What's going on Nation? Today
We're going to be discussing creatine and hair loss because let's face it unless you're already rocking the bald look because you like it
nobody wants to have their hair falling out in their
Mid-20s, and I bet the majority of you didn't even know that creatine could even be linked to hair loss
I will also be covering other topics such as excessive weight gain
Kidney Stones cramping and water retention for example in
Future videos as well now if you guys have missed any of my previous
Supplement reviews you can check them out in my nutrition playlist here and also if you guys have suggestions for future
Supplements, or products that you would like me [to] review
Leave those suggestions below and be sure to turn on video notifications
So you never miss a new video upload but before we dive into hair loss
Let's quickly talk about what creatine is and how it works because it's one of the most scientifically proven supplements
To help you guys make those massive gains, and you should know why so what exactly is creatine well
creatine was discovered in
1835 and it's a naturally occurring chemical compound found in meat more specifically in red meat
And it's manufactured at our body from three amino acids glycine
Arginine and the Thiamine now creatine is mostly stored in your skeletal muscle [tissue] in the form of creatine phosphate
And it's necessary [to] produce the energy you need for high intensity weight training
but just to be clear though guys high intensity and weight lifting means low reps and heavy weight and
Typically a set duration of 10 seconds or less we're not talking about endurance training here
So keep that [in] mind, and what creatine does is it helps
Resynthesize the ATP and our muscles for those of you. Don't know what ATP stands for it stands for
Adenosine triphosphate, and it's essentially the power that drives muscular recruitment
What happens is that when a muscle contracts forcefully so when you're doing weightlifting
ATP Molecules are used and split into ADP Molecules yielding the energy necessary for you to lift
So when the ATP is depleted within your muscle cells that can no contract and that's where supplementing with creatine
Comes into play this is because it bonds with ADP Molecules turning it back into ATP
therefore increasing the Muscles capacity of executing intense work during training
But if all this is a bit too scientific for you
Just remember that creatine is used to create more energy inside your muscles
Allowing you to perform more reps lift heavier weights and train with an overall [higher] intensity now
Let's talk about the benefits of creatine how to properly take creatine and if I'm supplementing with it
I prefer a good creatine monohydrate [in] short the major benefits of supplementing with creatine
Monohydrate are number one
improving your high intensity and aerobic workouts number two
Decreasing your muscle recovery period So recovering faster and number three
Increased brain function and better Bone health and if some of you guys might still be skeptical
but after searching through loads and loads of studies
it's
absolutely certain
That all these benefits hold true in fact I'll even link to some of the studies down the info section below in case you guys
Want to check them out
but to get all these benefits from creatine you will have to supplement with it getting it from your food is just not enough for
Example [two] pounds of red meat contains approximately one gram of creatine
So to take 3 to 5 grams of creatine which is the recommended amount you'd have to ingest 10 pounds of meat or more
Which probably isn't too meal plan friendly, right?
But this does lead me into my next point
Which is how to take creatine when to take it how much you should take and whether or not you need [to] cycle it
So how much should [you] be taking well depending on your weight and more specifically your muscle
Mass 3 to 7 grams of creatine per day is optimal
basically if you're on the low side [of] the scale go for 3 to 4 grams, but if you're like a 200-pound
Monstah go ahead and take close to 7 grams per day to make sure you're keeping your muscle cells
Saturated with creatine as for timing
Creatine does not have an acute effect
It's not like you're going to take [a] scoop of creatine
Be like I feel the power and start like going nuts doesn't work like that
It actually takes about 14 days to slowly build up in your system and after that your muscles become saturated with it
So you only have to maintain those creatine levels by having three or seven grams every single day
Therefore since it only has [a] long-term effect you do not have to take it before or after your workouts
It's just a myth guys. You can take it whenever you want
[early] in the morning or even before bed and now the big question do you need to load on creatine and the answer is absolutely
Not as mentioned before 14 days is all it takes to get built up in your system
[if] you just have three to seven grams per day and that [leads] us into our next [question] up
Do you even need to cycle creatine and again
Absolutely not there's no significant evidence which [shows] that cycling creatine is better than taking it continuously
or that continuous use has any negative effects and
Can you guys take creatine when cutting that comes up a lot as well and see that a lot in the comments that
Comment sections of my videos and the answer is yes people are often afraid
Creatine might impede their ability [to] lose weight because creatine is supposed to make you retain a lot of water
Which is [just] isn't true
If anything creatine will help you with your cutting because it's going to help you keep your strength and muscle, Mass
Which is a difficult feat for those of you currently in the cutting process
Personally I like using BSN's dna series creatine monohydrate and some of you guys might say that
I'm not objective about this since I am sponsored by BSN and I've been a BSN athlete for seven years now
But at the end of the day, I'm with BSN because I believe in their products, and you guys know me
I'm not gonna bullshit you and tell you I use things that I don't and if I tell you I'm using something and I like
It it's because I actually do use it and I do like it and this creatine in particular is 100%
Creatine monohydrate [and] it's micronized which is a fancy way to say that it easily
Dissolves in water and one scoop of this is about three grams of creatine
So I take 1 to 2 scoops every day so now that you understand everything you need to know about
Supplementing with creatine and how to take it from now on when I make few videos talking about specific side effects
I will just link back to this video
So don't have to repeat everything again and with that being said it's time to talk about
hair loss and by the way
Did you guys see my amazing thumbnail image looks like I could give the rock a run for his money, right?
