small amounts in

milk and dairy. So you'd have to drink

all the the milk in the Jersey cow to

get a sufficient amount. So uh it

definitely comes down to animal based

flesh. Yeah.

>> There's some other studies that I that I

love that I've I think I've heard you

talk about before. One of them was um

young athletes who took five grams of

creatine daily slept an average of 1

hour longer on training days.

>> Yeah, we did that study a few years ago

in in young biological females who were

healthy and on the days that they

trained and took creatine. This is

interesting because they actually slept

an hour longer uh compared to a placebo.

So this is a very interesting fact. So

creatine, you know, we now know it has

brain bioenergetics. And there's two

arguments. If it's making the brain

recover, wouldn't you need less sleep?

Right now, in this study, it showed that

improved. So maybe these individuals

trained at a higher capacity and allowed

the brain to have more homeostasis to

come back. So this is an air a study

that needs to be replicated in males as

well to see can creatine improve sleep

quantity and if it is I think that's a

gamecher. I I think everybody on the

planet would raise their hand and say

hey I need more sleep.

>> Is there anything else we haven't

covered as it relates to creatine?

>> You know the expected gains versus the

hype gains. I think there's evidence

there that creatine can have an effect.

I I think it's getting overhyped

especially around the brain for what it

can do. It's one tool in the toolbox and

I think it's it's one of those things

that I'd like to show or you know talk

about for sure. Yeah.

>> Well, what do you mean by that?

>> So, if you think of a toolbox when it

comes to a plan, whenever you need to go

fix things, you simply say, "Where's my

toolbox?" You can't do anything without

a plan. And the way I like to preface

this is the most popular tool in

anybody's toolbox is the hammer. Now,

from a lifestyle perspective, what do

you think the hammer represents? What

would you decide that the hammer

represents? Um, as in like a

>> is it weight training? Is it cardio? Is

it creatine? Is it protein? Or is it

sleep?

>> Sleep.

>> Okay. So, I say weight training is going

to be the hammer.

>> Okay.

>> Okay.

>> Now, what about the screwdriver? Always

need a screwdriver.

>> Creatine.

>> No, I think aerobic training or sleep

comes way before creatine.

>> Okay. [clears throat]

>> But most people say, "Hey, I can fix a

lot of things with that." Now remember,

we have a nice big toolbox.

I like to think of creatine as the

multiffactorial wrench or screwdriver

because creatine has profound benefits

for muscle, a little bit for bone, of

course, brain and other areas of the

body. So you can hit something with

this. You can open it up and fix

something with this. It's heavy. You can

also pull out the measuring tape. Your

argument, sleep, this could be protein,

whichever it is. So when you put all

these things in your toolbox, you're now

having a greater comprehensive plan to

improve health.

>> So you said weight training was the

hammer

>> hammer. I like to consider if you were

to choose one modality of exercise,

weight training is a little bit superior

to cardio. You get pretty much all the

same benefits of cardiovascular exercise

and then you get more with obviously an

increase in lean tissue mass and

performance. Uh weight training if done

effectively can actually improve

mitochondrial health. you can improve V2

max if done correctly. Uh and you don't

need a lot of it. So I think we've

switched from just doing cardio to now

incorporating weight training to be

effective.

>> So weight training.

>> Yes.

>> What are the the sort of misconceptions

about weight training and why are you so

positive about it?

>> Yeah. [clears throat] I think one of the

biggest myths is that you always need to

lift heavy to put on muscle mass. And

worldrenowned researchers in this area

have clearly shown now that lighter

weights perform to a lot of effort

almost to fatigue. If done correctly,

you can get as the same increases in

muscle masses then compared to lifting

heavy weights. However, if your goal is

just to get stronger, lifting heavy is

always there. So, I think this is a cool

thing for people. Some days if you have

a little bit of soreness or you don't

have a lot of energy, you can lift

lighter weights but just to fatigue.

Whereas other days, you come in Monday,

you've had your coffee, whichever it is,

you're ready to go. You can lift heavy.

