Does Creatine Cause Hair Loss?

Hello there! The modern world of fitness lovers has also been filled with a lot of queries associated with muscle growth and energy generation. Most of the ones who are passionate about their fitness and who want a good physique go all in.

Naturally, a lot of practices in the field of fitness and sports are questioned. One such practice is the intake of creatine supplements by the ones who need a perfect physique. The usage of creatine has made a single query very popular among creatine users.

Does creatine cause hair loss¹? Like this, a lot of queries are made online in a huge amount related to the usage of this supplement.

Creatine supplements have found a huge welcome in the fitness world of the current generation. Creatine is an effective muscle-cutting supplement in today’s world of fitness. Muscle cutting is where your body gets into the most definite form. No saggy skin and extra fat. The muscles that are trained effectively after starting to intake creatine supplements will be very defined and the muscle definition reaches its maximum level when the person starts to take in creatine.

But every single thing has its weakness, even creatine. But don’t worry, these weaknesses are not critical.

If you are a person who is taking creatine supplements or one who has decided to, worry not. You have come to the perfect place that gives you a clear definition of what the thing is, how it works, what it does to your body, and what the misconceptions involved. We will also get to the answer to this famous query, Does creatine cause hair loss? Find the answer in this article!

1) Does Creatine Cause Hair Loss – The Answer

Creatine is one of the most popular and widely used sports supplements in the fitness industry. Consumption of the creatine supplement has hit very high levels according to recent trends. It is the duty of one to know about the questions associated with the usage of supplements when he decides to consume them.

One such question related to creatine is focused on here. Does Creatine Cause Hair Loss? The answer is quite complicated because the nature of creatine is not still well-defined. This means that the answer to this question is still undiscovered. But from most of the studies available, it might be a factor that fastens the process of hair loss.

So what is the answer to the question of whether creatine causes hair loss? The answer is no.

However, in some cases, it was associated with the problem of hair loss. As said before, creatine supplements and their after-effects are still in secrecy. They have not been discovered yet and there is not enough evidence to conclude whether their usage causes hair loss or not. However, it has been found that creatine affects the hormone levels of the user. One of the important hormones affected here is known as Dihydrotestosterone.

As we all know, testosterone is the hormone that is secreted in large amounts by the male population which hits the stage of puberty. The testosterone ratio present in the body of an adolescent is huge in number when compared to that of every other age group.

Testosterone is in fact, the main hormone for the male gender. The hormone is strongly associated with the behavior, strength, and at times, even the endurance of the person. Now, this particular hormone is called Dihydrotestosterone. Now an optimal level of secretion is required for efficient functioning. There must be no fluctuations during the secretion process. The right amount of testosterone must be secreted to stay normal. If not and if there is any instability during the secretion of this hormone, it will lead to many side effects. Now the increase in testosterone will lead to an increase in Dihydrotestosterone as well. We have scientific evidence that Dihydrotestosterone² can cause hair loss when it increases in quantity.

This indirectly associates testosterone with hair loss. Now, on the other hand, it is also found that creatine supplements tend to raise the testosterone levels of a person upon their usage. Now when creatine is taken in, testosterone levels increase. With it, the derived hormone of dihydrotestosterone will also increase. This will naturally lead to conditions like acne and minimal hair loss. But there is no need to panic. It is because the effects of creatine on hair are still not scientifically proven yet. It stands still due to the lack of facts. But this conclusion is made by considering the study taken during the year 2009 which involved several college-aged rugby players who took creatine for 7 days consecutively.

There was a steady creatine-loading phase for these players. It was observed that the levels of dihydrotestosterone started to increase gradually. This increase in the DHT (Dihydrotestosterone) has led to possible results such as hair loss and even acne in some players. Some of the players experienced hair loss to a minimal level after those 7 days. But it wasn’t the same in all the player’s cases though. This conclusion is still not rigid due to the lack of proper research and evidence. Apart from this, creatine could prove to be one of the best and most effective power supplements taken by humans. Does creatine cause hair loss is a widely asked question.

2) Decoding the Supplement- Creatine

Before jumping into the misconceptions and busting them one by one, let us take a look at the basic definition of creatine. Define Creatine. Creatine is one of the naturally formed compounds that are present within your muscles. It is naturally found to work in your muscle cells when you get involved in some sort of physical activity. Creatine supplements are the same natural compound found in your muscles. But these are man-made. They are initially created in powdered form. They do have bricks of this powder, a much more solid form of the supplement.

Now the only reason to take creatine even though it is naturally present in our muscles is that the process taken by creatine present in us is quite slow. The body generates creatine with the help of certain Amino acids, Arginine and Glycine ³which are the primary compounds present within you to generate energy. Now the generation of these compounds takes a significant amount of time to get develop and form into real energy. This delays the process of muscle recovery during the workout session. And ultimately, these steps lead to the person getting worn out sooner than expected. One famous question related to this is does creatine causes hair loss.

