The Allure of the Perfect Body
We spend our lives enthralled by the superlative athletic performance encased in the perfect body. The popularity of Instagram posts from the likes of Paulina Porizkova, buses plastered with photoshopped near-nudes and indeed the survival and extinction of civilisations are a testament to the enduring power of this maxim. The recent film The Substance highlights this too: an ageing Demi Moore plays a woman misled into believing a miracle product will restore her lost youth, with tragic consequences.
Creatine: The Modern “Magic Substance”
Shelving Moore’s disillusionment and disappointment for just a second, in creatine we have a magical substance that might help us achieve the heights of athleticism and anatomical magnificence that was once the exclusive realm of the elite athlete.
It has long been embraced by the athletic community and gym enthusiasts as a supplement that could significantly enhance energy, physical performance, the growth of muscle mass and endurance. For those who want to run faster, further and longer, with bigger muscles and super-charged stamina, taking creatine is their passport into the gilded realm of extraordinary accomplishment with untold rewards.
Cognitive Benefits and Brain Protection
Aside from boosting exercise capacity and muscle mass, creatine can augment cognitive performance and protect our brains, which is especially important for athletes engaged in contact sports who are constantly subjected to the incrementally damaging effects of recurring brain trauma. In fact, the International Society of Sports Nutrition (ISSN) considers this supplement to be so vital for athletes who need all the brain protection they can get that the ISSN considers it to be a dereliction of duty and care not to advise them about the wisdom of adding this supplement to their daily regimen.
Creatine’s Multitalented Benefits
Creatine is loaded with a veritable smorgasbord of capabilities. Aside from an energiser and muscle builder, it’s a weight-loss promoter. It can lower cholesterol, help reduce rising blood glucose levels, improve bone strength and reverse osteoporosis, alleviate the crippling effects of osteoarthritis and lower homocysteine (a protein that increases our risk of heart disease, stroke and Alzheimer’s). It can also help to reduce anxiety and depression, stimulate the immune system and reduce wrinkles when applied as a lotion. Creatine is a multitalented wonder potion we all need to protect us against the ravages of ageing.
We obtain creatine from red meat, fish and poultry. If we’re lucky, about 1–2g per day, but experts advise that we need at least 3g per day as we get older, which would suggest that we need to su