Creatine: Very Different For Young & Old People

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What’s the Deal with Creatine?

Creatine is best-known for its use as a sports supplement. It has a few other uses too, usually in the case of helping to treat (or recover from) specific medical conditions.

What actually is it?

Creatine is an organic compound formed from amino acids (mostly l-arginine and lysine, can be l-methionine, but that’s not too important for our purposes here).

We can take it as a supplement, we can get it in our diet (unless we’re vegan, because plants don’t make it; vertebrates do), and we can synthesize it in our own bodies.

What does it do?

While creatine supplements mostly take the form of creatine monohydrate, in the body it’s mostly stored in our muscle tissue as phosphocreatine, and it helps cells produce adenosine triphosphate, (ATP).

ATP is how energy is kept ready to use by cells, and is cells’ immediate go-to when they need to do something. For this reason, it’s highly instrumental in cell repair and rebuilding—which is why it’s used so much by athletes, especially bodybuilders or other athletes that have a vested interest in gaining muscle mass and enjoying faster recovery times.

See: Creatine use among young athletes

However! For reasons as yet not fully known, it doesn’t seem to have the same beneficial effect after a certain age:

Read: Differential response of muscle phosphocreatine to creatine supplementation in young and old subjects

What about the uses outside of sport?

Almost all studies outside of athletic performance have been on animals, despite it being suggested as potentially helpful for many things, including:

  • Alzheimer’s disease
  • Parkinson’s disease
  • Huntington’s disease
  • ischemic stroke
  • epilepsy
  • brain or spinal cord injuries
  • motor neuron disease
  • memory and brain function in older adults

However, research that’s been done on humans has been scant, if promising:

In short: creatine may reduce symptoms and slow the progression of some neurological diseases, although more research in humans is needed, and words such as “promising”, “potential”, etc are doing a lot of the heavy lifting in those papers we just cited.

Is it safe?

It seems so: Creatine supplementation and health variables: a retrospective study

Nor does it appear to create the sometimes-rumored kidney problems, cramps, or dehydration:

Common questions and misconceptions about creatine supplementation: what does the scientific evidence really show?

Where can I get it?

You can get it from pretty much any sports nutrition outlet, or you can order online. For example:

Click here to check it out on Amazon!

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  • Caramelized Caraway Cabbage

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Cabbage is an underrated vegetable for its many nutrients and its culinary potential—here’s a great way to make it a delectable starter or respectable side.

    You will need

    • 1 medium white cabbage, sliced into 1″ thick slabs
    • 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
    • 1 tbsp caraway seeds
    • 1 tsp black pepper
    • ½ tsp turmeric
    • ¼ tsp MSG or ½ tsp low-sodium salt

    Method

    (we suggest you read everything at least once before doing anything)

    1) Preheat the oven to 400℉ / 200℃.

    2) Combine the non-cabbage ingredients in a small bowl, whisking to mix thoroughly—with a tiny whisk if you have one, but a fork will work if necessary.

    3) Arrange the cabbage slices on a lined baking tray and brush the seasoning-and-oil mixture over both sides of each slice.

    4) Roast for 20–25 minutes until the cabbage is tender and beginning to caramelize.

    5) Serve warm.

    Enjoy!

    Want to learn more?

    For those interested in some of the science of what we have going on today:

    Take care!

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  • Are You Eating AGEs?

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    The Trouble of the AGEs

    Advanced Glycation End-Products (AGEs) are the result of the chemical process of glycation, which can occur in your body in response to certain foods you ate, or you can consume them directly, if you eat animal products that contained them (because we’re not special and other animals glycate too, especially mammals such as pigs, cows, and sheep).

    As a double-whammy, if you cook animal products (especially without water, such as by roasting or frying), extra AGEs will form during cooking.

    When proteinous and/or fatty food turns yellow/golden/brown during cooking, that’s generally glycation.

    If there’s starch present, some or all of that yellow/golden/brown stuff will be a Maillard Reaction Product (MRP), such as acrylamide. That’s not exactly a health food, but it’s nowhere near being even in the same ballpark of badness.

    In short, during cooking:

    • Proteinous/fatty food turns yellow/golden/brown = probably an AGE
    • Starchy food turns yellow/golden/brown = probably a MRP

    The AGEs are far worse.

    What’s so bad about AGEs?

    Let’s do a quick tour of some studies:

    We could keep going, but you probably get the picture!

    What should we do about it?

    There are three main ways to reduce serum AGE levels:

    Reduce or eliminate consumption of animal products

    Especially mammalian animal products, such as from pigs, cows, and sheep, especially their meat. Processed versions are even worse! So, steak is bad, but bacon and sausages are literally top-tier bad.

    Cook wet

    Dry cooking (which includes frying, and especially includes deep fat frying, which is worse than shallow frying which is worse than air frying) produces far more AGEs than cooking with methods that involve water (boiling, steaming, slow-cooking, etc).