What do you think babe shave it all [off] tonight?
I would probably look like [ten] pounds bigger If I shaved my head
But seriously guys
Let's talk about how creatine has been linked [to] hair loss because a lot of people are questioning
whether or not this is true, or just a myth there have been
Testimonies [of] males that swear that creatine is causing their hair to thin out or fall out altogether
And I wanted to take some [time] to clarify this so first let's talk about how males lose their hair male pattern baldness
Happens on males who are sensitive to DHT which is a hormone called
Dihydrotestosterone
And your body converts testosterone
to DHT and DHT is actually five times more powerful than
testosterone in fact men with male [pattern] baldness have been shown to have higher levels of DHT in their scalp and
DHT is thought to attach to their receptors on hair follicles and trigger them to shrink causing your hair to thin out and
Eventually fall out and that was mouthful
So what's the connection?
well
There is evidence suggesting that creatine can increase your levels of DHT which
could be causing hair loss in men in fact there was a study done on twenty rugby players that proved the correlation between
Creatine and a rise in DHT levels in this study ten players were given a placebo and the other ten received
Elevated levels of creatine for three weeks in week one they took 25 grams a day and then for the following two weeks
they took five grams per day and the group that supplemented with creatine shows an increase of
56 percent of DHT levels after the first week on the
following two weeks when the doses would reduce down to 5 grams per day DHT levels reduced to
40% so based on this study, you can make the conclusion that creatine does increase DHT levels
Which can lead to hair loss but before you guys all start throwing your bottles of creatine in the trash for fear of being bald
Let me make a few more points number [one] this is [the] only study
I could find on the topic and it was only done with 20 people
Now this doesn't mean the study was bad it just means we don't have other studies to compare it to and drawing a big
Conclusion like this one from only one study is
questionable at best
Number to an increase in DHT levels will only cause baldness if you are genetically prone to it
Male Pattern baldness is genetic guys which means it doesn't happen to everyone and how do you know if you're on the DHT
Sensitive group well the suspect gene variation that causes this sits on the x chromosome
Which is [handed] down to men by their mother this means that baldness comes from your mom's side of the family
So it might be a good time [to] go visit mom and have her bust out the old
Family album to make sure your uncles and grandpa have a full head of hair [if] they do
Chances are you're okay now
If there are cases of baldness in your mom's side of the family that's a sign that you might be sensitive the DHT
Number 3 looking back at the study on the rugby play is you will notice that the drastic increase in
DHT happened during the saturation phase when the players were taking 25 grams of creatine a day and
You should all know by now that the need for
Saturation or loading when taking creatine is a myth
And if you want to be safe
[just] stick with the lower doses of up to 5 to 7 grams per day and number 4 if
You've been taking creatine for a while now [and] haven't noticed any thinning of the hair or hair loss
Then chances are you're [probably] okay and at the end of the day if you prefer the bald badass look then who cares right?
So to summarize guys if you're not the high risk group you should be fine now
I would also like [to] know that there are a certain number of people. Which is less than like 10% who are just
Non-responders when it comes to creatine if that's you, you won't notice any effects after
supplementing with creatine
For a few months so therefore there really is no reason for you to spend your hard-earned money on it for the majority of people
I believe creatine monohydrate is an excellent supplement to have as long as your meal plan is in order
Remember [guys] a supplement is used to supplement your already existing
Meal plan otherwise you just wasting your money
And I hope you've learned something from this video if you have any questions about creatine [if] you have any suggestions [about] supplements
I should cover in future videos be sure to leave those comments down in the comment section below and as always
More good stuff coming soon. See you guys