So I think there's not one concrete way.

There's a little bit of variety here as

well.

>> And why are you putting it above

cardiovascular work?

>> Yeah, I think the benefits there is that

cardiovascular exercise will make you

live longer and and healthier. But the

downfall with cardiovascular exercise,

it doesn't stimulate strength or the

muscle sceal system as much as we we'd

hope. So improving muscle mass and that

is very difficult to do with cardio.

Maybe sprint interval training will do

that. But the cool thing with weight

training is you get cardiovascular

benefits, but you also get those

profound muscle scal benefits. So if I

was to tell anybody, if there's one form

of exercise to do, it's weight training,

but you got to do cardio as well. So do

both.

>> And if I just do weight training, what

am I missing from not doing cardio

training?

>> Yeah. If you do weight training

improperly where you're lifting heavy

heavy weight with low repetitions all

the time, you're likely going to

jeopardize capillary density or

mitochondrial health. These are things

that sort of move blood flow to and from

uh your muscles. You could decrease V2

max or a fitness parameter for uh

metabolic health fitness. So at the end

of the day, everybody should be doing

both, but if you only have time to do

weight training or cardio, you still

benefit because the majority of the

population doesn't do any.

>> And how how much how often do you think?

>> It's amazing that it's a small amount.

So let's just do cardio. Most countries

will say 150 minutes of physical

activity at a moderate level over a

week. Uh I'm okay with that. I'd like it

to be higher. I'd also like the

intensity to be a bit higher. So when

you tell an average individual 150

minutes a week, most people say, "Well,

I'm going to do 70 or I'm going to do

30. I'm going to hold the couch down and

watch Netflix." So we given 150 and we

say, you know, if you can do 21 minutes

or 22 minutes a day for seven days a

week, that's going to be a brisk walk or

whatever. We'd like to be at a higher

intensity if possible. Now, when it

comes to weight training, this might be

surprising, but 2 days a week or more is

all you basically need. And you can do a

whole body routine. So you don't need to

go in there and just do chest and biceps

Monday and then legs Tuesday, you can.

But if you say, I want to do whole body

of training Monday, Wednesday, Friday,

that is great as well. So a little bit

of volume or frequency goes a long way,

especially as we get older. That's the

key.

>> Why, especially as we get older?

>> Well, based on this graph here, it's

clearly showing a detrimental effect. So

if you can see here, you know, you have

muscle mass on the the x- axis or the y

axis and then you're having all the

catastrophic effects as we get older. So

unfortunately, you know, 20 and 30 looks

great

>> when you're 20 or 40 years old.

>> When you're 20 and 40 years old or all

the way from 20 to 40, you can see

great. That's probably the area that

you're going to have the most muscle.

>> Yeah.

>> But look what happens. 40, age 60, 80,

and if you live to be 100,

it's catastrophic. You're losing muscle

mass at an accelerated rate on average

is about 1% per year after the age of 40

>> even if you're training.

>> So if you're training you're maintaining

that. So this is the average sedentary

inactive population. You lose strength

at about 1 point or 1 to 3% even faster.

Now if we were to maintain resistance

training that muscle mass would plateau.

So I can't stress this enough. Although

we focused on creatine, if you were to

choose one thing to do today is

exercise. And the only form of exercise

that really maintains muscle is weight

bearing or u resistance training. And if

that's the case, you're going to have

way more muscle later on in life. So you

can pick up the grandkids, you can walk

those stairs, you can do more

functionality things later on in life.

>> Can you not just at, I don't know, 60

years old start training then?

>> You can absolutely. And you get profound

benefits. You can be 80 or 100 and you

still get benefits. It's never too late

to start. But one of the things we've

already talked about is if you do weight

training and add in a little bit of

creatine, it gets a bit higher. If you

added in protein, it gets even higher.

So again, nutrition, you know, if

exercise is king, the queen is going to

be nutrition. They go hand in hand all

throughout lifespan. You got to have

both.

>> And on the subject of protein, you're

saying that when combined with creatine,

it's a force multiplier.