    As a bonus, adding acidic ingredients (e.g. vinegar, lemon juice, tomato juice) can halve the amount of AGEs produced.

    Consume antioxidants

    Our body does have some ability to deal with AGEs, but that ability has its limits, and our body can be easily overwhelmed if we consume foods that are bad for it. So hopefully you’ll tend towards a plant-based diet, but whether you do or don’t:

    You can give your body a hand by consuming antioxidant foods and drinks (such as berries, tea/coffee, and chocolate), and/or taking supplements.

    Want to know more about the science of this?

    Check out…

    Advanced Glycation End-Products in Foods and a Practical Guide to Their Reduction in the Diet

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  • An RSV vaccine has been approved for people over 60. But what about young children?

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has approved a vaccine against respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in Australia for the first time. The shot, called Arexvy and manufactured by GSK, will be available by prescription to adults over 60.

    RSV is a contagious respiratory virus which causes an illness similar to influenza, most notably in babies and older adults.

    So while it will be good to have an RSV vaccine available for older people, where is protection up to for the youngest children?

    A bit about RSV

    RSV was discovered in chimpanzees with respiratory illness in 1956, and was soon found to be a common cause of illness in humans.

    There are two key groups of people we would like to protect from RSV: babies (up to about one year old) and people older than 60.

    Babies tend to fill up hospitals during the RSV season in late spring and winter in large numbers, but severe infection requiring admission to intensive care is less common.

    In babies and younger children, RSV generally causes a wheezing asthma-like illness (bronchiolitis), but can also cause pneumonia and croup.

    Although there are far fewer hospital admissions among older people, they can develop severe disease and die from an infection.

    A baby sitting on a bed.
    Babies account for the majority of hospitalisations with RSV.
    Prostock-studio/Shutterstock

    RSV vaccines for older people

    For older adults, there are actually several RSV vaccines in the pipeline. The recent Australian TGA approval of Arexvy is likely to be the first of several, with other vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna currently in development.

    The GSK and Pfizer RSV vaccines are similar. They both contain a small component of the virus, called the pre-fusion protein, that the immune system can recognise.

    Both vaccines have been shown to reduce illness from RSV by more than 80% in the first season after vaccination.

    In older adults, side effects following Arexvy appear to be similar to other vaccines, with a sore arm and generalised aches and fatigue frequently reported.

    Unlike influenza vaccines which are given each year, it is anticipated the RSV vaccine would be a one-off dose, at least at this stage.

    Protecting young children from RSV

    Younger babies don’t tend to respond well to some vaccines due to their immature immune system. To prevent other diseases, this can be overcome by giving multiple vaccine doses over time. But the highest risk group for RSV are those in the first few months of life.

    To protect this youngest age group from the virus, there are two potential strategies available instead of vaccinating the child directly.

    The first is to give a vaccine to the mother and rely on the protective antibodies passing to the infant through the placenta. This is similar to how we protect babies by vaccinating pregnant women against influenza and pertussis (whooping cough).

    The second is to give antibodies directly to the baby as an injection. With both these strategies, the protection provided is only temporary as antibodies wane over time, but this is sufficient to protect infants through their highest risk period.

    A pregnant woman receives a vaccination.
    Women could be vaccinated during pregnancy to protect their baby in its first months of life.
    Image Point Fr/Shutterstock

    Abrysvo, the Pfizer RSV vaccine, has been trialled in pregnant women. In clinical trials, this vaccine has been shown to reduce illness in infants for up to six months. It has been approved in pregnant women in the United States, but is not yet approved in Australia.

    An antibody product called palivizumab has been available for many years, but is only partially effective and extremely expensive, so has only been given to a small number of children at very high risk.

    A newer antibody product, nirsevimab, has been shown to be effective in reducing infections and hospitalisations in infants. It was approved by the TGA in November, but it isn’t yet clear how this would be accessed in Australia.

    What now?

    RSV, like influenza, is a major cause of respiratory illness, and the development of effective vaccines represents a major advance.

    While the approval of the first vaccine for older people is an important step, many details are yet to be made available, including the cost and the timing of availability. GSK has indicated its vaccine should be available soon. While the vaccine will initially only be available on private prescription (with the costs paid by the consumer), GSK has applied for it to be made free under the National Immunisation Program.

    In the near future, we expect to hear further news about the other vaccines and antibodies to protect those at higher risk from RSV disease, including young children.The Conversation

    Allen Cheng, Professor of Infectious Diseases, Monash University

    This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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  • Aging Backwards – by Miranda Esmonde-White

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    In this book, there’s an upside and a downside to the author’s professional background:

    • Upside: Miranda Esmonde-White is a ballet-dancer-turned-physical-trainer, and it shows
    • Downside: Miranda Esmonde-White is not a scientist, and it shows

    She cites a lot of science, but she either does not understand it or else intentionally misrepresents it. We will assume the former. But as one example, she claims:

    “for every minute you exercise, you lengthen your life by 7 minutes”

    …which cheat code to immortality is absolutely not backed-up by the paper she cites for it. The paper, like most papers, was much more measured in its proclamations; “there was an association” and “with these conditions”, etc.

