The Food Medic - E6 Ask Dr Hazel: Creatine for endurance sports?

Episode Date: August 8, 2022

Hello and welcome back to another episode of Ask Dr Hazel. In these 5 minute episodes we answer questions submitted by you. This weeks listener question is “Is there any benefit to taking creatine when undertaking endurance sports such as marathons or triathlons?” Find out more on www.thefoodmedic.co.uk Thank you to everyone who has sent in questions already and if you would like to submit a question to the podcast - on any topic related to health, fitness, nutrition, or mindset - please send your voice recorded question to [e-mail]. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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My name is Nadia. So great to have the podcast back. I have heard about the benefits of taking creatine in high-intensity exercise, so sort of CrossFit type of sports. I was wondering if there's any purpose or benefit of taking creatine for endurance sports such as running marathons or longer type of triathlons, etc. hi nadia what a great question so before we dive in let's just cover off what creatine is first of all so creatine is a compound that's produced in the body from amino acids now this is created naturally in the body but can also be obtained from animal-based foods like meat and fish or from supplements typically as a powder or capsule. So creatine works by combining with phosphate groups to form phosphocreatine. I need you to

stay with me because this part's important. Now during very intense bursts of activity lasting a few seconds so think about things like sprints, jumps, max lifts, our body generates ATP and that is energy from phosphocreatine. This ATP is broken down to ADP and energy is released. So phosphocreatine is able to reform ATP very quickly, but there's only a very small amount stored in the muscles and so the energy supply is limited. It can be replenished when we rest and also through external sources so creatine from food and supplementation. Now creatine is one of the most widely researched sports supplements and has been shown to improve exercise performance and this is especially for short burst high intensity or anaerobic exercise, like I said, sprinting or weightlifting. And it can also increase muscle

mass and strength following resistance exercise. Now you asked about endurance exercise, so aerobic exercise. Now there is less evidence for this, for the use of creatine with aerobic-based sports or endurance exercise. And this is likely due to the fact that phosphocreatine energy, like I've just mentioned, is less important during these activities. And this is likely due to the fact that that phosphocreatine energy system that I mentioned in the beginning is less important for these longer duration activities. However, it may offer some benefit for endurance sports that do include high intensity effort. So something like road cycling. There are also other benefits to creatine.

It has been shown to reduce injuries, improve recovery, enhance glycogen synthesis, and also improve heat tolerance. There's also some emerging evidence that it can improve cognitive function and memory and reduce mental fatigue, so unrelated to performance. So to answer your question, it's less important for marathons and endurance, but may benefit other forms of training that you're doing and other health outcomes. If you're interested in learning more or want to know how

to take it, head over to thefoodmedic.co.uk and search creatine 101 and we have a full article on it there exploring it a little bit deeper that's all from me see you again next time