Taking 21 grams of creatine a day for 5 days can boost the amount of creatine in your muscles by about 30%, but it doesn’t make your muscles build protein faster or break it down slower, whether you’ve eaten or not.

30

Pro

0

Against

Evidence from Studies

Supporting (1)

30

Community contributions welcome

30

Creatine supplementation has no effect on human muscle protein turnover at rest in the postabsorptive or fed states.

Cross-Sectional Study

Human

2003 Apr

The study gave men creatine pills for 5 days, just like the claim says, and found their muscles stored 30% more creatine — but their muscle building and breaking-down rates didn’t change, whether they ate or not. So the claim is right.

Contradicting (0)

0

Community contributions welcome

No contradicting evidence found

Gold Standard Evidence Needed

According to GRADE and EBM methodology, here is what ideal scientific evidence would look like to definitively prove or disprove this specific claim, ordered from strongest to weakest evidence.

Source Study

Creatine supplementation has no effect on human muscle protein turnover at rest in the postabsorptive or fed states.

Score: 30

DOI: 10.1152/AJPENDO.00338.2002

Similar Assertions

Taking creatine powder for about a week—first a lot, then a little—can boost the amount of creatine in your muscles by over 13%, which helps your muscles store more energy.

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Taking creatine supplements the way some athletes do—starting with a big dose, then switching to a smaller one—might temporarily boost the sugar stored in your muscles, but that boost fades once you switch to the smaller daily dose.

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Taking creatine for a week doesn’t make your muscles start building protein faster, even if you take a lot of it at first and then less later.

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Taking creatine supplements for about six weeks doesn’t seem to change the levels of a specific protein and its genetic instructions in your muscles, even if you’re healthy.

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Taking creatine for a week like this doesn’t make you weigh more or gain more muscle in young, healthy men and women.

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