Episode 360: Why Creatine Is A Top 3 Supplement Women Shouldn't Ignore
Listen on Apple Podcasts | Listen on Spotify
What's all the buzz about creatine? Should you be taking it? What benefits does it have, especially for women?
Erin welcomes back Angelo Keely, Co-Founder and CEO of Kion, to break down the myths, facts, and powerful research behind creatine’s benefits. From muscle performance and body composition to cognitive health and hormone-related brain fog, you’ll learn why this widely studied supplement is gaining a ton of traction among women of all ages.
Is creatine actually safe? What about kidney concerns, bloating, or digestive issues? And how does it stack up against (or work alongside) amino acids?
Erin and Angelo tackle the big questions and will empower you to make informed decisions so you can decide if creatine fits into YOUR daily routine.
In This Episode:
Why creatine isn’t just for bodybuilders (and why women typically see strength benefits without “bulking up”)
How creatine supports cognitive function, especially during pivotal hormonal shifts like perimenopause and menopause
The truth about bloating, kidney health, and other commonly misunderstood side effects
How to determine your ideal dosage based on age, weight, and goals, and how to ease in if you’re sensitive
The key differences between creatine and amino acids, and why they work better together
Resources Mentioned:
Erin’s FREE Hormone Food Guide
Organifi supplement powder (save 20% on your order with code FUNK)
Kion Aminos (Get 20% off monthly orders and 10% off one time orders)
Qualia Senolytic (get up to 50% off and an extra 15% off your first purchase with link + code FUNKS)
Bon Charge (Use code FUNK to save 15%)
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Angelo Keely
There is so much good science for creatine and not only its impact on lean muscle and thus complimentary effects typically on like overall body composition and lowering body fat if you're increasing your lean muscle, but also really interesting research on cognition, specific studies on women specifically, and even more recent studies on depression. And so you have so much good research that clearly shows that it would be beneficial to really everyone. It's not just for these young guys in the gym. It's going to be great for a 45 year old woman, going to be great for a 75 year old grandma. Like, it really is good for everyone.
Erin Holt
I'm Erin Holt and this is the Functional Nutrition Podcast where we lean into intuitive functional medicine. We look at how diet, our environment, our emotions and our beliefs all affect our physical health. I've got over a decade of clinical experience and because of that, I've got a major bone to pick with diet, culture and the conventional healthcare model. This show is for you. If you're looking for new ways of thinking about your health and you're ready to be an active participant in your own healing, I would love for you to follow the show, rate, review and share because you never know whose life you might change. All right, my friends, we're doing it. Today's the day we're having the creatine conversation. You asked for it, you got it.
Erin Holt
I am bringing in my pal Angelo Keeley. He's been on the show before. He talked to us all about amino acids. This guy really knows his stuff when it comes to supplements and research. So I reached back out to him and I said, come teach us about creatine because all the girlies want to know. Angelo is the co founder and the CEO of Kion, a supplement company focused on helping people look good, feel young and be strong. I want that. And like I said, he just really knows his stuff.
Erin Holt
So we got into all of your questions, I pulled you on Instagram and the big things you wanted to know is like, what's all the buzz about creatine? Should I be taking it? What benefits does it have, especially for women? What are any potential drawbacks that it might have? We got into that too. He certainly didn't shy away from any of the elephants in the room and then how to take it, what the dosing is, what the timing is, and finally, what is the big difference between aminos and creatine? That was a question a lot of you guys wanted to know about, is what's the difference? And should I be taking both? So we get into all of that today. I know you're going to learn a thing or two and I hope you enjoy the show. All right, welcome back to the show.
Angelo Keely
Thanks, Erin. It's great to be back.
Erin Holt
Yeah. Your original podcast episode on amino acids was like one of our top downloaded episodes of the year. And we even re released it because people want to hear from you. So we're, we're bringing you back for the big creatine discussion because I swear it's top five questions that I've been getting this year. People are want to know all about creatine, especially women. I think creatine is so hot right now. So tell us why is it so hot right now? Why is it so popular? Why is it on the scene in such a way that it wasn't before?
