Creatine supplementation for performance & recovery 💪 This new review examined how creatine supplementation impacts… ⚡️ High-intensity performance 🔁 Recovery & muscle damage 🏃 Endurance & intermittent sport performance 🧠 Cognitive function & resilience …across athletic, endurance, team sport, and tactical populations 📚 Here are the key findings ⬇️ Energy production & ATP resynthesis 🔋 👉 Creatine increases phosphocreatine stores, allowing faster ATP regeneration during high-intensity efforts Strength & power performance 🏋️ 👉 Consistently improves strength, power output, and training capacity, especially in repeated high-intensity efforts 👉 Strength gains of ~8% greater than training alone have been reported in some studies Repeated sprint & team sport performance ⚽️ 👉 Enhances repeated sprint ability, agility, and fatigue resistance 👉 Particularly relevant for sports with intermittent high-intensity demands like football and rugby Training adaptations & muscle mass 📈 👉 Supports greater training volume over time → leading to increases in lean mass and hypertrophy 👉 Long-term use linked with meaningful increases in muscle fibre size and total body mass Recovery from muscle damage 🔁 👉 May accelerate strength recovery in the days after intense or eccentric exercise 👉 Can reduce markers of muscle damage, inflammation, and oxidative stress (though findings vary) Endurance performance 🏃 👉 No consistent benefit for steady-state endurance performance 👉 BUT improves high-intensity surges, finishing sprints, and interval capacity within endurance events 👉 May support glycogen resynthesis when combined with carbohydrate intake Thermoregulation & hydration 🌡️ 👉 Increases total body water and intracellular fluid 👉 May help maintain plasma volume and improve heat tolerance in demanding environments Cognitive function & neuroprotection 🧠 👉 May support attention, memory, and decision-making 👉 Can attenuate cognitive fatigue during sleep deprivation or stress 👉 Potential neuroprotective role in high-impact or contact sports Inflammation & immune support 🛡️ 👉 May reduce pro-inflammatory cytokines and oxidative stress following intense exercise 👉 Potential role in supporting gut integrity under high training loads Typical dosing 💊 👉 Loading: ~20 g/day for 5–7 days (optional) 👉 Maintenance: ~3–5 g/day 👉 Or ~3 g/day for ~4 weeks to fully saturate stores without loading Body mass considerations ⚖️ 👉 Small increases in body mass (~0.5–1 kg) are common 👉 Can be beneficial for strength/power athletes but may impact running economy in some endurance contexts Reference: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/4187… Subscribe to Performance Nutrition Digest FREE to receive your daily study breakdown, straight to your inbox or via the Substack app 📥 performancenutritiondigest.c… Performance Nutrition Digest is powered by Healthspan Elite⚡️ healthspanelite.co.uk/