    Nevertheless, while she misunderstands lots of science along the way, her actual advice is good and sound. Her workout programs really will help people to become younger by various (important, life-changing!) metrics of biological age, mostly pertaining to mobility.

    And yes, this is a workout-based approach; we won’t read much about diet and other lifestyle factors here.

    Bottom line: it has its flaws, but nevertheless delivers on its premise of helping the reader to become biologically younger through exercises, mostly mobility drills.

    Click here to check out Aging Backwards, and age backwards!

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  • Watch Out For Lipedema

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Lipedema occurs mostly in women, mostly in times of hormonal change, with increasing risk as time goes by (so for example, puberty yields a lower risk than pregnancy, which yields a lower risk than menopause).

    Its name literally means “fat swelling”, and can easily be mistaken for obesity or, in its earlier stages, just pain old cellulite.

    Cellulite, by the way, is completely harmless and is also not, per se, an indicator of bad health. But if you have it and don’t like it, you can reduce it:

    Keep Cellulite At Bay

    Obesity is more of a complex matter, and one that we’ve covered here:

    Shedding Some Obesity Myths

    Lipedema is actively harmful

    Lipedema can become a big problem, because lifestyle change does not reduce lipedema fat, the fat is painful, can lead to obesity if one was not already obese, causes gait and joint abnormalities, causes fatigue, can lead to lymphedema (beyond the scope of today’s article—perhaps another time!) and very much psychosocial distress.

    Like many conditions that mostly affect women, the science is… Well, here’s a recent example review that was conducted and published:

    Lipedema: What we don’t know

    Fun fact: in Romanian there is an expression “one eye is laughing; the other is crying”, and it seems appropriate here.

    Spot the signs

    Because it’s most readily mistaken for cellulite in first presentation, let’s look at the differences between them:

    • Cellulite is characterized by dimpled, bumpy, or even skin; lipedema is the same but with swelling too.
    • Cellulite is a connective tissue condition; lipedema is too (at least in part), but also involves the abnormal accumulation and deposition of fat cells, rather than just pulling some down a bit.
    • Cellulite has no additional symptoms; lipedema soon also brings swollen limbs, joint pain, and/or skin that’s “spongy” and easily bruised.

    What to do about it

    First, get it checked out by a doctor.

    If the doctor says it is just cellulite or obesity, ask them what difference(s) they are basing that on, and ask that they confirm in writing having dismissed your concerns (having this will be handy later if it turns out to be lipedema after all).

    If it is lipedema, you will want to catch it early; there is no known cure, but advanced symptoms are a lot easier to keep at bay than they are to reverse once they’ve shown up.

    Weight maintenance, skin care (including good hydration), and compression therapy have all been shown to help slow the progression.

    If it is allowed to progress unhindered, that’s when a lot more fat accumulation and joint pain is likely to occur. Liposuction and surgery are options, but even they are only a temporary solution, and are obviously not fun things to have to go through.

    Prevention is, as ever, much better than cure treatment ← because there is no known cure

    One last thing

    Lipedema’s main risk factor is genetic. The bad news is, there’s not much that can be done about that for now, but the good news is, you can at least get the heads-up about whether you are at increased risk or not, and be especially vigilant if you’re in the increased risk group. See also:

    One Test, Many Warnings: The Real Benefit Of Genetic Testing

    Take care!

    Don’t Forget…

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  • Felt Time – by Dr. Marc Wittmann

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    This book goes far beyond the obvious “time flies when you’re having fun / passes slowly when bored”, or “time seems quicker as we get older”. It does address those topics too, but even in doing so, unravels deeper intricacies within.

    The author, a research psychologist, includes plenty of reference to actual hard science here, and even beyond subjective self-reports. For example, you know how time seems to slow down upon immediate apparent threat of violent death (e.g. while crashing, while falling, or other more “violent human” options)? We learn of an experiment conducted in an amusement park, where during a fear-inducing (but actually safe) plummet, subjective time slows down yes, but measures of objective perception and cognition remained the same. So much for adrenal superpowers when it comes to the brain!

    We also learn about what we can change, to change our perception of time—in either direction, which is a neat collection of tricks to know.

    The style is on the dryer end of pop-sci; we suspect that being translated from German didn’t help its levity. That said, it’s not scientifically dense either (i.e. not a lot of jargon), though it does have many references (which we like to see).

    Bottom line: if you’ve ever wished time could go more quickly or more slowly, this book can help with that.

    Click here to check out Felt Time, and make yours count!

    Don’t Forget…

    Did you arrive here from our newsletter? Don’t forget to return to the email to continue learning!

    Learn to Age Gracefully

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