Angelo Keely
It's funny because creatine is not like a new supplement. I think there's over 2,000 human studies that is a lot of studies. Like that's it's like the most studied supplement ever. But I think the big shift is that historically it was something that young dudes took. So it's like, because it has a really big impact on muscle. It was something that like Jim Bros were into. And you know, I think a product, there might be really interesting research in a subject and then it gets marketed to a certain audience and then it kind of takes off and then it takes on a whole kind of like cultural idea and people are like, ah, is it like a steroid or what is it like? There's a whole thing, even like a whole culture of like moms being afraid of their sons taking it and now all those moms are taking it. So it's definitely like there's a big turn.
Angelo Keely
And I think really what it comes down to is there is so much good science for creatine and not only its impact on lean muscle and thus complimentary effects typically on like overall body composition and lowering body fat if you're increasing your lean muscle, but also really interesting research on cognition specific studies on women specifically and even more recent studies on depression. And so you have so much good research that clearly shows that it would be beneficial to really everyone. It's not just for these young guys in the gym. It's going to be great for a 45 year old woman. It's going to be great for a 75 year old grandma. Like, it really is good for everyone. And I think finally it just the tide kind of turned. And I would say, you know, marketers are always kind of looking for like the next thing right and sometimes that's really good.
Angelo Keely
Like sometimes. Wow. There's this amazing kind of really well researched supplement like creatine. And sometimes it's, you know, I don't know, whatever else the other hot topic of the day is. So I would just say it's legit. It really is beneficial for people of all ages and specifically for women.
Erin Holt
Yeah, let's talk into the women specifically thing because that is most of our audience and I've heard Stacy Sims, Dr. Stacy Sims, who's like, you know, like Mama Stacy. Now everybody's, what does Stacy say? And she refers to creatine as one of the top three supplements that women should be taking. So I'm really interested about definitely the muscle building capacity, but also the brain health and the cognition effects.
Angelo Keely
Yeah. So the way that creatine works in the body, it's really, it's the same for men and women. There's just some unique advantages for women which we can, I'll get into it, but maybe I'll just describe in generally how it works for everyone because that's like the, the main fundamental idea. So what creatine is, is basically it's like this third energy source. People typically are familiar with aerobic energy production and anaerobic energy production. Like if you go for a slow jog and you're using oxygen, it's aerobic. If you're doing more like these intense bursts, it goes into like this anaerobic energy system. Well, your muscles can also be fueled by another energy source to create ATP, which is what helps them move.
Angelo Keely
And that is phosphocreatine energy stores. So when you eat foods that are rich in creatine, that's basically beef and fish typically are the richest. It's not, doesn't really exist in plants at all. You absorb that creatine and it goes into your muscles. You also can create some creatine endogenously within your body. But if you consume more creatine via supplement, you actually load up those phosphocreatine stores in your muscle. And then when your muscle goes to do some type of intense burst of activity, this is not like jogging, this is not like walking. But it's things like doing push ups or lifting weights or sprinting, any type of intense force, your body needs the energy really fast.
Angelo Keely
So it doesn't want to convert it via the aerobic or the anaerobic. It wants to get it directly from the muscle. And that's where those phosphocreatine energy stores come into play. So it's Basically this quickly usable, very easy to tap energy source right inside your muscles. And if you have a lot of that in your muscles, then what that means is you're able to exercise better and more and longer and do more intense types of exercise. And so when you do that, you build up healthier muscle tissue and you end up being more physically capable. That's just kind of fundamentally why and how creatine works. So for women, you know, why is that important or why is that interesting and maybe how is it different for them? Well, typically women have about only about 70 to 80, 80% of the creatine stores that men do.
Angelo Keely
And we don't know exactly why. You know, women typically have less lean muscle than men do. But there could be other reasons that are more hormonal based. It's not exactly clear, but they are lower. And so by supplementing you're able to kind of overcome the fact that you typically have less than a man might have. And thus you might be able to again kind of perform even greater in physical activities than you typically would. What's interesting is that in terms of visible impacts of creatine, we've done, I mean, there's again, so many studies with men, you can actually see like more increase of muscle mass, you see less of that actual like big growth of the muscle in women, but you see really significant improvements actually just in strength and overall muscle performance, which I think is interesting and really kind of ideal. And I'm not saying what women could or should believe, but typically what comes up is like, oh, fears of kind of taking creatine and getting bulky.
