Taurine’s effects are more subtle while you will feel creatine’s effects almost immediately.
My go to creatine variant of choice is creatine HCL since I do not seem to get any negative side effects like bloating, sickness, insomnia etc. from it like I do with monohydrate.
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Yeah, that’s interesting. I imagine feeling the effects of creatine is individual. In my situation, I’m struggling to see why I should take it. The usual reasons don’t seem to apply for me. I have no issues with muscle training, my muscles have always been super responsive to exercise, very easy hypertrophy etc., no issues with recovery (and FWIW, rapamycin seems to assist in this department too!) and I don’t feel like I need more water in my muscles or elsewhere (taurine is just fine in that respect). Neurological effects - well, I don’t notice any deficits at this point (I’m 67), perhaps that’s something that will be of help when I’m older, I don’t know. I look over the list of supposed creatine benefits, and see nothing that I appear to need or would be helped with. So for me, creatine is a wait and see thing - maybe one day. For now, I see no reason to add to my already too extensive a stack. YMMV.
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I have been using creatine monohydrate for 15-20 years. Whatever’s the cheapest.
Usual dosages of 5-10 grams, sometimes more, never once have I gotten the runs.
Provides a useful increment of strength/endurance.
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I use the KreAlkalyn form. I find it to be more gentle on my stomach than the monohydrate. .
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Thanks, I’ve never noticed anything whatsoever from creatine so if my break impacts my puffy eyes in a positive way I might test out the brand you take.
Creatine linked to helping prevent erectile dysfunction.
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I think it’s a little overrated myself but I’ve been taking it for 20 years
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I had a close call , 20g a day , a few days of pushing the work outs and not hydrating enough
Man down for 3 days , eGfr33 , and extreme kidney pain
Please make sure you hydrate enough
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Some good and some bad regarding creatine:
Tumor metabolic reprogramming is critical for providing energy to support proliferation and resistance to stress-induced cell death. However, the regulatory mechanisms linking these processes remain incompletely understood. Here, using untargeted metabolomics, we demonstrate that creatine potently induces ferroptosis in colorectal cancer (CRC). Mechanistically, creatine binds extracellular signal-regulated kinase 2 (ERK2), impairing its activation by mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase 1 (MEK1). Inhibiting the creatine transporter SLC6A8 reduces creatine uptake and activates ERK2. Activated ERK2 then binds, phosphorylates ferroptosis suppressor protein 1 (FSP1) at Thr109, and stabilizes it to inhibit ferroptosis. Creatine supplementation suppresses tumor growth, enhances CD8+ T cell infiltration, and sensitizes tumors to anti-programmed cell death protein 1 (PD-1) immunotherapy. Our study identifies ERK2 as a creatine sensor regulating FSP1 stability and ferroptosis resistance, highlighting the therapeutic potential of creatine supplementation in combination cancer immunotherapy.
As one of the most popular nutrient supplements, creatine has been highly used to increase muscle mass and improve exercise performance. Here, we report an adverse effect of creatine using orthotopic mouse models, showing that creatine promotes colorectal and breast cancer metastasis and shortens mouse survival. We show that glycine amidinotransferase (GATM), the rate-limiting enzyme for creatine synthesis, is upregulated in liver metastases. Dietary uptake, or GATM-mediated de novo synthesis of creatine, enhances cancer metastasis and shortens mouse survival by upregulation of Snail and Slug expression via monopolar spindle 1 (MPS1)-activated Smad2 and Smad3 phosphorylation. GATM knockdown or MPS1 inhibition suppresses cancer metastasis and benefits mouse survival by downregulating Snail and Slug. Our findings call for using caution when considering dietary creatine to improve muscle mass or treat diseases and suggest that targeting GATM or MPS1 prevents cancer metastasis, especially metastasis of transforming growth factor beta receptor mutant colorectal cancers.
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On the other hand:
“Our study identified a significant linear negative correlation between dietary creatine intake and cancer risk among U.S. adults, particularly in males and overweight individuals. Age remains a key factor influencing cancer risk.”
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