What is Creatine Monohydrate?

Published On:

Mostly, people intake supplements like creatine to enhance strength, gain muscles, or improve their physical performance. And when you consume creatine, 95 percent of it gets stored in your muscles.

Creatine comes in many types: creatine monohydrate, creatine ethyl ester, creatine HCL, creatine magnesium chelate, buffered, and liquid creatine.

Now, this article will mainly focus on creatine monohydrates. And you will get to know what it is, what its benefits and side effects are, and how you will consume it.

 

What is Creatine Monohydrate?

What is creatine monohydrate?

Creatine monohydrate is simply creatine with one water molecule, but it is almost 90 percent pure creatine by weight. And perform the same functions that creatine does. Did you know creatine is naturally present in your muscle cells? And the natural creatine provides energy to your muscles when you do intense workouts or lift heavy weights. But, your body requires more of it, especially when performing any high-intensity workout.

The creatine already stored in the body is used daily by the liver, kidneys, and pancreas. To gain creatine monohydrate, you can eat red meat, fish, dairy products, seeds, legumes, and seaweed. Or you can also consume creatine monohydrate powder supplements available in the market.

Creatine is considered to have almost the same property as amino acids because it is made from three amino acids, L-arginine, L-methionine, and glycine, in the body. And the creatine available in the market in the form of capsule or powder is made by combining sarcosine (a type of salt) and cyanamide (white solid). Some catalyst compounds are added to the combined mixture in a reactor. Then finally, it is heated and pressurized to form creatine crystals. Read on! To know how many scoops of it is safe to consume.

 

How to take creatine monohydrate?

Creatine monohydrate is a very safe supplement whether you consume it in powder form or food products. Creatine provides many benefits in old age, younger age, and children. It is safe to eat at any age. Generally, you can consume 3-5 grams of creatine in a day. And you can continue it till weeks or months or even years.

But, if you are an athlete, muscle-building, or an intense workout person, then you can take 20 grams of creatine monohydrate per day, and again you can stick to this dose for a long time. Just remember to split a 20 grams dose into five parts in four-time meals.

As told before, creatine is safe for children and old age people. So you can give 3 to 5 grams creatine to 5 to 18-year-old children for 2 to 6 months and 2 grams to children of 2 to 5 years for six months. And in old age, 20 grams/day for one week, 10 grams/day for seven days, or 20 grams/day for ten days, or 4 grams/day for twenty days, these all options are safe.

Creatine pulls out water from all other parts of your body to give muscles to keep it hydrated. Therefore, it is better to drink a glass of water with creatine or mix creatine with a glass of water during intake.

 

What are the benefits of consuming creatine monohydrate?

What are the benefits of consuming creatine monohydrate?

Creatine monohydrate, one of the most nutritional supplements, has many health benefits. Let us dive deeper into them!

  1. The first and foremost benefit is it improves athletic performance. Creatine monohydrate provides more energy to the athletes than other supplements to do an intense workout to achieve their goal. It provides effective results of training on strength and body mass.
  2. Help build muscle mass as creatine provides you energy, and you will work harder for a long duration. And working harder results in greater body mass, and so does muscle mass.
  3. Creatine monohydrate has antioxidant properties that help repair the damages and injuries post-workout. Instead of consuming it in the morning, you can also have it after a workout.
  4. Creatine aids cognitive ability in elders. It can boost mental performance at all ages, but it is best for elders because in old age our brain health affects us naturally.
  5. It also helps lower blood pressure and treats fatty liver diseases.
  6. On consuming creatine monohydrate, the anabolic hormonal production raises, reduces protein breakdown, lowers myostatin levels, and increases cell hydration, all of which help muscle growth.
  7. Creatine monohydrate may help fight neurological diseases. Most neurological diseases occur due to a decrease in the reduction of phosphocreatine. And, consuming creatine may help restore the brain’s phosphocreatine by reducing the chances of Alzheimer’s, stroke, epilepsy, brain and spinal cord injuries.

Creatine monohydrate increases the phosphocreatine stored in your muscles to provide you with all the above benefits. And the rest of creatine is used to produce more ATP to boost energy and work hard to get body-building benefits.

 

What are the side effects of creatine monohydrate? 

You must have heard that supplement powder damages your organs. But, it is not in the case of creatine monohydrates. It is safe and does not damage your liver, kidneys, or other organs. But, people who already have kidney problems and diabetes should not consider consuming creatine monohydrates because when muscles do not use creatine, the left amount of creatine converts into creatinine. This results in high creatinine levels, which is not good for kidney and diabetic patients.

People with high creatinine levels should consider stopping the intake of any form of creatine. And some people may face dehydration and cramps because the muscles pull high creatine levels from other parts. But, you can reduce dehydration and cramps by exercising in high heat.

So, take the right amount of creatine dosage to avoid any side effects, and remember to drink lots of water and stay hydrated and enjoy the benefits of creatine monohydrate.

 

FAQs 

1. Does creatine cause hair loss or baldness?

Creatine monohydrate has no side effects, but some people experience hair loss because creatine supplements increase hormonal production. And one of the hormones named DHT may result in hair loss in some. DHT is dihydrotestosterone, a sex hormone increasing male sex characters. High levels of this sex hormone can shrink your hair follicles, resulting in brittle and thin hair.

 

2. Creatine monohydrate supplement is effective for both men and women?

Yes, creatine monohydrate, a performance-enhancing supplement, is beneficial for men and women. Creatine equally benefits men and women with toned muscles, weight loss, and increased workout performance. Male and female anatomy differ, but muscle and energy systems work the same for both. And it is recommended for women to take it pre and post-menopause to experience the benefits in skeletal muscle size and bone strongness.

 

3. What fruits, food, and vegetables are rich in creatine monohydrate supplements? 

Creatine is mostly found in non-vegetarian food products. You can eat red meat, chicken, pork, mutton, deer meat, salmon, herring, cod, and tuna, being a non-vegetarian. And for vegetarians or vegans, milk products such as cheese and milk,  pumpkin seeds, sesame, peas, beans, almond, seaweed, pinenuts, and walnuts are recommended. But, you cannot find enough creatine in vegetarian food compared to non-veg. And to fulfill the needs with vegetarian food, people prefer taking creatine monohydrate pills or powder.

 

You May Also Like To Read:

Best Pre-Workout Foods To Boost Stamina

Best Pre-Workout Supplements in India

Best Mass Gainer in India

 

Bottom Line

Creatine monohydrate is simply creatine with one water molecule, but it is almost 90 percent pure creatine by weight. And perform the same functions that creatine does.

It provides you with many health benefits like lower blood pressure and myostatin levels, increases muscle growth and cell hydration, treats liver diseases and cognitive ability, raises anabolic hormones, reduces protein breakdown, and improves athletic performance. Usually, creatine monohydrates do not show any side effects and do not affect your kidney, liver, and other organs. But, it is recommended for kidney, liver, and diabetic patients not to consume creatine. And also, it is better to intake the right amount of it to avoid dehydration and cramps.

We hope you found this article helpful. Please share your experience reading this article with us in the comment section below.

Leave a Comment