This article is about 3000 words and takes about 6 minutes to read
Two days ago, I watched the dispute between the bodybuilder big V and the apprentice going to court, and what was interesting was that during the trial, the judge asked the big V if he was qualified as a nutritionist...
At that time, I almost burst into tears when I heard this, I didn't expect the judges to value nutritionists so much...
Today we're going to talk about two of the hottest nutritional supplements related to bodybuilding.
directory
1. Should I eat protein powder?
2. What is creatine?
▎ Food source of creatine
▎ What is creatine used for?
3. Is it really useful?
▎ The effect of creatine
▎ Which sport is suitable?
▎ Medical applications
▎ Can I gain muscle?
▎ Can I lose weight?
4. Is creatine safe?
▎ How much can I eat?
▎ Female
▎ Elderly
▎ Hair loss
▎ Can children eat it?
5. How to eat creatine?
▎ How much to eat?
▎ What food to go with?
▎ Which one to buy?
▎ Which one to buy?
The following information is only popular science and should not be regarded as a diagnosis and treatment recommendation, and cannot replace the doctor's individualized judgment on a specific patient.
References: (Updated 1 May 2022)
[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5469049/
[2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24576864/
[3] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26748651/
[4] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3407788/
[5] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21399917
Wang Y B, Liu Q Q, Li J, et al. Research progress of anti-resistance exercise and creatine in muscle decay syndrome[J]. Military Medicine, 2017, 41(8):703-706.
This article is 3300 words, 6 hours to write, and about 6 minutes to read
The reason why many friends are disgusted with personal training is because they are always urging them to apply for cards, buy classes, and buy supplements.
It is good to do cards and buy classes, after all, it is not a product that eats into the stomach, but it is really prudent to buy supplements, and sometimes relevant brands and salespeople will exaggerate the role that products can play in fitness in order to achieve the purpose of closing the deal, and even conceal the risk of some ingredients.
Therefore, while sports supplements are more popular, there are more misunderstandings.
In fact, if you really want to make fitness effective, the most important thing is diet and exercise itself, and it is most important to learn the relevant basics and implement the training plan.
If you really want to know what supplements you can take, "whey protein" and "creatine" are more evidence-rich.
One: Should I eat protein powder?
I've talked about protein powder countless times over the years, and in general, there's no need to eat it. Because normally speaking, both children and adults are generally not deficient in protein, and they can eat well.
You can calculate whether you have eaten enough eggs, livestock and poultry meat, fish and shrimp with 3 to 4 high proteins, and then some milk, beans and nuts, and there is certainly no shortage of protein.
But some special groups of people can indeed eat selectively, such as:
· Emaciated people
· Young women who don't eat enough meat
· Poor digestive function in the elderly with insufficient muscles
· Populations of wasting diseases
For these people I recommend eating about 20 grams of whey protein per day. On the one hand, it can supplement the protein that is often missing in their diet, and with sufficient protein, strength training can also help muscle synthesis.
Today I'm going to talk about what is "creatine"?
Two: What is creatine?
Creatine is an organic compound naturally found in its own muscle cells that provides energy to the body during high-intensity exercise.
Simply put, the principle is: increase the reserve of creatine phosphate in the muscles, and when you contract the muscles in a short period of time, you produce more energy.
▎ Food source of creatine
Creatine is found in many foods, the most typical of which is meat. Specifically, there is more content in red meat and seafood, most of which is in skeletal muscle, and some of it is in the brain and testicles. For example, beef or salmon, the creatine content is relatively high, and a pound can provide at least 1-2 grams, and more than 5 grams of creatine.
In general, most of the forms of creatine in animals are creatine phosphate, such as the total creatine in human dry muscles will be 120mmol/kg.
Because this creatine is gradually degraded and excreted from the urine. So you also need a certain amount of replenishment every day to maintain your creatine reserves.
The human body can also be transformed through the liver and kidneys, and in general, a person of 70 kilograms needs to consume about 1 to 3 grams of creatine per day to maintain reserves. If you are an athlete who exercises vigorously, you may need to look like 5 to 10 grams per day.
▎ What is creatine used for?
From a principle point of view, it helps you maintain your energy supply, which in turn allows you to persist longer and perform better during high-intensity exercise.
Especially during anaerobic sprint exercise, it can help you transfer energy from the mitochondria within the cell from the mitochondria into the cytoplasm.
Three: Is it really useful?
The International Society of Sports Nutrition issued a position statement in 2017 regarding the safety and effectiveness of creatine supplements in sports and medicine.
Overall, this statement affirms the role of creatine.
▎ The effect of creatine
According to the original words of this position statement, the society believes that creatine can enhance post-exercise repair, while preventing injuries, regulating body temperature, protecting concussions and spinal nerves, improving related neuropathic diseases, and helping athletes endure heavier training loads and better tolerability.
▎Which sport is suitable?
The most important thing is that it is suitable for those who are strength training, including those athletes who need to sprint or need to recover quickly during intense competitions, such as football, basketball, American football and so on.
▎Medical applications
In its position statement issued by the International Sports Nutrition Society, the potential significance of creatine for many neuropathic diseases was also highlighted.
In the past, there have also been positive reports of the use of creatine in many diseases: disorders of creatine synthesis, Huntington's disease, mitochondrial-related diseases, as well as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, ischemic heart disease, and so on.