Angelo Keely
Well, that doesn't really happen with women. Like typically with a woman's body, it actually shows more that you get the strength, you get this improvement in muscle, but you don't get kind of a lot more bigger muscle like a man might get. So I covered the muscle. Do you want to talk any more about that? You want to just jump into cognition?
Erin Holt
I have a couple follow up cues to that. You're saying that there are sources through diet, but it sounds like we can't just get as much as we need through diet. Is that true?
Angelo Keely
Yeah, I mean, I think this like need thing is an interesting question. You know, it's kind of like at different stages of life, supplementation might make more sense and it might really become a need. So what I would say is if you have a pretty beef and fish heavy DIET and you're 20 years old, then by consuming supplemental creatine, the impact is really just going to be like you're going to train a little bit better in the gym. That said, if you're vegetarian or you're vegan, it's going to play a way bigger role and be way more helpful no matter what age you are. And then this is a little bit more nuanced. I think, for women, specifically, during different parts of the phase, monthly phase, where your hormone levels change, actually having less estrogen, it seems to have an impact sometimes on the actual metabolism of energy in the brain. And so you can imagine if someone in perimenopause post menopause, where those levels of estrogen are that much more different. It seems to be that the impacts of creatine, which, again, so we didn't get into this yet, but we actually have creatine stores in our brain as well.
Angelo Keely
And remarkable about the brain is the brain can actually create its own. The muscle doesn't create its own creatine. Other organs can actually synthesize the creatine from arginine, glycine and methionine and then goes into the muscle. The brain can actually create its own. But the brain does actually need quite a bit to just function at a high level. And so when we have lower levels of that creatine or we're under stress, and that stress could be hormonal stress, it could be aging, it could be illness, it seems to be that when you use supplemental creatine, it improves things like memory, processing speed, et cetera. And so this idea of, like, need. Well, yeah, I think if, like, if you're 20 years old and you eat a bunch of meat and fish, you know, it's helpful.
Angelo Keely
I don't know that you need it as you get older and older. And I'd say, like, let's say you're perimenopausal, postmenopausal, you're going to see a lot more benefit from it. And so I think your definition of need might be, like, yeah, I don't want this brain fog. Like, I need to think clearly. But that would be your own definition of, you know, what you want based on goals, too. Based on goals, yeah, based on goals. But yeah, overall, typically in your diet, if you're eating, you know, rich animal diet, you're probably getting 1 to 2 grams of creatine per day. We're jumping around.
Angelo Keely
But just to name it, like, typically 3 to 5 grams of supplemental creatine have been the studied doses that show this really beneficial impact. So, yeah, it's. It's quite a bit more than what you're Just getting from your diet. But I think you're going to experience more benefit probably the older you are and the more under stress you are or sleep deprivation or what, you know, whatever other things are going on in your life.
Erin Holt
Yeah, I want to go back to that. The perimenopause, or I shouldn't even say perimenopause, but decreasing estrogen levels. So that could be like a whole 10 year saga.
Angelo Keely
Yeah, I just.
Erin Holt
Perimenopause is a whole thing right now. But is there research or is this more anecdotally? Have you spoken with women in that phase of life of decreasing estrogen? Because that brain fog, cognition, memory loss, feeling like you have lost your brain is a huge concern for women in that endocrine transition. So is there a research to say creatine can actually help with this or is this more like you talking to people who are using creatine and you've seen this?
Angelo Keely
Well, this is based off actual research studying creatine consumption in these populations. And just to clarify, it's not saying that it's like correcting for estrogen more. It's like the idea that when you have these types of hormonal changes, you could have different types of changes in your, in your brain and how you experience fatigue, mood, et cetera, and specifically creatine supplementation at quite a bit higher doses. It's actually higher than this like 3 to 5 grams. It tends to be more like at 10 grams or even 20 grams. It can really help affect. And that doesn't mean that it wouldn't have an impact at like 3 grams, but it tends to be at the higher doses. You really see these cognitive benefits.
