Browse evidence-based analysis of health-related claims and assertions
In healthy adults, insulin doesn't make blood vessels relax more when nitric oxide is already at work — meaning insulin probably doesn't improve blood flow by boosting the muscle's response to nitric oxide.
Mechanistic
When insulin goes up in healthy people — without changing blood sugar — blood flow to the legs nearly doubles, showing insulin itself can widen blood vessels.
When healthy adults get a certain drug in their leg artery, blood flow drops by up to 45%, and insulin makes this drop even bigger — showing that insulin helps control blood flow in muscles by affecting nitric oxide.
Insulin helps blood vessels relax better when the signal comes from the vessel lining, but not when the signal bypasses it—meaning insulin probably boosts the lining's ability to release a blood-vessel-relaxing chemical called nitric oxide.
When insulin levels go up in healthy adults, it helps blood flow better in the legs by turning on a molecule called nitric oxide — and it works about twice as well as when insulin isn’t active.
Treating liver cells from diabetic mice with a drug called rapamycin seems to boost their waste-cleaning process, which might help clear fat buildup in the liver.
In mice with fatty liver, certain proteins and their genetic instructions are lower in the liver's waste-processing units, which might mean those units aren't working as well as they should.
In fat mice with fatty liver, the liver cells have fewer 'acidic cleanup pockets' than healthy mice, which might mean their cells aren't cleaning themselves properly.
Quantitative
Taking creatine or nicotinamide before skin cells are stressed might help reduce inflammation, based on lab studies with human skin cells.
Taking creatine or nicotinamide before skin cells are stressed by harmful molecules might help keep them talking to neighboring skin cells, which could support skin health when under stress.
After skin cells are damaged, taking creatine or a form of vitamin B3 doesn’t seem to help them recover or become less aged, based on lab tests.
Correlational
Taking creatine or nicotinamide before damage might help protect skin cells from stress and aging by reducing harmful molecules called free radicals.
Taking creatine or nicotinamide before damage from hydrogen peroxide might help skin cells stay healthier longer by reducing signs of aging in the lab.
Creatine helps protect tiny muscle cells from shrinking when they're starved, but only when there's no sugar around — it seems to work only when energy is low.
When chicken muscle cells are starved, adding creatine seems to boost a key protein for energy and reduce harmful molecules, which might help the cells' powerhouses work better under stress.
When chicken muscle cells are starved, adding creatine seems to lower levels of two proteins that make muscles waste away — this might mean creatine helps protect muscles when there's not enough energy.
In chicken muscle cells with normal energy, adding creatine seems to boost protein building and turn on key muscle growth switches in the cells.
Taurine is a natural substance in your body that helps keep your cells from swelling or shrinking too much, especially when your muscles, heart, or brain are under stress.
Taking creatine might help your muscles keep using sugar properly when you're not moving much, and help them rebuild faster when you start moving again.
Insulin helps open up blood vessels in your muscles, letting more blood through so nutrients like creatine can get to the muscle cells more easily.
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 pulling water into cells.
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.