However, I also checked the relevant reviews, there are many studies although in animal experiments show good results, but in human oral randomized controlled trials, have not shown good clinical benefits, relatively positive that is, for huntingtin mutation carriers brain atrophy can play a slowing effect, but eventually there will be related symptoms.
So overall, in terms of performance in clinical studies, creatine is still very disappointing in the treatment of these diseases. [3]
▎Can I gain muscle?
Muscle gain is not ideal.
Creatine increases the effect of muscle storage water, so it is possible that the lines are more pronounced after eating, and because the weight of muscle tissue increases, it is indeed an increase in lean body mass. The most obvious effect in this regard is in vegetarian populations.
▎Can I lose weight?
If you understand the above principle, you will also be able to know: many people after eating creatine, the weight increase is due to the increase in water retention. This is not a bad thing, but in the end there is no direct benefit to weight loss.
4. Is Creatine Safe?
Creatine has been popular since about the 1990s, and there are still many clinical data on it. Overall, it shows that the security is still very high.
The main side effect may be weight gain, and there is already a lot of data on muscle damage, bone damage, dehydration, muscle cramps, gastrointestinal discomfort, renal insufficiency, etc., all of which show that there is no risk of creatine.
▎How much can I eat?
At present, the data is about 20 grams to 30 grams, or relatively safe, considering that it is enough to eat three grams a day if you eat daily, so the problem is really not big.
At present, eating 20 grams a day will find that the content of methane and formaldehyde in the urine increases, in addition, other indicators have basically no impact, especially the problem of kidney function that everyone is very concerned about, and the data results in this regard do not bring any side effects.
However, kidney disease patients still need to be careful, really caused kidney damage, this responsibility is generally not affordable. So I can only say that based on the current evidence, I think there will be no adverse effect on kidney function, but I personally still conservatively recommend that patients with renal insufficiency still do not eat.
▎ Female
At present, women can also eat creatine, but the overall benefit is not as great as that of men.
▎ Elderly
Elderly people with a large amount of exercise can consider eating creatine, the current study found that the use of creatine at the same time with resistance training, the effect is still very obvious, and with the increase of creatine, it can be observed that the muscle strength and muscle weight of the elderly have increased.
It still makes sense for the elderly who have a lot of existing decay today. [2]
▎ Hair loss
One of the concerns many men about exercise supplements is "will it cause hair loss"? After all, looking at those famous bodybuilders, it seems that most of them have lost their hair.
Here we have to consider the existence of correlation, such as people with hair loss dhT levels are high, and people with high DHT levels tend to have higher testosterone levels, and testosterone is helpful for muscle synthesis. So some people are born prone to hair loss, and these people are just right for bodybuilders, not because fitness causes hair loss.
I searched for clinical trials in which a significant increase in DHTping was observed in rugby players after taking creatine [5].
So there are risks, but I've also seen a lot of review articles, and a lot of scholars think that this doesn't prove that it's necessarily increasing the risk of hair loss.
▎ Can children eat?
Many creatine health foods or foreign dietary supplements will list warnings on the label that "adolescents should not use", etc., but in fact, this warning is lacking evidence, and no research has found that creatine will increase the risk of adolescents.
But there is a very important reason here is because the safety experiment data of this age group is also relatively small, not to mention that although in principle, it is likely to be useful for children to eat creatine, but is it really necessary? Obviously, there are many effective means to use, why should we pay attention to creatine supplements?
Another reality that has to be considered is that if the child develops the habit of taking creatine supplements, he may gradually transition to the use of more risky drugs, such as anabolic steroids, which can cause serious harm to the child.
So be cautious. So I personally feel that if you are not an athlete, there is still no need to consider eating creatine, and it is more important to ensure physical fitness or a balanced diet and sufficient energy.
Five: How to eat creatine?
Just said half a day, some people may think they can still try.
Here's another reminder that if you're a fitness novice, it's better not to really spend energy on exercise supplements, or to focus on the training plan and the adjustment of your daily lifestyle.
▎ How much to eat?
If a professional athlete is currently thought to be able to exert the greatest effect, the way to achieve the greatest effect is to first supplement it with a shock, saturate the body's creatine reserves, and then maintain it according to the daily intake of 3 to 5 grams.
But later some studies believe that if you are planning to take creatine for a long time, this impact method with a large amount at the beginning is not too necessary, it is better to maintain a relatively low dose and long-term intake.
After all, creatine is very easy to absorb, basically an hour after eating it can reach the peak of the blood drug, and begin to play a role in the target organ.
So you can consider drinking 0.5 to 1 hour before exercise (to increase tolerance), or take it within 2 hours after exercise (to speed up recovery), pay attention to drinking more water at the same time.
▎What food to go with?
Here by the way, with the intake of energy substances in conjunction with exercise, many people may always think of matching protein powder or something, it is true that you can eat it with protein powder, there will be no adverse reactions, but from the perspective of increasing the effect of exercise, the focus is still to supplement carbohydrates, the ratio of carbohydrates and protein is best to be almost 4:1, rather than pure protein powder.
▎Which one to buy?
At present, most of the creatine monohydrate on the market is "creatine monohydrate", and the relevant research in the past is basically this.
So I personally think it's okay to eat this.
▎Which one to buy?
As long as it is a qualified product, it does not matter which one to buy.
Final reminder: don't fantasize about eight-pack abs by taking supplements! Let's go practice!!
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