creatine
3 interactions related to creatine
creatine + beta-alanine
Creatine raises muscle phosphocreatine to regenerate ATP during very short, explosive efforts, while beta-alanine raises muscle carnosine to buffer the acid build-up that limits efforts lasting tens of seconds to a few minutes. Because they address different limiters of high-intensity performance, the two are commonly stacked, and the added benefit is modest and additive rather than dramatic.
creatine + carbohydrates
Taking creatine together with carbohydrate raises insulin, which increases how much creatine skeletal muscle retains by stimulating the sodium-dependent creatine transporter. The effect mainly speeds up the loading phase; long-term muscle saturation is reached either way with daily consistency.
caffeine + creatine
Daily high-dose caffeine taken throughout a creatine loading week may modestly blunt creatine's strength benefit, but ordinary pre-workout caffeine in someone already taking creatine daily is at worst neutral and often additive. There is no safety concern at normal intakes.