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 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 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
this is super interesting to me. My team
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>> 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,
>> 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 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, 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.
>> 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 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?
>> 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 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.
>> 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 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?
>> 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 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?
>> 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 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
actually probably every creator
listening to this might just need.
Podcasting is difficult for many reasons
and one of them is that these hosting
platforms don't give you much
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fragmented. You kind of have to go
through every single platform uploading
it to YouTube and then taking the same
big old video file and uploading it to
Spotify's platform. It takes huge
amounts of time and that friction means
most of us don't do it. That is the
problem we set out to solve. And so we
built something called Flightcast which
you can find at flightcast.com. And
today Flightcast is also one of our show
sponsors. And some of the world's
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has growth tools that other hosting
platforms don't have. So podcasters that
are using Flightcast have this unfair
advantage. So go to flightcast.com/doac.
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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.
>> 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. 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
posted content or built their personal
brand is because it's hard and it's
timeconuming and we're all very very
busy and if you've never posted
something before, there's so many
factors in your psychology that stop you
wanting to post. What people will think
of you am I doing this right? Is the
thing I'm saying absolutely stupid? All
of these result in paralysis, which
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You can also just use it for
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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. 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 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 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 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
and then I don't eat a lot of red meat,
so I'll take iron. Um but um not on a
consistent basis.
>> And you know, and I'm hoping the new one
is this is an area of controversy. NAD
this is the you know it's a precursor
for a main enzyme that's highly involved
in metabolism there's been evidence to
suggest it goes down with aging so my
eye is closely on that uh to see if
that's going to be something to come up
into play and a multivitamin you know
started with Flintstone vitamins as a
kid and I take a multivitamin a day as a
safety net
>> I noticed that when I looked at your
video in the interview you did with Dr.
Ronda Patrick a lot of the comments were
from people in their 60s7s and 80s
>> and I wondered why that was if you just
I was just looking at the top three or
four comments and
>> it's a 71y old it's an 82y old it's a
53y old who's um contending with
Alzheimer's
>> right
>> why is that
>> yeah I think it's the awareness and
education now and social media has
really helped with this getting our
evidence-based research out to the
public and the awareness that creatine
is just not for young males to get
bigger stronger faster if anything when
you go to an aging body and they're
predisposed to aging related muscle
loss, strength loss, functionality, bone
loss and atrophy in the brain, creatine
has been shown to have effects there as
well. So I think a lot of older
individual populations are becoming more
aware of the effects of creatine and of
course as we produce more research, it
gets out to the public more often. So is
I'm really excited and encouraged that
creatine has sort of taken on a life of
its own in the last decade. And are
there direct weight benefits if I'm
trying to cut fat by taking creatine or
is it indirect?
>> It's indirect. So it seems that if you
increase lean mass, it might stimulate
energy expenditure or turnover. And then
in animal models, it has been shown to
have some beneficial effects from a
cellular perspective on fat. But at the
end of the day, if you are seeing a
reduction in fat, it's likely that
you're improving your metabolic health
with lean tissue mass.
>> Do you think much about how to get these
habits to stick? Because I imagine
there's lots of people that are aware by
now that creatine is a a useful thing to
take, but for whatever reason,
>> they still don't take it.
>> Exactly. And I think that's one of the
biggest reasons people don't. So, we got
to come up with ways to maintain
consistency. And I think whatever
vehicle you want to choose to maintain
that in the in the run of a day is the
best. So, if it's putting in your coffee
in the morning because you won't forget
it, great. If it's putting a little bit
in Greek yogurt, if it's using the
gummies, whichever it is, as long as
it's a viable source of creatine that
makes it very practical and consistent
for you, uh that's the best way.
>> Yeah. I found that um having it on route
to where I'm going being really really
important. So when I come to my office
in the morning, it's all on my desk.
>> Yes.
>> Um so I have the supplements just on my
desk and actually even before I walked
into the studio today, in the green room
that I have, it's on the green room.