When this creatine is taken as a supplement created out of the body, there is no need for time to generate this compound when it is taken in directly. There is no waiting here and you can perform better in your workout session better than ever. This is the basic motive for the creation of creatine supplements. A lot of sports nutrition and supplement companies work on formulas to take the fitness population to the next level. Creatine is one of their finest works according to a lot of fitness enthusiasts. Let us jump further into this concept of creatine by starting with its history in the next part of this article.

3) Creatine and Its History

The science of the Human body and the concepts of Chemistry and Biology are heavily involved here in the formation of the Creatine supplement. Creatine is generally found in the life forms of vertebrates. Creatine was considered a buffer element of energy, which only gets used up during the final time as a reserve when the first face of energy gets depleted. The discovery of Creatine took place in the year 1832 by Michel E. Chevreul. Michel was a French chemist of the early centuries who primarily worked in the fields of medical science and even Arts times. He discovered this powerful element when working with skeletal muscle.

It looked like a well-defined crystallite precipitate. Creatine was once again, made popular among humans during the early years of 1920. A study found that creatine is something that is not excreted when a person takes in creatine as a supplement, the human body wholly absorbs it. It is not excreted. This signifies that creatine is a whole consumable and no part of it gets wasted. This character of creatine made it a popular fitness supplement among the fitness population. Soon, it rose as one of the most used dietary supplements during the 20th century. Does creatine cause hair loss is one of the most asked questions in the fitness community.

Most of them in the past century were in no need of supplements, but the ones who preferred to take supplements considered creatine. Humankind started to bear witness to the positive effects of creatine by the dusk of the 20th century. The supplement became world famous when it was found to have helped the Jamaican British Sprinter Linford Christie win his first gold medal in the Olympics hosted in Barcelona during the year 1992. Other sportsmen like Collin Jackson and Sally Gunnell were the famous ones to join the list of creatine users that year. Creatine compound was not commercial during the olden ages.

The people were injecting raw and unregistered chemical compounds into their bodies in hopes of improving their performances during the events and luckily, it paid off. Each of them ended up winning some sort of recognition for their splendid performance during the events which was backed up by the power of creatine. It was the time when the world was introduced to the sports supplement known as Creatine by EAS ( Experimental and Applied Sciences) a company based in the United States of America.

The Creatine content was introduced to the sports nutrition market and many fitness-focused people started to buy and consume it. It was commercially named Phospagen first. After that, mankind witnessed a lot of creatine intervention in the field of sports and fitness. The supplement skyrocketed in the past decade and is seeing steady growth in the sports nutrition market, which is expected to further grow shortly. Now let us get to know about the process that takes place within one’s body after taking in Creatine supplement. What it causes to the human body is the answer to the question of, does creatine causes hair loss.

4) Your Body and Creatine

Creatine supplements⁴ were considered the most bought sports supplement in the sports nutrition market. It has nearly hit an annual sales of more than 400 Million dollars on an average scale. Creatine supplements don’t harm the human body upon consumption. But it cannot be confirmed because most of the traits of creatine are still left undiscovered. There is no scientific evidence for most of the questions out there that are associated with the usage of creatine. They are still in secrecy. But the famous ones who took creatine supplements are still fine. Coming back to the main content, What happens to one’s body after taking a scoop of creatine powder?

The taste definition of creatine supplements goes like this. They are tasteless and colorless at times. They get easily dissolved in liquid. Creatine comes in variants, at times with some phosphorus contents as well. Now, most of the creatine present in the human body resides in the skeletal muscle. The core purpose of creatine is to delay the fatigue caused by work and to enhance performance by keeping the energy level fueled up and unexhausted. Creatine content is naturally generated through organs like the Liver, pancreas, and even the kidneys. Now supplementing your body with creatine externally will lead to an increase in lean body mass.

It also increases strength, efficiency, and power for a short duration of time. Creatine supplementation has been extensively found among high school and college athletes aged from 15 to 21. These are the active age groups to consume creatine supplements on a large scale. Yes, creatine is found to improve your performance to a short extent. An observation of a series of resistance training programs conducted for creatine users has revealed the fact that creatine can increase a person’s lean muscle mass, energy, speed, and muscle endurance for a specific amount of time.

It was also found that people with low levels of raw creatine in their bodies benefitted more from taking these supplements than those with naturally high in-body creatine levels. Creatine is naturally discovered in food items like seafood and red meat, which are rich in amino acids. In addition to this area is that creatine is not an essential nutrient, but it acts something like a booster nutrient to enhance your productivity. The myth of does creatine cause hair loss has been in existence for a long time.  Now let us look at some of the misconceptions related to the consumption of creatine.

