Creatine for Testosterone

Creatine may further improve the testosterone-boosting effect of resistance training.

• Act as a testosterone booster when paired with resistance training via a yet-unknown mechanism.

Overview

Creatine is a naturally-occurring organic acid found throughout the human body. Creatine serves a number of roles, but it’s most recognized function is to increase energy supply in muscle cells during anaerobic activity such as resistance training or sprinting. Indeed, 95% of the body’s creatine is stored in muscle for this exact reason.

However, our muscles can hold more creatine than is naturally present; for example, a 70 kg man has about 120 g of creatine in his muscle tissue, but can actually store up to 160 g. Because of this discrepancy, supplementing creatine is an effective way of boosting its natural levels.

Creatine is one of the most effective and popular sports nutrition supplements in the world.  In addition, recent research also suggests that it may increase testosterone levels when used alongside resistance training.

How Creatine Might Help Testosterone

Although a number of studies have reported higher testosterone production or greater dihydrotestosterone (a more potent version of T) levels after creatine supplementation, it’s not entirely clear how this effect is achieved, and so researchers continue to look for answers.

• One possibility is that this effect is indirect. Since all these studies focused on individuals involved in resistance training–which is known to boost testosterone¹ — it’s possible that creatine’s improvement of anaerobic exercise performance results in a a stronger hormonal response, thus indirectly increasing testosterone levels.

Creatine’s Benefits

Creatine is the super-star dietary supplement for training, whether in a stack or a standalone product. Decades of research and rave reviews seem to validate that creatine significantly improves performance during anaerobic activity such as resistance training or sprint running.

In the physical performance capacity, creatine is often used as a pre workout for bodybuilding purposes. It is popularly stacked with protein powders and BCAAs, as a 1-2 combo for mass building and general muscle support.

• Although it’s not typically considered among the Test-boosters, recent research evidence also suggests that creatine might help increase testosterone levels.

However, this pro-T potential is far from a proven truth: The effect was only reported in individuals undergoing resistance training, which suggests that this type of exercise may be required to elicit the testosterone-boosting effect of creatine.

Research

Human Research

Creatine has been shown to increase testosterone, but in most cases this effect was identified under a specific set of circumstances (such as sleep deprived rugby players or after resistance training) and was not the main goal of the study. Moreover, several studies reported no effect. As such, more high-quality research that focuses specifically on creatine’s effect on testosterone is needed to say anything conclusive.

This randomized study examined the effects of creatine and caffeine on rugby passing after sleep deprivation. Ten elite rugby players performed 10 passing trials — 5 with normal sleep (7-9 h) and 5 with deprived sleep (3-5 h), 1 .5 hours after taking placebo, creatine (50 or 100 mg/kg) or caffeine (1 or 5 mg/kg).  Both creatine and caffeine prevented the fall in skill performance seen with sleep deprivation and placebo. Furthermore, a b secondary finding of the study was that salivary testosterone level tended to rise at the 100 mg/kg creatine dose.

• The researchers concluded that “Acute sleep deprivation affects performance of a simple repeat skill in elite athletes and this was ameliorated by a single dose of either caffeine or creatine…Testosterone was unaffected by sleep deprivation and by all treatments except the high dose of creatine, where there was a trend towards higher concentrations“²

Creatine (25 g loading / 5 g maintenance dose)  in rugby players appears to significantly raise dihydrotestosterone levels

In this double-blind, crossover study, researchers looked at whether creatine supplementation affects testosterone and other male sex hormones. Twenty college rugby players followed a creatine loading protocol (25 g creatine daily) for a week, followed by two weeks of a maintenance dose (5 g).

The study found that while testosterone (T) levels were unaffected, the levels of dihydrotestosterone (DHT) – the most potent male sex hormone – increased by 56% after loading, and remained 40% higher than baseline during the maintenance phase. In addition, the ratio of DHT:T was also increased – 36% after loading, and remained 22% higher during maintenance.

• The researchers concluded that “Creatine supplementation may, in part, act through an increased rate of conversion of T to DHT“³

Creatine (10.5 g) appears to raise resting testosterone in football players

This randomized study examined the effects of creatine and beta-alanine on college football players. Thirty-five men took either placebo, creatine 10.5 g (C), or creatine 10.5 g with beta-alanine 3.2 g (CP) daily for 10 weeks while following a resistance training program. One of the findings was that resting testosterone levels were raised by 22% only in the C group, in addition to a trend for higher free testosterone index, indicating higher testosterone availability.

• The researchers concluded that “Resting testosterone concentrations were elevated in C, however, no other significant endocrine changes were noted. Results of this study demonstrate the efficacy of creatine and creatine plus β-alanine on strength performance“⁴

Creatine (20 g) may increase resting testosterone and decrease cortisol levels in resistance-trained men

In a double-blind, randomized trial, 20 physically-active men were given creatine (20 g) or placebo daily for a week while undergoing resistance training. Resting testosterone levels increased  significantly in the creatine group on days 5 and 7, alongside a drop in the stress hormone cortisol, which has been associated with muscle wasting.

• The researchers concluded that “short term Cr supplementation (5 and 7 days) increases resting serum testosterone and decreases serum cortisol concentrations“⁵

Creatine (20 g) does not appear to affect testosterone or growth hormone during resistance training

In this double-blind, randomized, crossover study, 11 men performed a 1 hour resistance training session before and after 5 days of placebo or a creatine (20 g) formulation. Five weeks later, the groups were switched and repeated the treatments. There was no difference in growth hormone or testosterone levels between the two treatments in the 1 hour after exercise.

• The researchers concluded that “It is concluded that short-term creatine supplementation does not alter the responses of growth hormone, testosterone, and cortisol to a single bout of heavy resistance training“⁶

Dosage Notes

• Most successful studies use a loading protocol, where a 20-25 g dosage is split into 4-5 doses taken daily for 5-7 days, and then a maintenance dose of 5 g is taken indefinitely
• This suggests that the same protocol already used for taking creatine as a pre-workout also works for boosting testosterone
• Creatine monohydrate is the preferred form of creatine, as it has been the most studied. Look for this form if you buy creatine.

References