>> When I'm at home, it is where the coffee
machine is.
>> Correct.
>> And that has radically helped me. Um,
otherwise I if it wasn't within my my
routine, it would wouldn't happen.
>> Yeah, we have a jug on the counter with
all our other supplements, it's in the
pantry, it's close by. Because if it's
in the garage, you're like, I forgot
about it.
>> I think the other thing is with some
things like creatine, it's hard to
really notice the difference sometimes.
>> Uh, excellent point. Yeah, this is not
like caffeine, you know, it's an
immediate effect. So, unlike uh
caffeine, creatine takes a while to
notice the effects, and they come in
direct. You don't immediately notice a
massive increase in energy or alertness.
It's like after a week of weight
training or even two, you're like, "Wow,
I did more repetitions. I could do more
weight. Uh, I recover quickly." Is one
that we hear uh quite often. You'll
never notice with with your bone, but we
have heard anecdotally with cognition,
especially sleep deprivation, people do
notice the effects. And I'm an N of one,
but I noticed jet lag goes down quite a
bit uh when I take a high dose of
creatine. And you know when you start
taking it if you start taking it today.
Yes.
>> If I start taking so 3 to five grams of
creatine today am I going to notice the
differences today?
>> No. It'll pro with three to five grams
you'll probably notice it in a few weeks
if not to a month from a muscle
perspective. From a brain perspective
that low you're likely not going to
notice any effect because the brain is
probably making enough. But if you're
really metabolically stressed then you
might notice some memory or cognitive uh
benefits after a few days. But at such a
low dose you need to be a little bit
patient. But again, three grams could
saturate your skeletal muscle in 30
days. So it's not that long of a weight.
>> And on the cognitive side, the cognitive
benefits that were observed when doing
these Stroop tests,
>> had they been taking it previously or
was it just administered on that
particular day when the test happened?
>> Yes. So that one was in a week in
advance with the loading phase. So they
really saturated the body to try to get
the effects.
>> Okay. So they were taking it for some
time.
>> Yeah. But on the sleep deprivation study
from Germany, they just gave it one
bolus mega dose for 21 hours of sleep
deprivation. And those individuals did
perform better from a number of tests
like this the next day. So if you're
like, "Wow, I got something coming up
Friday. Unfortunately, I'm not going to
get any sleep at best one or two hours."
Then a high dose might come into play
and then you can go back to your more
consistent routine. I think what
happened or is happening is a lot of
individuals are now thinking I need to
take 20 or 30 grams on a daily basis
based on those studies. And I'm like,
wait a minute, are you getting enough
sleep the next day? because at that dose
we don't know if the neuron will swell
with water and if that's the case is
that potentially causing any detrimental
effects in the long term. So again I
would not uh uh recommend taking a mega
dose for consistently over time. Could
that downregulate your natural
synthesis? Uh these are all questions
that we need to look at. Yeah.
>> So outside of the realm of creatine,
outside of the realm of muscle, outside
of the realm of I guess nutrition
generally, what are you doing to keep
yourself healthy? What is what is your
routine?
>> Yeah. So, I'm religious with exercise,
so I try to exercise at least 3 to 4
days a week with weight training. Uh,
and add in at least 20 to 30 minutes of
either moderate intensity cardio or um
like a spin class. I personally like to
do alternating days. So, I'll do weight
training like maybe Monday, Wednesday,
Friday, and then cardio Tuesday,
Thursday. Uh, and then on the weekends,
hiking, things like that. Um, pretty
religious with nutrients as well. Try to
eat a really balanced diet. And my god,
my failure is getting enough sleep. So,
I've had to cut caffeine out quite a bit
by past noon to allow me I'm probably a
slower metabolizer um with caffeine. So,
uh I try to really optimize
evidence-based research, take it into my
daily life and try to promote it that
way. Yeah.
>> And is there anything you're
particularly excited about in the work
and research that they do?
