There’s just so much evidence that creatine is something people should take daily, and now this?

- Enhances ANTI-tumor... sounds good - ANTI-tumor immunity... sounds bad? - Read first few paragraphs as a typical medical rube, got nowhere

So, creatine = good?

...in mice.

Please remember that this is a study not the ads and pop-sci articles usually posted here. That means it’s meant to elucidate at most some biological pathways and not to present an overall recommendation. Maybe creatine has strong anti-tumor activity through one pathway and strongly tumor-promoting impacts elsewhere.

Please… just read it as the isolated and interesting insight into biology that it is. It’s a fascinating in vitro result that shows a potentially important role for creatinine in a certain immune response.

Are there risks to creatine?

Note that they gave the mice 10mg per day, which is around 3g per day for a 70kg human - i.e. a normal dose.

worth noting that there’s evidence both ways… tumor cells may like it too:

- Loo et al. 2015 found color cancer cells can use it as fuel and blocking the creatine cut metastasis in mice [0]

- zhang et al 20921 found it promoting mouse colon and breast cancer models [1]

not an expert in any way, but i’m guessing it depends on cancer type and there doesn’t seem to be human data either way.

[0]: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25601461/

[1]: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cmet.2021.03.009

Creatine related: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48346947

(I regret posting that blog post, but the study is interesting)

So what’s the latest? That everyone should take creatine and GLP-1s?

The whole creatine craze reminds me of Vitamin D a couple of years ago. Which also sounded harmless, but can go very wrong if not careful

This is such a crazy substance. I'm 43 and I feel like I have more energy than I have ever had before. I started taking it during recovery from a bad ankle fracture since it helps building muscle mass. Once the ankle was better I took up CrossFit, and kept on taking creatine because why not, it helps replenish ATP so I will be able to give the extra-push when working out, I thought.

What is blowing my mind though is that at $dayjob my team is going through a crazy crunch to deliver a very strategic project and some of us are pushing 10-12h days often. I'm in hour 12 today for the second day in a row, and my head is not tired at all. Turns out the brain also uses a lot of ATP too, specially during demanding cognitive tasks so I guess it is creatine that is keeping the engine running smoothly even after so many hours.

I will like once every week or two have a poor night sleep. These days I take twice the dose and I don't feel like I'm sleep deprived at all. Feels like cheating! And apparently no side effects at all so far. Well, maybe I'm working too much.