Angelo Keely
So yes, it's been actually been studied in these populations that it has shown to have these benefits and these are unique, you know, potential impacts for a woman. You know, you take a 50 year old woman and a 50 year old man and if that woman is in the menopausal transition or post menopause and has different estrogen levels than she did before, she might get more cognitive benefit from it than her 50 year old male husband.
Erin Holt
That's very cool and thank you for stating that we are not trying to replace estrogen stores with creatine. Wouldn't that be so cool though? It would be really amazing, the new hrt. But it's more about like adding tools to somebody's tool bag and the feeling of losing your brain. I'm using that term intentionally because I've literally heard women say that is a really scary thing. And so if we can support that in any way, we, we want to be able to do that. And so that's kind of how it supports us cognitively.
Angelo Keely
Yes.
Erin Holt
Yeah. Okay.
Angelo Keely
Yeah.
Erin Holt
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Erin Holt
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Erin Holt
I polled our audience and 50%, I would say, of the questions that came in were like, well, what about this? What about this? There was a lot of concerns kind of as you had started things off. People are a little worried about this. One of the big things is safety, particularly in regards to kidneys, what can you say about that?
Angelo Keely
So creatine is remarkably safe. Really? Again, to say that it has like over 2,000 human studies, like, you just can't find another thing like that. I mean, really, last time we talked was about essential amino acids. Like, that's maybe something kind of comparable or whey protein. But creatine has been so widely studied, and just again and again, it's proven to be entirely safe. The old myth on potentially creatine being bad for your kidneys is connected to the fact that when you consume creatine, one of the things that it produces in the body is creatinine. And so you end up peeing out more creatinine than you would be if you weren't consuming creatine. And one of the things that they use to measure kidney function is creatinine levels.
Angelo Keely
So if you see these elevated creatinine levels, like, oh, is there something wrong with your kidney? There's nothing necessarily wrong with your kidney. It's because you're taking the supplemental creatine and there is this extra creatinine in your urine. It has been shown again and again and again that there is, it's no negative impact on your kidneys, does not do anything bad. And a doctor that is more familiar with just all this research would know that. And if you had higher creatinine levels, they might ask, are you taking creatine? And you said, yeah. They'd be like, okay, well then that makes sense, like why your creatinine levels are a little bit higher. It's pretty quick to, to understand. And then really there's not really another significant safety issue even out there.
Angelo Keely
There's, you know, there's other myths been out there about like, hair loss. Not true, not real. Even, like the bloating. You know, I think, like, that's obviously a much less serious thing than someone being concerned about contracting kidney disease. But should I answer? Should I speak to the bloating or weight gain?
Erin Holt
Like the elephant in the room, the bloating and the water weight gain. Those, I would say, made up, like the bulk of the questions. And I also, you know, I don't ever. I'm not here to arm wrestle a woman for her lived experience. So if somebody's coming to me saying, look, I started creatine and I got bloated, I'm not going to fist fight them in the street and be like, no, you didn't. But, like, what does the research really show?
Angelo Keely
Yeah, and I think that's a great tick overall. I would encourage people again and again to trust their own experience of what happens. Right. And know that something that someone told you beforehand can impact what your experience ends up being. That's like the placebo effect. And I. The placebo effect is so incredible. When someone tells you that you're getting something, it really does have an impact.
Angelo Keely
And this is shown in research again and again and again. So yes, trust your intuition and be cognizant of maybe what someone put in your brain before you tried something. So what the research shows again over hundreds of studies, is what happens is when you take creatine and it goes into the muscle, it gets stored in the muscle with water, so it does draw more water into the muscle. So if you did like an in body scan or a DEXA scan and you measured, you know, your fat and muscle and intracellular water and then you started taking creatine and then you did the study again, you probably would see a bit more water actually stored intracellular water stored in the muscle. This is not water stored in the skin. This is not like puffing out at like your belly or your legs or your arms or something. It's literally going to add a little bit more water into your muscle. That said, long term, when they actually look at like the really long term impacts, it's pretty even negligible.
