What does creatine do inside your muscles?
Global and targeted gene expression and protein content in skeletal muscle of young men following short-term creatine monohydrate supplementation.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Creatine makes your muscle cells swell with water, which tells the cells to grow and protect themselves.
No biological mechanisms were identified in this study. This may be an epidemiological, observational, or survey-based study that reports associations rather than proposing causal biological pathways.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
Max 100Randomized Controlled Trials
Max 90Cohort Studies
Max 72Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional Studies
Max 44Case Reports & Case Series
Max 30Expert Opinion & Narrative Reviews
Max 560 / 90
Evidence Score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. Considered the gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Creatine makes your muscle cells swell with water, which tells the cells to grow and protect themselves.
No biological mechanisms were identified in this study. This may be an epidemiological, observational, or survey-based study that reports associations rather than proposing causal biological pathways.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
Max 100Randomized Controlled Trials
Max 90Cohort Studies
Max 72Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional Studies
Max 44Case Reports & Case Series
Max 30Expert Opinion & Narrative Reviews
Max 560 / 90
Evidence Score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. Considered the gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Publication
Authors
Safdar A, Yardley NJ, Snow R, Melov S, Tarnopolsky MA
Related Content
Claims (6)
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.
Taking creatine for a short time might turn on genes in young men's muscles that help fix DNA, possibly because the cells are reacting to the stress from holding more water.
Taking creatine for a week might change genes in young men's muscles that help reshape the muscle structure, possibly because the muscle cells are holding more water.
Taking creatine for just a week can make young, healthy guys gain a little weight and look more muscular—even if they don’t work out, mostly because of water holding in their muscles.
Taking creatine for just a week can turn on important muscle cell signals that help with growth and energy use in young, healthy guys.