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When creatine gets into muscle cells, it brings sodium with it, which pulls water into the cells and makes them swell up a bit — like a sponge soaking up water.
When your muscles store glycogen, it holds onto water—about 3 to 4 grams of water for every gram of glycogen. If glycogen runs low, cells get less hydrated, and that makes creatine less effective at...
When you take creatine with carbs, it helps your body hold onto more creatine because the carbs spike insulin, which helps shuttle creatine into your cells better.
Insulin helps muscles pull in more creatine by boosting a cellular pump that creates the right conditions for creatine to get inside.
Creatine helps build muscle mostly by keeping muscle cells hydrated and reducing breakdown, not by making your body produce more muscle protein.
Creatine pulls water into your cells, making them swell a bit, and that swelling is how it helps your body work better.
Your muscles need sodium to pull in creatine, kind of like a battery-powered door — if the battery's dead or there's no sodium around, creatine can't get inside, even if you're drinking plenty of...
Some people of African descent have natural changes in a gene called PCSK9 that seem to lower their cholesterol levels a lot.
Two specific genetic changes that can affect heart health are much more common in African Americans than in white Americans.
Some people of African descent have genetic changes in a gene called PCSK9 that seem to cut bad cholesterol levels by almost half—this might help explain why they have lower heart disease risk.
People who naturally have lower activity of a protein called PCSK9 don’t seem to have a higher chance of getting type 2 diabetes — which means drugs that target PCSK9 might not increase diabetes risk...
People born with a certain gene change that lowers their bad cholesterol over their whole life might have a lower chance of getting dementia, and this could be because of better blood vessel health...
In White people, having genes that naturally lower PCSK9 are linked to a lower chance of developing leg circulation problems, possibly because of how these genes affect cholesterol.
People born with a certain genetic quirk that lowers their bad cholesterol over their whole life seem to have a lower chance of developing a dangerous belly blood vessel problem called an abdominal...
People who naturally have a broken PCSK9 gene — which keeps their bad cholesterol low their whole life — are much less likely to get heart disease, and this seems to be true for people of many...
People who had a heart attack and started taking a cholesterol drug called ezetimibe early had fewer heart problems over the next year compared to those who started later or didn’t take it at all.
Out of nearly 36,000 people hospitalized for heart attacks, most didn't get a cholesterol drug called ezetimibe—even though almost all were already on strong statins. Only about 1 in 6 got it early,...
If someone has a heart attack and hasn’t taken cholesterol drugs before, waiting more than 12 weeks to start a drug called ezetimibe might increase their risk of future heart problems — though the...
If you've had a heart attack, starting a cholesterol drug called ezetimibe within 3 months might lower your chance of dying from heart problems over the next 3 years, compared to waiting or not...
If someone has a heart attack and starts taking a cholesterol drug called ezetimibe within 3 months, they’re less likely to have another heart problem in the next 3 years compared to those who wait...
For people at very high risk of heart problems, taking a cholesterol drug (statin) with another drug (ezetimibe) is just as safe and easy to stick with as taking the statin alone.
For people at very high risk of heart problems, taking both a statin and ezetimibe might help them live longer than taking just a statin alone.
Taking both a statin and ezetimibe together may help prevent strokes better than taking just a statin, especially in people at very high risk.
For people at very high risk of heart problems, taking a cholesterol drug called ezetimibe along with a statin might lower their chances of serious heart issues more than taking just a statin alone.