Angelo Keely
Most of that measurement really comes from who want to get the impact of creatine much faster. And so they go through what's called a loading phase and they consume like 20 grams, which is, you know, at least four times, if not six times the recommended dose I was describing earlier every day for like a couple weeks. And what that does is it, it just saturates the muscles that much more quickly and that potentially draws that much more water into the muscle. But you don't need to do that. If you just start taking three or five grams a day, you know, over the course of a few weeks, you know, you will have saturated the muscle and then after that it's just maintenance. So again, there's no serious concern about, you know, overall bloating or the type of bloating I think we typically. Or water weight gain that you typically think of when we discuss that this is literally like intracellular water in the muscle.
Erin Holt
What about diarrhea? Because a few people said they started creatine and immediately noticed diarrhea. Do you think that's a dosing thing?
Angelo Keely
I think that's probably a dosing thing. My first guess would be that they tried to go into like the loading phase and they're taking like all 20 grams at once. And even if you're doing that loading phase, it would be like four servings throughout the day. Ideally you don't have to take it all at the same time. And I do think it's, it's most likely just due to taking too much. So you could just make it a smaller amount. Creatine, again, is not the kind of thing where you're taking it and like you're getting the benefit right away. You're basically taking it.
Angelo Keely
So you start to saturate your muscles and potentially your brain more with this creatine. So try taking half a gram four times throughout the day at first or a gram, you know, a few times throughout the day. Like you could, you could take less at a time and see if it still disturbs you. But it's, it's not a common occurrence to have diarrhea.
Erin Holt
The scoop of Kion is 5 grams, correct?
Angelo Keely
Yeah. And it's 5 grams because that, that is like the most studied dosage. And what I would say is that if you weigh over 120 pounds, like just take 5 grams. If you weigh less than 120 pounds, you could look at maybe just taking 3. And again, this is not the type of thing where you have to do it perfectly. Like you could, you know, do a little more than half the scoop. You know, if you're like a smaller woman and you're good. That said, if you weigh a hundred pounds and you take five grams a day, you're not going to do any harm.
Erin Holt
But maybe for folks who are a bit more sensitive on the digestive side of things would want to like baby step their dose a little.
Angelo Keely
Yeah, that makes sense. Yeah. Start with less.
Erin Holt
Or a post menopausal woman that's very interested in supplementing with creatine for the cognition benefits and might need a higher dose. Probably same is true for them, is to like work your way up to that 10, 15, 20 gram dose.
Angelo Keely
I think that makes a lot of sense.
Erin Holt
But that is for the most part what you're recommending for most women is like around that three to five grams per day.
Angelo Keely
Per day. That's right.
Erin Holt
And then timing, this is what everybody wanted to know too. When do I take it? Do I take it even when I'm not working out, Even on days that I'm not lifting? Is there a certain time of day for efficacy? What do you say about timing?
Angelo Keely
So the most important thing is every day.
Erin Holt
Okay.
Angelo Keely
This is not the kind of Thing that you only take on days when you train. And I only try to re. Explain the mechanism of action so people get why you're trying to saturate your muscle and saturate your brain in this. And so you need to start taking it and then keep taking it every single day. Like that's how it works. It can't be the kind of thing where you work out three days a week and you only take it on those days. Like you're just, you're not going to get the benefits. That's, that's just not how it works.
Angelo Keely
So it is something you take every single day. And then the next question would be, well, well, when does it matter when I take it? I'd repeat again, the most important thing is that you take it every day. If you really want to nuance it. Some studies show potentially after you work out is a little bit better. But if you're not working out that day, then when are you going to do it? Which that kind of always concerns me with, like, habit building. If the real benefit is from taking it every day, like, when are you going to do that? So I just take it, like literally every single morning I have a scoop of creatine in water and I take my aminos and I did it. It's like, it's done and I get the benefits from it. So you could take it after exercise if you really want to nuance it, and you could potentially take it with carbohydrates and protein and maybe potentially you get a little bit more benefit from it.
Angelo Keely
But the bulk, like, I don't know what the percentage is, like 99% of the impact is going to come from you taking the recommended dosage every day sustainably for a long time.
Erin Holt
To be honest with you, there's some exceptions to this rule, obviously, but when somebody's like, when's the best time to take X supplement? I'm like, when you actually take it.
