Isn’t it even more important for people on vegan diets (e.g. me)? According to Claude:
- - - - - -
Creatine supplementation is particularly relevant for vegans for several biological reasons:
The primary reason is that creatine is naturally found almost exclusively in animal products, particularly meat and fish. The human body can synthesize creatine from amino acids, but vegans typically have lower baseline creatine levels in their muscles since they don’t consume any dietary sources.
Your body’s natural creatine synthesis requires three amino acids: glycine, arginine, and methionine. While vegans can get these amino acids from plant sources, the total creatine levels tend to be lower than in omnivores. Research has shown that vegetarians and vegans typically have about 50-60% of the creatine muscle stores of people who eat meat.
Creatine is important because it helps: - Produce ATP (energy) for short, intense activities - Improve muscle strength and power output - Support cognitive function - Aid in muscle recovery and growth
For vegans specifically, supplementing with creatine can help bridge this nutritional gap and bring their creatine levels up to optimal ranges. Studies have shown that vegans and vegetarians often experience more pronounced benefits from creatine supplementation compared to meat-eaters, likely because they’re starting from a lower baseline.
The standard recommended dose (5g daily) works well for vegans, and creatine monohydrate is vegan-friendly as it’s typically synthesized from non-animal sources.
Thanks, Yanni. My hypothesis was also that vegetarians and vegans would benefit more from creatine supplementation, but it looks like there is no clear evidence for that. Below is the abstract of the systematic review of Kaviani et al. (2020) (emphasis mine).
Background: Creatine monohydrate is a nutritional supplement often consumed by athletes in anaerobic sports. Creatine is naturally found in most meat products; therefore, vegetarians have reduced creatine stores and may benefit from supplementation. Objective: to determine the effects of creatine supplementation on vegetarians. Data sources: PubMed and SPORTDiscus. Eligibility criteria: Randomized controlled trials (parallel group, cross-over studies) or prospective studies. Participants: Vegetarians. Intervention: Creatine supplementation. Study appraisal and synthesis: A total of 64 records were identified, and eleven full-text articles (covering nine studies) were included in this systematic review. Results: Creatine supplementation in vegetarians increased total creatine, creatine, and phosphocreatine concentrations in vastus lateralis and gastrocnemius muscle, plasma, and red blood cells, often to levels greater than omnivores. Creatine supplementation had no effect on brain levels of phosphocreatine. Creatine supplementation increased lean tissue mass, type II fiber area, insulin-like growth factor-1, muscular strength, muscular endurance, Wingate mean power output, and brain function (memory and intelligence) in vegetarian participants. Studies were mixed on whether creatine supplementation improved exercise performance in vegetarians to a greater extent compared to omnivores. Limitations: Studies that were reviewed had moderate–high risk of bias. Conclusions: Overall, it appears vegetarian athletes are likely to benefit from creatine supplementation.
The 2nd sentence I highlighted above refers to “exercise performance”, but it is also unclear whether vegetarians and vegans benefit more from creatine supplementation with respect to cognitive function. From my post:
Sandkühler et al. (2023) “found no indication that our vegetarian participants benefited more from creatine than our omnivore participants (in fact, the creatine effect was smaller in vegetarians than omnivores to a non-statistically significant extent). This is in line with Solis et al. [22, 24] who did not find a difference in brain creatine content between omnivores and vegetarians”.
Thanks for clarifying! I’ve been taking 5mg for a couple of years. How much do you take? 5mg is a generic recommendation so I’m considering experimenting with higher doses.
You are welcome! I have actually never taken creatine, and did the analysis to figure out whether I should[1]. I am planning to start with 3 g/d. Here are some thoughts on optimising creatine supplementation.
Currently, I take B12, D3, Omega 3, iodine (following the advice of NutritionFacts.org), and a multivitamin (to cover any eventual gaps left by following a plant-based diet; for example, I do not think I consume enough iron excluding that I take via the multivitamin).
Isn’t it even more important for people on vegan diets (e.g. me)? According to Claude:
- - - - - -
Creatine supplementation is particularly relevant for vegans for several biological reasons:
The primary reason is that creatine is naturally found almost exclusively in animal products, particularly meat and fish. The human body can synthesize creatine from amino acids, but vegans typically have lower baseline creatine levels in their muscles since they don’t consume any dietary sources.
Your body’s natural creatine synthesis requires three amino acids: glycine, arginine, and methionine. While vegans can get these amino acids from plant sources, the total creatine levels tend to be lower than in omnivores. Research has shown that vegetarians and vegans typically have about 50-60% of the creatine muscle stores of people who eat meat.
Creatine is important because it helps:
- Produce ATP (energy) for short, intense activities
- Improve muscle strength and power output
- Support cognitive function
- Aid in muscle recovery and growth
For vegans specifically, supplementing with creatine can help bridge this nutritional gap and bring their creatine levels up to optimal ranges. Studies have shown that vegans and vegetarians often experience more pronounced benefits from creatine supplementation compared to meat-eaters, likely because they’re starting from a lower baseline.
The standard recommended dose (5g daily) works well for vegans, and creatine monohydrate is vegan-friendly as it’s typically synthesized from non-animal sources.
Thanks, Yanni. My hypothesis was also that vegetarians and vegans would benefit more from creatine supplementation, but it looks like there is no clear evidence for that. Below is the abstract of the systematic review of Kaviani et al. (2020) (emphasis mine).
The 2nd sentence I highlighted above refers to “exercise performance”, but it is also unclear whether vegetarians and vegans benefit more from creatine supplementation with respect to cognitive function. From my post:
Thanks for clarifying! I’ve been taking 5mg for a couple of years. How much do you take? 5mg is a generic recommendation so I’m considering experimenting with higher doses.
You are welcome! I have actually never taken creatine, and did the analysis to figure out whether I should[1]. I am planning to start with 3 g/d. Here are some thoughts on optimising creatine supplementation.
Currently, I take B12, D3, Omega 3, iodine (following the advice of NutritionFacts.org), and a multivitamin (to cover any eventual gaps left by following a plant-based diet; for example, I do not think I consume enough iron excluding that I take via the multivitamin).