Dr. Darren Candow

The more intense, the more demanding, I think that's where creatine's anti-inflammatory properties would come into play.

There is.

It's very mixed.

So we don't have a lot of data.

First off, creatine doesn't directly increase protein synthesis, which might be a surprise for a lot of reviewers.

It sort of works in a magical other way, which we can talk about.

But from a muscle breakdown perspective, it seems to reduce something called leucine oxidation primarily in young males.

And that's an indicator of whole body breakdowns.

We've also shown in our lab it reduces 3-methylhistamine, which is another indicator of whole body breakdown.

But nothing is directly shown in the muscle itself.

And for some reason, females don't experience this.

We've looked at it in young and older females.

We don't see the same effect.

The only logical explanation is it could have something to do with progesterone or estrogen.

We just don't know that.

And from an anti-catabolic effect,

decreasing some of these tissue repair mechanisms.

There's not a lot of research out there.

But unfortunately, we're not seeing any evidence that creatine increases protein synthesis.

So unlike protein, which it does, creatine seems to help increase muscle size in other ways, satellite cells, growth factors, things like that.