>> I'm super fascinated with the movement
from the neck up. I think we know a lot
about the neck down with creatine and
exercise or other nutrients. I'm
fascinated with the ability. What about
concussion? you know, can an uh the UFC
fighter take creatine before they get
hit? Could that decrease CTE or
concussion or brain trauma later on in
life? I think a boxing Muhammad Ali uh
things like that. So, there's evidence
in in Rodents that if you take creatine
before head trauma, it really speeds up
concussion recovery. So, I'm fascinated
with that as well, like almost a
prophylactic. Anybody involved in head
trauma, I think you should definitely
look at creatine as something to be
taking just in case you get hit. And
then of course everything with
Alzheimer's or other areas of
depression. So I'm fascinated that this
nutrient which was you know 1832 it was
discovered boring for the longest time
because we thought we knew everything
and now it's taking a life of its own as
having these profound benefits we never
even thought would happen yet.
>> A lot of people consider you to be the
sort of leading expert on this subject
for many reasons. Do you think there'll
be a time where you you stop researching
creatine and you move on to something
else?
>> You know that's interesting. I would
have said yes about 5 years ago, but now
no. There's too much to do. Even with
skeletal muscle, if you were to say,
"What's the best dose, Darren, to take?"
I say, "I have no clue." Every creatine
researcher said, "I don't know." We
still don't know the best dose that
every person can take that will check
off all the boxes, especially in the
brain. We're just giving an estimate
that I take 10, maybe you take 12,
someone might take 15, but at the end of
the day, we still don't know the best
supplementation protocol, the best dose.
Uh, so there's so many areas. So for the
next 20 years, I bet y'all still be
focusing on creatine with other things
as well. Yeah.
>> And on that doses, is that different for
different people?
>> Excellent question. So the thought was
that the larger you are, you have more
storing capacity in your muscle for
creatine. So it makes sense. If you're
50 kg and 150 kg, you're going to have
greater storing capacity. So the dose on
a relative basis is likely higher there
as well. the more stressed the person
is, it's likely they're going to require
more because their natural machinery in
the brain can't keep up. So, it is very
individualistic.
I think we give out general
recommendations to make it easy, but
again, some people can take it very
scientifically and base it on body
weight and you can't go wrong with both
of them.
>> I bet there's a lot of people that are
this far into the conversation and their
their central question is, "Right, I've
got loved ones
>> that I really really want to start um
considering
>> creatine supplementation for whatever
reason. It could be cognitive benefits,
muscular benefits, whatever.
>> They might end up
when I have that particular moving for
me.
>> If their loved ones are now listening,
>> y
>> and you had to make a case to their
loved ones about why they should take
>> creatine.
>> Yeah.
>> What would you say? I would say creatine
is one tool in that health promotion um
toolbox that might help you live longer
and better and allow you to maintain
activities later on in life which you
wouldn't have been able to do and
unfortunately that leads to accelerated
aging and a poor way to go. It's like
it's like saying I'm going to save
everything for retirement. My question
is why? You might not make it to
retirement. So that's one of the things.
Yeah.
>> Aging.
>> Yes.
>> What is aging in your definition of the
word?
>> It's catastrophic. Unfortunately, I'm
going through it. You know, I've noticed
ever since I hit the fourth decade,
things hurt a lot more and muscle mass
to retain it a little bit harder. Um, so
unfortunately, think of the body's
ability to withstand stress is not as
high and things start to break down
quite fast. So, we all know, you know,
things hurt more. We've lost muscle
mass. I can't run as fast. So,
biological aging is kind of the
deterioration of the human body. We need
to with this conversation and others
come up with ways to stop the
deterioration and if anything come up
with ways to maintain that ability to
live longer free of disease. Yeah.
>> We have a closing tradition on this
podcast where the last guest leaves a
question for the next not knowing who
they're leaving it for. This one's quite
a tricky question.
>> Okay.
>> What is reality? What do you think all
of this is? All this stuff that we can
see and all we experience. What do you
think it is? Do you think it's a
simulation? Do you think it's
>> this is all real for sure? because I
think we can feel it. It's not a a big
brother or anything that's a game show.