5) Other Misconceptions Related to Creatine usage

Creatine has been the owner of many myths lately. We’ve already seen the answers to the question and myth of Does creatine cause hair loss. Due to its growing demand and usage, there are a lot of misconceptions that are developing day after day by the insecure population who has decided to use creatine but are still hesitating to act due to the undiscovered side of the supplement. Let us look at some of the myths related to the consumption of creatine here.

5.1) Creatine Supplements cause Abnormal Weight Gain

This is the second famous question related to creatine, after the question of Does creatine cause hair loss. This is in fact, one of the famous myths related to the usage of creatine to date. A lot of people who consume creatine daily have this doubt about whether the consumption of creatine makes them gain weight at an abnormal rate or not. Well, this myth turns out to be a fact. Yes, creatine leads you to gain a few pounds. Every single creatine supplement out there works to make you gain some facts to bulk.

A lot of people consume creatine when they are in the bulking stage and creatine just works on facilitating the situation by helping you to gain weight. But if you are someone who doesn’t need to gain weight, you can always choose another alternative the company-made creatine which is known as the Creapure. Creapure is the purest form of creatine to ever exist, which is found outside the human body. One can start consuming this to grow their muscle without seeing a significant amount of change in their weight. Does creatine cause hair loss is also a popular myth here.

5.2) Stopping Creatine Consumption will Lead to Muscle Loss

Now, this popular misconception is a query that appears in a lot of creatine users out there. Most people believe that if their creatine consumption is stopped after a little time, they will start losing the muscles which they’ve gained before. This statement is partially true because you will surely see a decrease in muscle size once you stop your creatine consumption. But it doesn’t mean that you lose your strength as well.

Only the appearance changes here. If you are a person who follows the proper dietary supplements with the essential nutrients required before and after your workout sessions, you will not face a problem regarding your strength and muscle mass. The bulked-up look of the muscles might disappear after stopping the creatine consumption. Creatine consumption is required to bring your muscles to that ripped and pumped-up form again. Does creatine cause hair loss is also a powerful myth in a lot of places.

5.3) Creatine Will Upset your Stomach

Not only creatine supplements, but every single sport supplement is also bad for your digestive system when it is taken excessively. Creatine supplements are more likely to cause stomach upsets with a gastric nature when they are used in excess quantity. Creatine consumption must be somewhere below six to eight grams per day for a healthy adult at a young age. This query stands popular after the popular question of Does creatine cause hair loss.

If the dose exceeds the optimal percentage, then the person might be left exposed to various digestive issues. The digestion problems even include diarrhea, which is known to wear off the energy of the ones who have it at a faster pace. If you are trying to lose more than the optimal amount, it is strictly advised to dose by splitting the total dose into proportions that can be taken at a certain period during that day. Creatine is a powerful supplement and must be used within a certain limit to enjoy its efficiency.

5.4) Creatine Users Are More Exposed to Kidney Disease

Studies show that well-balanced dosing of creatine⁵ is generally safe for the filtering organs such as the kidney. Kidney diseases are more likely to affect creatine users who have kidney disorders than healthy individuals. Creatine works a lot of things within our body. One of its important features is that it increases the level of creatinine in our bloodstream. It is excreted by getting absorbed from the blood by the kidneys first and then by getting transferred to the small intestine and ultimately as urine. Does creatine cause hair loss is also a famous myth that was busted later.

A high level of increase in this creatinine will always prove to be a bad indicator of your kidney’s health. But if you have a healthy kidney function and if you are young, then there is no need to worry about this issue because it will be dealt with without any concerns. Your kidneys will have the efficiency to deal with this issue. But if you are a person who has been diagnosed with any kidney issues lately, it is not a good choice for you to take creatine supplements. You can take creatine supplements but at a very minimal rate alone. Overdosing this might leave you prone to the many dangers of kidney diseases affected by creatine.

5.5) Creatine Consumption Will Lead to Dehydration and Might Cause Muscle Cramps As Well

Creatine supplements are well known for their property of attracting and retaining water wherever they are present in the body. So it was naturally advised to consume a lot of water when you took a dose of creatine before. However, it has not been scientifically proven that creatine consumption requires an abundant amount of water consumption.

After the question of whether creatine causes hair loss, this question stands as the most googled question associated with creatine usage. It was believed that if you miss out on taking a lot of water after consuming creatine, your muscles might end up getting cramped, and ultimately you might feel very dehydrated. However, we do not have any scientific evidence to prove this myth to be true. Thus we can conclude that Creatine usage is not associated with dehydration and muscle cramping.

Conclusion

These are some of the most important concepts related to creatine that you might find useful in your fitness journey. I think you have understood the answer to the question of whether creatine cause hair loss in this article. Do check out one of the related content, Six top Fitness Tips brought to you by Icytales.

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Last Updated on August 2, 2024 by Sathi