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Creatine is a compound made from three amino acids that your muscles use as a source of energy. Your body makes some creatine, and you can also get it from eating red meat, chicken or fish. Creatine supplements have long been popular among bodybuilder-types, but recently interest in creatine has exploded.
Social media influencers say it can help grow muscle and improve athletic performance, prevent age-related bone and muscle loss, boost brain function, and more. NPR’s Maria Godoy looked into the science behind some of the claims, and what you should do if you want to try creatine supplements.
🏋️ Yes, creatine supplements can be helpful for muscle growth and performance
When it comes to adding lean muscle mass, the evidence for creatine supplements is "overwhelming,” says Jose Antonio, a professor of exercise and sports science at Nova Southeastern University in Florida. But taking supplements isn’t enough to see gains – you actually have to work out, he says. A review of 35 studies found that when creatine supplements were combined with resistance training, adult men added around 2 to 3 pounds of lean body mass.
As for performance, creatine provides quick bursts of energy to "do a few extra reps on a bench press or finish a little bit stronger in a road race," according to Abbie Smith-Ryan, a professor of exercise and sports science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
🩸🧠 Can creatine regulate blood sugar in people with Type 2 diabetes, or improve memory and brain function?
Maybe, but we don’t know enough yet.
The early evidence suggesting those benefits "isn't strong, but it's certainly interesting." says Antonio. He noted that vegetarians are likely to see more benefits from creatine supplements because they’re not getting the nutrient from meat in their diets. Smith-Ryan also says she wants to see more data, "But I do think that it's a low-hanging fruit that has minimal side effects,” she says.
🚫 Creatine is generally safe for adults, but it’s worth being cautious
If you have kidney disease, talk to your doctor before starting creatine supplements, says Dr. Pieter Cohen, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. Also, preworkout sports supplements can often be adulterated with prohibited ingredients. So he says if you do try a creatine supplement, make sure it's certified by a third-party certification program.
💪 If you want to try it: Load up, or start low and go slow
Though you can start with a “loading dose” of creatine – taking 5 grams four times a day for a week – that might cause some gastrointestinal distress. That’s why Antonio says he usually recommends a second strategy – taking 5 grams of creatine daily for four to eight weeks. Once someone has been on creatine for a while, 3 to 5 grams a day is generally considered the maintenance dose.
Get the full dose of NPR’s reporting on creatine supplements.
Plus: Teens are trying to bulk up on protein supplements. What should parents watch for? |
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In 1967 psychologist and counterculture figure Timothy Leary famously invited young people to “turn on, tune in, drop out” with the help of LSD and other psychedelic drugs. A new study finds that LSD can be a boon to people looking to simply to calm down, as NPR's Jon Hamilton reports.
The study, published in JAMA, involved just under 200 participants with generalized anxiety disorder, a severe form of anxiety that comes with extreme worry or dread, interfering with a person's ability to function.
Participants were given a single dose of either a form of LSD called MM120, or a placebo. The doses were administered to each person in a private, “aesthetically pleasing” room and were overseen by two monitors who also provided education about the treatment. They were offered music and eye shades during the session.
People who received 100 or 200 micrograms of the psychedelic showed strong improvement in their anxiety symptoms just one day later, says Dr. David Feifel of Kadima Neuropsychiatry Institute in San Diego, one of the centers that participated in the study. "And those improvements held out all the way to the end of the study, which was 12 weeks," he said. At those high doses, participants with depression found relief from depressive symptoms as well.
Environmental factors, like the music and the monitors present when the drugs were administered may have muddied the results, says Robin Carhart-Harris, a psychedelics researcher at University of California, San Francisco who wasn't involved with the study.
Still, the new research represents an emerging trend in psychedelic research: bigger, more rigorous studies that are more likely to be supported by a pharmaceutical company.
Such studies are needed to get psychedelic drugs like LSD, MDMA and psilocybin approved by the Food and Drug Administration, Feifel says. And giving doctors access to approved psychedelics could "revolutionize treatment" of psychiatric conditions ranging from depression to PTSD and addiction.
The FDA has already given MM120 "breakthrough therapy" status, which is meant to speed up the evaluation of promising new drugs.
Learn more about the latest in the growing field of psychedelics research for mental health.
ICYMI: FDA gives thumbs down to MDMA for now, demanding further research |
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Experiencing pain? Sanjay Gupta explains why 'It Doesn't Have to Hurt'
These scientists found Alzheimer's in their genes. Here's what they did next
Leniency on lice in schools meets reality
Why the medical community is thrilled by U.S. support for a 'breakthrough' HIV drug |
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All the best,
Andrea Muraskin and your NPR Health editors |
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