Dr. Darren Candow

But it does decrease protein breakdown, primarily though in males.

And we still don't know exactly why, but we think estrogen or the other sex hormones might be involved.

It does in young and older individuals.

But here's an important distinction.

The more stressed the body is, it seems to come to the rescue more.

So if you're a young individual, adequate sleep, proper nutrition, you're probably not going to notice any anti-inflammatory effects.

It's when the body is under times of extensive exercise or trauma, hypoxia.

I'm sure we'll talk about the brain and sleep deprivation.

So whenever the body is more stressed or under more attack, that's when creatine seems to come to the rescue.

Well, they don't actually.

So a little bit of clarity.

So we naturally are producing creatine in two main areas, in the liver and in the brain.

And on average, we're producing about one to two grams.

Then we're also consuming in the diet anywhere between one to three grams or none.

So a vegan is not getting any dietary creatine.

Those that are on a carnivore diet might be all the way up to about three grams.

And we excrete through the urine a product called creatinine, about two.

So when you do the math, we're in a net surplus anywhere between one to two grams a day.

And we know it's not essential because vegans can live a long, healthy, successful life.

But we consider it conditionally essential because when we see all the evidence, I think there's over 1,000 peer-reviewed papers.