We all go through different emotions and
things like that. So, I think you can
feel it. Yeah.
>> Are you religious?
>> Yes. Catholic. Roman Catholic. Yeah.
>> And you're a family man. You've got got
some
>> uh French bulldog and a cat as we talked
about and wife at home. Yeah. And uh
really close to my family and stuff like
that. Yeah.
>> And what is your goal if we get to the
end of your career and this was your
last day and you had been successful?
>> Oh yeah. I think it would be a lasting
impression on my students that wow, he
changed my life in some way. And if I
can make one person live longer, free of
disease, and happier, I'm all for it.
You know, when you start to see the
human body as people get older, you're
like, "Oh, that person used to be young
and vibrant." And then when you hear
other people that can't do activities
they live in or they can't travel or
they're afraid to. I'm like, you need to
embrace today. I love that quote from
Morgan Freeman Shaw Shank. get busy
living or get busy dying cuz honestly we
have the ability with lifestyle choices
to improve optimization and I want to
see people live to be 120 130 still
active still going and I think we're on
the cusp with technology and I think
awareness around nutrition exercise
sleep uh laughter oh gez if I could ask
anybody to do one more thing it'd be
just laugh more often for me to be just
a small piece of the the puzzle
promoting it I think it's if anything
it's it's just beyond I believe. Yeah.
>> Why did this pull you in? I I I asked
that in part because it tends to be the
case that the things that draw us in or
pull on our make us curious, there tends
to always be a bit of a personal reason,
>> right? Yeah.
>> It was it was more that you know, am I
scared to death? 100%. Yeah. I can't I
can't think of it. Yeah. Why?
>> Yeah. I just think it's weird for me. I
get to a point uh maybe being religious
and then you think about it and then I
my brain stops. I can't think about it
really.
>> Yeah. And it's this becomes it's almost
like I want to live forever. And if I
can think of ways to make me live and
partially get there, obviously it's not
reality. But yeah, I'm uh scared to
death of dying. Yeah.
>> Have you always been?
>> Yep. 100%. Scared to death of heights.
And I can't even talk about the the
death experience. Yeah. Cuz I think it
it sort of brings into perspective
things that
you just don't know.
>> Did you ever lose anybody?
>> Uh just uh friends and things like that,
but nothing um specific like parents or
anything like that yet. But it's always
been there. I don't know if it's the
Roman Catholic in me or not, but it's
like, whoa, I don't want that at all.
Yeah.
>> You can't even talk about it.
>> Can't even talk about it. No. No. Yeah.
>> Really?
>> Yeah. It's kind of like I can talk about
it in a sense I understand it and it's
realistic, but it's it's more um that
for some reason I don't even want to
think about it cuz I have so much
passion for life that I don't even want
to think about, oh [ __ ] this could
happen. Yeah.
>> And you believe you go somewhere after
death.
>> Oh, for sure. Heaven. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
>> But if you do believe you're going to
heaven, that sounds like a good place. a
great place. Yeah. I just want to spend
more time here. There's still a lot of
things to do. Yeah, for sure.
>> Makes sense.
>> Yeah.
>> Well, thank you. Thank you for doing
>> Thank you so much. This was great. Thank
you. Yes. I
>> I have to say, you know, you've done so
so much research on this subject that so
many of my previous guests site and talk
about. And
>> so, it's it's great to have the source
here. I I applaud you for the work
you've done because at the end of the
day I think I think a lot of people do
want to extend their health span
>> which is to live healthier for longer
cuz there's a real sort of epidemic of
people having short health spans being
medicated from the age of 40 50 years
old and then having that sort of last
couple of decades of our life being you
know incapable of doing the things we
care about
>> and I think a lot of this research gives
us an option if we choose to take it
>> to live a to live a better life.
>> Thank you so much. Yeah, it was great.
So,
>> thank you so much. Well done.
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