Angelo Keely
I mean, for real, like, for most of, like the really important ones, it's like omega threes or creatine or essential amino acids. It's like you just take it.
Erin Holt
I do the same thing. I do aminos and creatine together and I just bring it to the gym with me.
Angelo Keely
That's great.
Erin Holt
That's when it's all in one bottle. I'm doing it. It's just when I take it, it's the most convenient time I've heard. And I'm curious if this is. You can absorb creatine better if taken with electrolytes.
Angelo Keely
True.
Erin Holt
Not true.
Angelo Keely
I don't think that that's. I wouldn't focus on that. Like, there's maybe something with like the sodium, but it's, I would say, less important than the carbohydrates and protein thing.
Erin Holt
Okay, so not something to stress out over.
Angelo Keely
I would not focus on that at all.
Erin Holt
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Angelo Keely
Absolutely. So it's very complementary, they work harmoniously together, but they do two very different things. So as I said earlier, creatine is this thing that gets stored in your muscle and it basically and your brain and it basically helps you like perform a little better. Could it help you perform a little better in a cognitive task? Could help you perform a little better in muscle based activities. Essential amino acids in the simplest terms are the essential active component of protein in a hyper concentrated form that vastly outperform the benefits of protein. So what happens is when we eat protein, and I guess a quick reminder again for everyone too, like we're made up of protein. So like 50% of our bone, all of our organs, all of our muscle, our skin, our hair and nails, all of this is actually made up of little proteins. And the way proteins function in nature is they don't last forever, they basically get old, they break apart.
Angelo Keely
And then when they break apart, the little amino acids that make them up, some of them can't be used. You pee them out via urea, some stay and they need to rebuild. Like I need to rebuild that skin protein that just got broken down. And the way that gets met is by consuming essential amino acids that come through protein or protein powder or you know, a supplement. And when I get that back in my blood, it helps rebuild that skin protein. And that's true also for your, your hormones are made up of proteins, your enzymes are made up of proteins. So this is going on all the time. And so essential amino acids basically are this very hyper concentrated form that really outperform these other forms of protein.
Angelo Keely
Quick example would be if you consume basically a 5 ounce steak which has about 30 grams of protein in it, and you eat it on its own. It's going to be easier for the body to digest that steak and to get the essential amino acids into the blood and then the body's going to see those essential amino acids in the blood and it's going to say, oh cool, there's like this. The essential amino acids are here. Now it's time to like break down the old proteins, break down old skin, hair, you know, muscle, et cetera, and replace it with new ones. On the other hand, if you eat a 12 ounce steak, which is about 70 grams of protein, but you eat that steak with broccoli and potatoes, et cetera, less essential amino acids get into the blood as quickly and do not stimulate as much protein synthesis as just that 5 ounce steak. So actually eating less meat, but eating it on its own has this greater stimulus to protein synthesis because it's isolated in the essential amino acids go to the blood more quickly. So as you extend that out to say looking at a protein powder, like a whey protein isolate, because it's even more isolated essential amino acids, it has about three times the impact as the steak because again it's more easily digestible. The essential amino acids hit the blood more quickly and you get this much greater response.
Angelo Keely
When you compare that to something like aminos, an essential amino acid supplement that's high in leucine, isoleucine, valine, it's kind of formulated in the right way, it's gonna have like three times the impact as the protein powder. So it's basically like this super protein. And so going back to what we described earlier, like do you need this? How important is this? How does it work? Well, if you're 20 years old and you're not like a competitive athlete, but you're pretty physically active and you're healthy and you eat perfectly and you eat like the perfect amount of protein, the perfect amount of vegetables, like you're probably good. The benefits of taking the essential amino acids is just gonna mean like you're gonna be that much more of like an elite athlete. You take it before you work out, you're gonna get, you're gonna, you are gonna get an edge over people. But it's like the creatine, it's like this, you're getting this kind of competitive edge. That said, as we age, our ability to digest protein and our sensitivity to those essential amino acids, when they get in the blood goes down. Our body doesn't respond to the essential amino acids in the blood in the same way and be like, oh, awesome, they're here, let's reb.