>> It's it's a force multiplier when it

comes to performance and lean tissue

mass. So there's been a few studies when

you combine uh high quality protein with

creatine, they been shown to increase

lean tissue mass and muscle performance

a little bit more than each alone. Yeah.

>> Does the average person get enough

protein through their diet?

>> You know, I think nowadays we do. And

and I think this is overhyped as well. I

think if you're getting about 1.2 to 1.6

g per kilogram. So, you know, if you're

70 kg, that's going to be on average

about 84 to about 115 g of protein. I

think we're so conscious now of the

health benefits of protein uh that most

people are. I think if you're training

really intensely five, six days a week

and you take a gram per pound, that's

probably the max. But a lot of times

when you take an excess protein, it

doesn't go to your body area that you're

probably hoping. It doesn't all go to

your muscle. It's used for other things

like hormones and uh blood cells, things

like that. But I think nowadays most

people are likely getting enough

protein. The question is, are they

getting enough high quality protein? So

vegans and vegetarians can definitely

get enough protein. They might just need

to eat a little bit more to get all

those essential amino acids which we

need.

>> Much of the reason most people haven't

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>> Menopause.

>> Yes.

>> We talked a little bit briefly about

menopause. Bringing both together the

subjects of muscle but also of creatine.

>> Yes.

>> How how does those two things impact a

woman's journey through menopause?

>> Yeah. So we know from animal cells that

estrogen is highly involved in creatine

metabolism. Estrogen seems to be

implicated in the enzymes that are

needed to make creatine and then

estrogen also has a huge impact on uh uh

not only brain bioenergetics but muscle

metabolism as well. So as the the female

goes from a premenopausal stage to

permenopausal stage to the

post-menopausal transition if estrogen

is decreasing uh and then independent of

their diet we think creatine has bone

effects and muscle effects. And of

course we've talked about the cognitive

effects there. So from a whole skeleton

perspective I think everybody should be

but of course the pmenopausal

postmenopausal transition uh is good.

And then that brings up a question about

what about really young premenopausal

females you know optimal health. What if

we built up their tissues more? Maybe

that would offset the rate of this

decline over time as well. So that's

what we're hoping to get to.

>> Is creatine safe for kids?

>> So it's interesting you bring that up

and the current body of evidence

suggests yes at recommended dosages. uh

good researchers uh in in the United

States who put out multiple reviews at

looking at creatine in adolescent

children and teenagers improves balance,

agility, body composition. If anything,

they want to get at least one gram per

day because in children they want to

have an optimization for bone health as

well as muscle development. Um but

again, if any parents are watching,

obviously talk to their medical

practitioner. Uh but all the current

reviews um currently suggest that it's

safe.

>> And we're talking about we're not

talking about babies here. we're talking

about.

>> Yeah, we're talking about adolescence

all the way into teenage years. When it

comes to baby or infancy, um, out of

Australia, Stacy is starting to do that

work there as well, but we don't have a

lot of data in humans yet, but that is

an area to to pay attention to for sure.

Yeah.

>> What is the most important thing we

haven't talked about that we should have

talked about, doctor?

>> Yeah, I think one of the big things is

the safety profile of creatine. Uh,

there's been, uh, you know, hundreds of

randomized control trials now on

creatine. The safety profile is

exceptional.

>> [snorts]

>> Uh last year they put out a study

looking at over 25,000 cases and

creatine even over 10 grams a day for

many years has been very very safe and

effective. Uh one area that comes up is

what about the timing? Does it matter

when I take it? And and the cool thing

is we just got a paper accepted two days

ago putting the nail in the coffin on

this and at the end of the day you can

take creatine at any time of the day.

You can take it in the morning with

breakfast. You can take it right before

workout. I take some during. You can

take it after go to bed. It doesn't

matter when you take it as well.

>> So you can take it right before sleep

and it won't impact your sleep.

>> No, currently we haven't exactly

assessed the effect on sleep but uh

another study looked at it in the

evening and it had no detrimental effect

there as well.

