Research

Micronutrients & recovery

Vegetarians experience significantly greater increases in muscle total creatine, lean tissue mass, and exercise performance compared to nonvegetarians when supplementing with creatine monohydrate alongside resistance training.

If you are vegetarian, creatine supplementation combined with resistance training will likely yield greater gains in muscle mass and strength compared to nonvegetarians doing the same routine. This is because vegetarians typically have lower baseline muscle creatine levels. To replicate the study's protocol, consume creatine monohydrate at 0.25g per kg of lean body mass daily for the first week, then drop to 0.0625g per kg of lean body mass daily for the next seven weeks, while following a structured resistance training program.

GoodQualifiesHIGH confidence
Vegetarians who took Cr had a greater increase in TCr, PCr, lean tissue, and total work performance than nonvegetarians who took Cr (P < 0.05).
Darren Burke et al. · Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise · 2003

Why this rating

Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial with muscle biopsies and objective performance metrics, though sample size is moderate (N=42).

Source

Effect of Creatine and Weight Training on Muscle Creatine and Performance in Vegetarians

Darren Burke et al. · Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise · 2003

rct · n=42Cited 221×
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