Angelo Keely
It's kinda like yeah, yeah, like I'm kinda old and like it doesn't respond to the same degree. So literally a 30 year old person, the essential amino acids have like three times the impact as a whey protein for a 60 year old woman it has over six times the impact as a whey protein. It shows you it's like our bodies are half as good at responding to the essential amino acids in food as we get to that age. So the benefits of essential amino acids basically are to when you take them, it stimulates whole body protein synthesis, rebuild skin, hair, nails, muscle, et cetera. So it becomes much more of a need quote as we get older because it's going to have so much more impact for us. The other really cool thing about aminos as it's say kind of distinct from creatine is you don't even need to exercise. You should or I encourage everyone to exercise. Like you know, doing resistance training, doing some type of cardio heart training is going to really improve your ultimate health outcomes.
Angelo Keely
But literally, you know, they've done, I think we talked about last time like the NASA study where people are at bed rest for 28 days, couldn't move, but they did the supplemental aminos twice a day in these higher doses and they lost no muscle mass over the course of a month. Being a complete bed rest. So just shows you that like aminos are this thing that can create these benefits for your muscle and for your skin, et cetera. Even outside of exercise where creatine, you really have to take it and then you need to exercise to get the benefits from it. Now that's not like again, I would never want to encourage people like oh just take this supplement and don't exercise. But they work in two pretty fundamentally different ways and they're really complementary. I think ultimately to help you maintain exercise, maintain a healthy, you know, vibrant, more lean muscle based body and then ultimately have better cognition.
Erin Holt
A very hot topic right now is protein intake and people. That's another thing that is stressing people out is like how do I possibly get gram of protein per pound of ideal body weight? That's like a whole thing, right? It's like a full time job to get it in. I'm curious what your thought is about how we could kind of count aminos as part of that overall protein intake.
Angelo Keely
Yeah, so I think like kind of like general guidance would be whatever decade you are, essential amino acids are going to be about that multiple of the potency of like a whey protein. So if you're 30, it's about three times, if you're 44 times, if you're 55 times the impact. So let's just take someone who's like 40 years old one scoop of Aminos, it's about 5 grams of active amino acids, it's about equivalent to 20 grams of like whey protein powder.
Erin Holt
Amazing.
Angelo Keely
That's awesome. Yeah, yeah. If you're 60, it's like 30 grams. Right?
Erin Holt
I feel like I said this on the last time we talked, but one of my mentors, this is kind of like an old naturopathic, a hack, but he would give a lot of his older patients amino acids. You know, this is like when they were in pill form and they like smelled awful, like you were dry heaving as you were choking them back. It's for all of the things that you just talked about and how it's. It's so much harder for us to essentially access the protein in our food the older we get. Part of that is we are losing stomach acid and there's a number of different factors that play into that. But I think just echoing your point, the older you get, the more, more crucial this is. And we're also losing muscle mass as we get older. And so whatever we can do to protect that is huge.
Erin Holt
So kind of circling back to the original conversation, why creatine for women? I mean, this has been essentially beat over our heads and I've been echoing this on this show, is that if you are in your 20s, 30s, 40s, like put on the muscle mass because it's going to be harder and harder to do as we age. And so any tools that we can throw into our tool bag that help with that, especially if you have like, you know, I'm not built to put on muscle easily, but I have been putting on muscle due to certain types of training, due to support supplemental support like aminos and creatine. And so I just want to present women with all the tools in the tool bag because I think it's in modern day, we just really need them.
Angelo Keely
Yeah, and that's a great point. You know, it makes me, I don't know, reconsider or just want to. I think I always want to be like cautious or sensitive about telling everyone like these supplements, they're like a must have. And so I think that's why I even say the context of say a 20 year old, they're less important. That said, I mean, when you're 40, you'll be like, I wish when I was 20 I had been doing this because now I'm trying to play catch up. And it's kind. It's not that it's too late, but it is much harder now. So I would say the more that you invest in really building that lean muscle, you will appreciate it so much as you get older because it is much harder to build later on.
