creatine 101

In his brilliant article on Substack entitled, "Your Cells Are Starving For Creatine", Chris Masterjohn, PhD (Nutritional Science), puts it bluntly:

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"There is no point optimizing your mitochondria if you don't optimize your creatine...Every muscle fiber wants to be exactly as rich in creatine as achieved with creatine supplementation...ALL of your cells want to be rich in creatine. Your brain is DYING to be this rich in creatine. Your muscles are STARVING to be this rich in creatine...It is completely natural to be this rich in creatine, yet most of us in the modern era who don’t supplement just aren’t that optimized."

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Most people use creatine to enhance athletic performance and build muscle mass and strength, while also shortening muscle recovery times after working out...which is all very well and good for those who work out regularly.

But quite frankly, I'd argue that it's even more important for those who're potentially facing the progressive loss of muscle mass and function (sarcopenia)...as is commonly found as we get older. Or for those with diabetes, cancer, COPD, and physically inactive people.

Which is, quite frankly, a significant part of our population.

And considering that creatine is only found in meat, people on a strict plant-based diet are also at a high risk for being deficient in creatine unless they supplement it.

The same goes for those who don't typically eat enough meat every day (1-2 pounds) to get enough creatine, or for those who have methylation issues, digestive issues, and/or gut issues, because they'll lack the necessary nutrients and abilities needed to synthesize creatine.

Which, again, is a significant part of our population, and why supplementing with creatine is so necessary.

But building healthy muscle tissue and strength aside, creatine is really beneficial (critical, really) for so much more, including:

• as mentioned earlier, it significantly improves mitochondrial function by turning used up ATP - known as ADP - back into ATP. Your ATP is being used up whether at rest or working out, so this is kind of a big deal. Given that the health of our mitochondria is LITERALLY EVERYTHING to overall health, this benefit cannot be stated enough. You WILL NOT be healthy if your mitochondria aren't healthy.

• supporting cognitive function, improving memory and attention, and overall brain performance by enhancing energy metabolism in the brain (the brain is an energy hog consuming roughly 25% of our ATP). It also helps with oxidative stress, age-related decline, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, depression, anxiety, and brain injuries.

• improving focus under stress and sleep deprivation

•improving glycemic control (balancing blood sugar)

• reducing fatty liver

• healthy vision (our retinas have the greatest concentration of mitochondria in the body)

• healthy hearing

• healthy hormones (guess where the first step of sex hormone synthesis occurs? In your mitochondria.)

• healthy, vibrant skin and powers hair growth

• improving male fertility (creatine provides the gas for your swimmers to race towards the finish line)

• improves gut health, stomach acid secretion, nutrient absorption, and maintains gut integrity

• improves bone mineral density and counteracts menopausal-related loss of muscle and bone

Again...most people are struggling in most, if not all, of those areas.

And just 3-5g a day is all you really need to saturate your tissues...and keep them saturated.

Given how crucial creatine supplementation is to health and performance, I loaded my newest coffee for Astro Botanico - "Thunderbird" - with 2.5 g per serving...which will get you over the finish line with one serving a day IF you also consume red meat or fish daily AND don't have any of the limiting issues mentioned previously. Otherwise, two cups a day will get you there.

Of course, "Thunderbird" is also loaded with other amazing botanicals as well, including grass-fed colostrum, five types of collagen from organic/pasture-raised sources, five types of organic medicinal mushroom extracts, organic maca root, and L-theanine...not to mention the best tasting organic coffee from small farms across Central and South America...all of which I'll go into more detail about in upcoming posts.

And all of which I formulated with significant dosages of each to ensure that you'll get significant benefits from them with just 1-2 cups a day.

And it just tastes like the best cup of coffee you've ever had.

Because it is.