>> And what else? What else is the other

questions that you get messaged with or

asked most often? Dr.

>> Yeah. Can I spread out creatine all

throughout the day? So for example, we

have like if we were to take creatine in

a gummy form or a candy, you can

actually have, you know, one or two of

these every hour all throughout the day.

You can have it uh periodically. So, you

don't have to take creatine all at once.

You can take it in smaller amounts all

throughout the day. And if anything,

there's been a study a few years ago

showing that one gram every 30 minutes

up to 20 gram dose uh seem to retain

more in the body and that was beneficial

as well.

>> What do you think of these gummies?

>> You know, there's only been a few

companies that have actually shown some

validity and reliability. Um, as

[snorts] long as they're third party

tested, they're very, very effective. Do

you want to try one?

>> Are they Are they third party tested?

>> They're third The green ones. Yeah. And

the bottom ones third party tested. Yep.

Well, but you know, the stuff that makes

it a gummy, is that stuff is that stuff

good for you?

>> So, the issue there is, does the

manufacturing trying to keep the uh

creatine together uh influence it? It

can, and there's only been a few uh uh

companies out there. The one you're

eating is by Create from the United

States. They have had multiple trials.

They're the first uh company to actually

look at a randomized control trial to

show improvements in volleyball players

with the gummies. Children love them.

older adults. This has become an area of

interest where uh chewing ability or

taste sensation has gone down. Uh they

seem to be very convenient and

effective. Uh you can have these at your

desk, whichever. You don't need the

white powder to mix. So there the

companies are coming up with more viable

ways to get creatine in there. But to

your point, you always want to make sure

the company's third party tested. It

uses a high quality creatine and it

actually has a source of creatine in

there as well. Cuz I [snorts] remember

watching a YouTube video by a guy called

James Smith who's been on the show

before and he did some testing on the

offtheshelf creatine um and found that a

lot of them didn't contain any creatine.

>> 90% and there was only a few and the one

that you did uh consume it did. Yeah.

1.5.

>> Isn't that crazy that you can go buy

creatine and it has no creatine in it?

>> Yeah. So that's why I think for the

consumers watching you got to do a

little bit of homework and look at those

three things. Make sure third party

tested. It has a logo clearly on the

packaging. If it doesn't, I would

strongly advise you not to consume it.

of all the of all the studies that

you've encountered on all the subjects

we talked about muscle, protein,

creatine, are there studies that were

pivotal in how you think about these

subjects?

>> Yeah, there was so the the Landmark

study came out in 1992 uh and it clearly

showed that five grams elevated creatine

in the blood, but if you took multiple

five gram dosages, it maintained that

throughout the day. So, this is where

the dose of five grams seems to be very,

very viable. And the other one showed

that, hey, I don't want to take five.

What if I only want to take three grams?

So, three grams seems to be the lowest

most effective dose and you just need to

take that for one month and you'll

saturate your muscles. So, again, you

have options to take as little an amount

or a high amount as as you want over

time. But I think one of the biggest

studies is that we did was a two-year

trial in post-menopausal women where we

gave.14 grams of creatine and it really

seemed to improve or have an effect on

bone preservation as well as muscle

performance. So, these are the the

studies that seem to come to my mind.

We've done quite a few uh but they seem

to be the landmark ones. Yeah.

>> And what are the supplements that you

take outside of creatine?

>> Yes, for sure. So on a daily basis, it's

a probiotic uh with food in the morning

and evening. And that's something I just

recently learned. I was taking it on an

empty stomach. But probiotic, I take uh

two forms of magnesium uh one before bed

and then one in the day, three and eight

for uh uh cognition and function. I take

uh 2,000 international units of vitamin

D. Um [snorts] I always take protein on

a sufficient basis as well. And then I

take about four grams of omega-3 fatty

acids. And I always take one of the

omega-3 fatty acids post exercise

because that seems to be the best time

to take it.

>> So omega-3, magnesium, vitamin D,

>> vitamin D, probiotics, of course,

creatine and uh protein. I take powder

andor through uh dietary food. Every now