The Study
Creatine supplementation increases glycogen storage but not GLUT-4 expression in human skeletal muscle.
This study saw that people who took creatine had more sugar stored in their muscles for a little while, but their muscle didn’t make more of the protein that helps bring sugar in. But we don’t know if the creatine actually caused this — maybe those people were just different in other ways.
Analysis score
Maximum 90 for a randomized controlled trial.
Where the score came from
Taking creatine for a week makes muscles store more sugar (glycogen), which pulls in water and makes muscles look bigger. But after a week, taking less creatine stops this effect.
Where does this study sit?
Systematic Reviews & Meta-analyses
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Cohort Studies
Max 72Case-Control
Max 58Cross-Sectional
Max 44Case Reports & Series
Max 30Expert Opinion
Max 538 / 100
Quality score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. Considered the gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1Yes — more glycogen + water means muscles appear fuller and may feel slightly heavier, but it's temporary without continued high dosing.
- 2Muscle glycogen went up by 18±5% after 5 days of high-dose creatine, but dropped back down after 37 days of low-dose.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
Clinical science
Year
2004
Authors
L. V. van Loon, R. Murphy, A. Oosterlaar, D. Cameron-Smith, M. Hargreaves, A. Wagenmakers, R. Snow
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.