About this episode
Creatine is like your second mitochondria. Or, the mitochondria's chief of staff. Or its co-pilot. Your mitochondria make ATP so you can see clearly, hear accurately, digest your food, power your brain, show off your your shiny skin, lift heavy things, and perform your best at the challenges you face. They do that all with the help of creatine. Creatine is responsible for spreading the impact of mitochondrial ATP production into the general area of the cell known as the cytosol, and into every organelle outside the mitochondria. While it is more important in cells with high ATP requirements, variable ATP requirements, and long distances between mitochondria and the source of ATP utilization, it is still incredibly important in every cell. There is no point in optimizing your mitochondria if you don't also optimize your creatine. Many people may believe that the high muscle creatine stores that athletes achieve with creatine supplements are "unnatural" and something not achievable until creatine supplements were available. Here, I argue that nothing could be further from the truth. 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 . The creatine we require to be optimized is likely etched deep into our beings by our ancestral consumption of one to two pounds of meat per day. When red and rare, one pound can give the dose that saturates tissue stores. When white and well done, two pounds may be required. But can we synthesize enough creatine ourselves when all the precursors in place? Here we examine that question. But first, a brief review of creatine's lesser known benefits. This is educational in nature and not medical or dietetic advice. The article version has live links, graphs, and references: https://chrismasterjohnphd.substack.com/p/your-cells-are-starving-for-creatine Handling Creatine Side Effects will be released as a podcast tomorrow but is available as a written article right now: https://chrismasterjohnphd.substack.com/p/handling-creatine-side-effects Chris Masterjohn, PhD, is the Founder and Scientific Director of the mitochondria test Mitome.