Erin Holt
I mean it really is. My sister in law is 10 years older than me. So she's like always like shouting down like look out for this, pay attention to this. Wish I knew this. And she's like the skin on your neck is the first thing to age. And I'm looking in the mirror like you should have told me that 10 years ago. But I. It's like our future selves are like giving us tips.
Erin Holt
I would say that it's like I kind of wish I had invested more, more, more of my effort into putting on muscle mass and less of my effort into getting smaller and smaller and smaller. But I'm a product of the 90s, you know, heroin chic was what it was. So we just wanted to be as tiny as we could be. And now we're sort of paying the piper in our perimenopause years. I will say the promising thing is when I go to the gym there are so many young women there lifting heavy. So I do think there is this sea change and that makes me really happy to see. So I want to ask a final question. I think this is totally going to be different for everybody.
Erin Holt
But if you had to tell somebody like these are the. Or maybe let's just stick to you. What are your top three supplements that like wouldn't live without, can't get through a day without taking them.
Angelo Keely
They are aminos, creatine and omega 3. And they are because I think. And omega 3 is an interesting one because it's like, it's not one that I might immediately notice the impact of. But if you look at the research long term it's like a 15 to 20% reduction in all cause mortality. And I try to eat fish regularly but it's like I'm not doing it all the time. And it's a thing that I can do very easily every single day that could have these long term really beneficial impacts on my cardiovascular health, my mental health, et cetera, brain health is what I mean. And then creatine and aminos for all the reasons I just described. Yeah, that's what I would say.
Angelo Keely
I want to make notes about. 4, 5, 6.
Erin Holt
Yeah, go ahead.
Angelo Keely
We don't care some way thinking about your micronutrients, right. And so it's either you really are thinking about eating like a wide array of different types of whole foods, whether that's a wide array of vegetables and fruits and meats or you know, organ meats, whatever that is to get in that Wide variety or looking at some type of multivitamin that could potentially provide for that. That's like the next one. Yeah. I'll stop there.
Erin Holt
You give me five and six. Now I need to know.
Angelo Keely
So five and six. Gosh. I do take. I mean, I'm in, like, the supplement space, and so I take a lot of supplements. I'm, like, having to think about. So, you know, other ones that I take every single day. I take vitamin C and zinc every single day as a separate supplement. And it's a kion supplement.
Angelo Keely
It's called immune, but it's. It's really just like. It's C and zinc. And that is because. I mean, really for a host of reasons. They're just like two really super important micronutrients. Slash. Mineral that has so many positive impacts.
Angelo Keely
And when I do that, I find that I don't get sick, like, virtually ever. Yeah. And for a host of other. Other benefits.
Erin Holt
They're really great for female hormones, too. I'll just add that. Throw that into the mix.
Angelo Keely
Yeah. It comes up again for, like, all types of, like, hormone production, whether that's female hormones, thyroid, like, and just staying on top of that where it's like, I don't want to be thinking about all my food choices to. I'm just, like, busy every day and eating with the family and, like, can I, like, craft, like, the perfect, you know, making sure I'm getting everything in.
Erin Holt
Yeah. So we. We gotta take the support where we can get it, too.
Angelo Keely
Yeah.
Erin Holt
Thank you so much for being here. I hope that people walk away with a better understanding of creatine and whether or not it's right for them and maybe feel a little bit more comfortable trying it out, because I really have enjoyed it. I've been using it for probably close to two years now. And the biggest notice, the thing that I've noticed is the ability to put on muscle mass in a way that I was not able to before just seeing it. People will comment on muscles like they can see them. So that makes me feel really good. So strong Recommend.
Angelo Keely
Does it feel so good when people actually notice it? It's cool.
Erin Holt
It's also on the other side, when they don't notice that, it's like, soul crushing. Don't you see how hard I'm working over here? Maybe that's just me. All right. Thank you so much. You're a wealth of knowledge as always, and we appreciate you coming back on the show.
Angelo Keely
Thanks for having me, Erin. Anytime.
Erin Holt
Thanks for joining me for this episode of the Functional Nutrition podcast. Please keep in mind that this podcast is created for educational purposes only and should never be used as a replacement for medical diagnosis or treatment. If you got something from today's show, don't forget, subscribe, leave a review, share with a friend, and keep coming back for more. Take care of you.