NEW study: Creatine + Immune Cell Energy
- Sadie Gannett
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
Every time I think I’m done shouting about creatine from the rooftops another study comes out and I’m like… okay, yay, here we go again! 😂
Because creatine is just soooo much more than a “gym supplement. Yes, it’s amazing for muscles. Yes, it’s helpful for strength, recovery and supporting lean muscle mass and yes, women should absolutely care about those things, especially as you age.
Creatine is one of the most studied nutrients/supplements in the world, and this growing body of research shows more and more that muscles are just the tip of the iceberg!
Because creatine helps support cellular energy and cellular energy matters everywhere.
🔋 Your brain needs energy.
🔋 Your immune system needs energy.
🔋 Your body’s repair processes need energy.
🔋 Your cells need energy to do the jobs God designed them to do.
And a brand-new study has made the immunity piece even more interesting.
In a paper just published in April this year, researchers looked at creatine and a type of immune cell called dendritic cells.
Dendritic cells are kind of like the immune system’s scouts and messengers. They help your body notice what’s happening, collect information, send signals and help coordinate your body’s immune response.
They are involved in things like:
viral defenses
bacterial and fungal defenses
immune system memory
vaccine response
inflammation regulation
immune tolerance (which is your body learning what not to attack)
allergies
autoimmunity (when the immune system gets a little too reactive or misdirected)
Researchers in this new study found that creatine helped dendritic cells maintain ATP, which I talk about all the time.
ATP is basically your cell’s energy currency, like the fuel your cells use to function. So when we talk about cellular energy, ATP is at the core of that.
The study showed that creatine helped dendritic cells maintain ATP and more than that, it also helped them stay activated, communicate more effectively and function better.
In contrast, when the cells could not properly use creatine, their activation and function were weaker.
That is fascinating for immunity overall but it’s even more significant as these cells relate to tumors and cancer immunity.
With creatine helping the dendritic cells function and communicate better, they were better able to stimulate T cells, which include cells that can attack cancer directly.
Dendritic cells show T cells what information they’ve found and this helps T cells know what to respond to. T cells matter because they can help kill infected or abnormal cells, coordinate other immune activity, and create memory so your body can respond faster, the next time it encounters a threat.
In mouse models, creatine slowed tumor growth and improved dendritic-cell activity inside tumors.
Specifically, the T cells responded better and more efficiently when the dendritic cells were better fueled. Creatine-treated human dendritic cells were better at stimulating human T cells against a cancer-associated target. In the lab, dendritic cells that were creatine-deficient made T cells divide less and produce fewer cancer-fighting signaling molecules.
I want to be very clear here: this is not me saying creatine treats cancer. Not even close. This was early research done in mice and human cells in a lab. We do not take that and run wild with claims.
But what we can say is this: The cancer side is interesting and promising, but the bigger takeaway to me is the overall immune energy piece.
If creatine helps support ATP in dendritic cells and dendritic cells help coordinate immune function, that is absolutely worth paying attention to.
Because this fits with what we already know about creatine.
Creatine has been studied for muscle strength, recovery, exercise performance, brain energy, cognitive support, aging, stress states and even sleep deprivation. And now we’re seeing early research that suggests immune cells benefit from that same cellular energy support too.
Such a simple support for something so foundational: energy at the cellular level.
Especially because women are tired! Moms are tired. Our brains are doing a million things. Our bodies are recovering from pregnancy, birth, nursing, stress, workouts, poor sleep, hormones, sickness, aging, and just LIFE.
And somewhere along the way, creatine got marketed mostly to men in gyms who want big muscles. Meanwhile, I’m over here like… No ma’am. This is for us too. ESPECIALLY for cellular energy.
And based on this emerging research, it's helpful for immune cell energy too.
I truly think creatine is one of the simplest, most underrated supports for women.
As always, do your own research, talk to your trusted practitioner if you have questions but, for most people, creatine is one of those basic supports I wish more women knew about.
And yes, this is one more reason I’m going to keep shouting about it.
My FAVORITE creatine is CREATE. Their gummies are SO easy to take and they have some amazing flavors, but sour peach is my absolute fave…
And they are having a Father’s Day Sale June 14 - 21!!