Taking creatine makes your muscle cells swell, which tells your body to start building more muscle, and insulin makes this happen even better by boosting muscle-building signals and slowing down muscle breakdown.

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Pro

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Against

Evidence from Studies

Supporting (0)

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Community contributions welcome

No supporting evidence found

Contradicting (1)

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Effects of acute creatine monohydrate supplementation on leucine kinetics and mixed-muscle protein synthesis.

Randomized Controlled Trial

Human

2001 Sep

The study found that creatine didn’t make muscles grow faster or activate growth signals, but it might have helped prevent muscle breakdown in men. It didn’t test whether creatine triggers growth pathways or works better with insulin, so it doesn’t support the claim.

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Similar Assertions

Taking creatine helps your muscle cells soak up more water, making them swell a bit—and this swelling tells your body to stop breaking down muscle as much.

52

30

75%

Insulin helps your muscles take in more creatine by making blood flow better and boosting a pump-like system in muscle cells, which helps bring in more nutrients.

11

12

72%

When your cells take in creatine, they also pull in sodium, which makes the inside of the cell saltier. To balance that, water rushes in, making the cell swell up a bit.

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71%