Creatine is a naturally occurring nutrient that can be found in animal foods. It has some serious benefits as an effective nutritional aid for sports enhancement or for improvement in exercise performance. However, the benefits of creation go deeper than its reputation for muscle building alone! Here we take a look at the many benefits of this miracle supplement, and you might just want to get yourself some of this popular sports supplement!
Increased Phosphocreatine Stores
To benefit from creatine supplements, you have to raise your body’s stores of Phosphocreatine. You body stores Phosphocreatine in the organ, muscle, and brain tissue. The body accesses it when necessary. But higher stores of Phosphocreatine in the brain help to manage some neurological disease symptoms.
Besides that, it also improves the brain’s ability to think in people suffering from these conditions. Phosphocreatine stores decline with age and with sleep interruptions. It can also result from plant-based diets. Taking creatine supplements increases these stores by about 20% in your body.
Double Muscle Mass
When creatine supplements combine with resistance training, creatine can add muscle mass as well as improve exercise performance. The benefits to your results from strength training occur through several biological processes, like changes in hormones, muscle cells, and many other functions of the body. A study of more than 250 sports supplements yielded that creatine more than doubled the muscle mass gained by participants every week, compared to training without supplements. This makes creatine the best legal supplement for increasing muscle mass.
Reduces Cognitive Decline in the Aged
Creatine supplements have benefits aside from the muscular variety. Creatine has proven beneficial for strength and muscle mass retention with age but also shown the ability to maintain brain function. The leading concern with aging individuals, in mental health, I cognitive decline. A study displayed that older people scored considerably higher on long-term memory tests after taking creatine supplements for two weeks. Other areas of improvement were in intelligence tests and higher scores on immediate memory recall.
Improved Cognitive Function
While increased cognitive function in the aged is excellent news, what’s even better is than anybody who has low creatine levels can enjoy cognitive benefits from taking creatine supplements. What with plant-based diets and vegetarianism becoming more popular these days, many people have low creatine levels. Animal meat is the main dietary source of creatine.
In a study of vegetarians who each took 5g of creatine daily over six weeks, it proves that creatine supplements helped them score significantly higher in intelligence and memory tests than those who didn’t take creatine supplements. However, this applies only to those with low creatine levels to begin with, as adults with normal or high creatine levels showed no improvement.
Reduced Side Effects of Traumatic Brain Injuries
Yet another brain benefit offered by creatine is the boost in recovery after a brain injury or concussion. In a study of 39 children who had suffered a traumatic brain injury, a group was given creatine supplements while the other was under a placebo for six months. The findings show that incidents of dizziness headache and fatigue reduce drastically in the group that takes the creatine supplements. Isn’t that some great news to hop onto this diet!
Increase Muscle Fiber Size
Creatine has proven through experimentation to have increased the water content of muscles and also to have boosted muscle fiber size. Muscle growth was shown to have increased by 300% compared to training without creatine. The increased water content in the muscles helps to give the aesthetic appeal of a bulky muscle. An increase in muscle fiber size relates to an increase in power and strength.
The best news is that this popular supplement is very safe for use and has not shown serious side-effects in most people. With so many bodies and brain benefits, we think that creatine is a powerful addition to your nutrition and wellness program! Including creatine in your everyday consumption can help you achieve strength and muscle mass faster, look stronger, and be smarter! What more can we say to encourage you to grab some of this miracle powder to add to your smoothies! Go on and get strong with these tasty and healthy smoothies.