Herbalife Creatine Review

Herbalife is an MLM (multi-level marketing) company that sells weight loss products, protein shakes, snacks, vitamins, sports and energy supplements. It also offers nutritional advice and home-based business opportunities.

This product contains creatine monohydrate, which improves strength and performance during repetitive bouts of short, high-intensity activity. It contains no artificial flavours, colours or sweeteners.

1. Creatine Monohydrate

Creatine is one of the most well-studied supplements and ergogenic aids. It increases muscle mass, strength and performance. It also improves cognition. It’s a great supplement for people who train hard and want to maximize results from resistance training.

The human body makes creatine on its own. It’s formed from the amino acids glycine and methionine. We also get it from meats and fish, including shellfish. Monohydrate is the most common form of creatine monohydrate in supplements. Other forms include creatine hydrochloride, creatyl-l leucine and creatine acetate. Monohydrate, however, is the most researched form and has the strongest evidence to support its effectiveness.

Experts consider creatine to be very safe. A recent review of studies showed no evidence that creatine causes kidney problems in healthy adults without any pre-existing conditions. People with kidney disorders or who take diuretic medications to manage high fluid levels may want to consult their doctor before consuming any creatine.

Creatine can be taken to maximize strength gains when used in conjunction with high-intensity training intervals (HIIT) or after a workout. It can also reduce fatigue and improve recovery.

The amount of creatine you need to consume varies from person to person. Some people who follow a loading protocol see benefits within 24-72 hours, while others experience more gradual improvements by taking lower doses of 5 grams per day.

Creatine is easily dissolved in water. It can be taken with a meal, or in a protein shake or smoothie. It’s also available in capsule or powder form. The Optimum Nutrition product packaging recommends two capsules with meals twice daily, although experts vary in their timing recommendations.

2. L-Arginine Alpha-Ketoglutarate

L-arginine alpha ketoglutarate (AAKG) is a popular amino-acid supplement that’s commonly found in preworkout supplements. It increases nitric-oxide production, which boosts athletic performance and improves blood flow. AAKG is also used to treat some heart conditions, including peripheral arterial disease. According to a study published in 2018, it may help prevent type-2 diabetes by lowering blood sugar levels. It might also help prevent pregnancy complications, such as preeclampsia or gestational hypertension. It can also help reduce the risk of heart attack or stroke by lowering blood pressure.

Aside from improving athletic performance, AAKG also promotes muscle mass and improves strength. A 2011 study published in the journal “Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry” found that a combination of L-arginine and citrulline boosted bench press strength and total load volume by 30% compared to a placebo group. The authors suggest a combination of AAKG with L-arginine increases nitric-oxide production, leading to an increase in muscular endurance and short term power performance.

Citrulline is converted into arginine and alpha ketoglutarate in the body. Both of these nutrients are essential for protein synthesis and act as an intermediate in the metabolism of food to energy. It is also possible that the combination of arginine and alpha-ketoglutarate in a dietary supplement increases muscle mass and enhances strength because it may increase nitric oxide production, which in turn promotes protein synthesis and increases blood flow to muscles.

AAKG may lower blood pressure for some people. It is therefore important to avoid taking AAKG with other medications. It might also interact with certain medications such as diuretics, which eliminate excess fluids from the body. Talk to your doctor before taking dietary supplements containing AAKG.

3. L-Glutamine

L-Glutamine is an amino acid that is made naturally in the body and found in many foods. Glutamine is the most abundant amino acid in the body and plays a key role in protein synthesis, as well as serving as fuel for the immune system.1

It also helps decrease muscle soreness after a workout by supporting the resynthesis of proteins in muscles and by stimulating the production of glutathione, which is a powerful antioxidant that prevents free radical damage to proteins.2

Glutamine is used by athletes to increase strength, endurance and promote recovery from exercise. It also stimulates growth hormone production and increases muscle cell volume and densities.

It is a gut healing amino acid, and a natural anti inflammatory. It helps to reduce digestive issues such as leaky gut or ulcerative colitis. It has been shown to help heal the intestinal wall and restore healthy gut bacteria.3

In addition to being a powerful amino acid, glutamine also serves as an excellent precursor of creatine phosphate. During exercise, the body breaks down CP into its simplest form, ATP. The ATP that is produced by this process provides energy to the muscles and cells throughout the entire body.

Creatine is a great way to increase CP levels. Glutamine is one of the best ways to increase CP levels. Several studies suggest that short-term use of supplemental glutamine is safe and does not appear to have any negative impact on blood safety markers.4

4. L-Carnitine L-Tartrate

L-carnitine benefits include enhancing endurance, boosting brain function and preventing muscle damage. It also regulates blood sugar and helps with fat burning. There are two types of carnitine. Acetyl L’carnitine (ALCAR), which has been processed, may help it cross the blood-brain barriers, where it could enhance memory functions. Carnitine may also benefit heart health by transporting long-chain fatty acids into mitochondria to be oxidized for energy. More research is needed to understand this.

Carnitine can be found in a variety of foods, such as meat, dairy products, and vegetables. Carnitine is available in many different supplements, including liquids, powders, and pills. There are different types and dosages of carnitine, but which one is best for you depends on what your goals and preferences are. Before taking any supplement, including carnitine it is important to consult your doctor. It may interact with certain medications and have an adverse effect on your health.

If you have a heart problem, taking too much of the carnitine with blood thinners can increase your risk for death or cardiovascular problems. It can also cause nausea and stomach pain. It is recommended to stick to the recommended dosage and use a measuring device/spoon to make sure you get the right amount.

It’s best to combine a choline supplement, such as alpha-glycerylphosphorylcholine (alpha-GPC) or citicoline (CDP-choline), with carnitine if you want to achieve the most performance and body composition benefits. This combination ensures that more choline will be absorbed and transported into muscle mitochondria where it will work with carnitine in order to burn fat. However, the two nutrients can be taken separately as well. The only difference is that the combination might take longer to produce the same effect than taking them individually.

5. L-Citrulline

L-Citrulline is a non-essential amino acid that is efficiently converted to arginine in the body, making it an excellent choice for increasing nitric oxide synthesis. Citrulline supplementation was shown to improve endothelial function and vascular smooth muscles relaxation in conditions such as atherosclerosis, by directly reducing reactive oxygen species (ROS), via the nicotinamide-adenine dinucleotide-phosphate oxidase path [64]. Additionally, it also acts as a direct antioxidant at lower concentrations by directly interacting with hydroxyl radicals to form water [65].

L-citrulline promotes mitochondrial nitric oxygen synthase (mNOS), leading to elevated mRNA of the protein nitric acid synthase that increases NO synthesis in blood vessels [66]. Studies in malnourished rats have demonstrated that l-citrulline administration enhances resistance training-induced MPS by elevating mNOS and improving femoral artery blood flow and NO synthesis [67].

The use of L-citrulline is gaining popularity among athletes due to its effectiveness for enhancing muscle growth and strength. In a study published by the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research eight days of oral L citrulline malate supplementation led to an increase in the number of repetitions during lower-body resistance exercise while decreasing the time taken for muscles fatigue during exercise.

Recent research has shown that l-citrulline can reduce chronic low-grade inflammation, which is associated with inflammaging. This process can also exacerbate cardiometabolic disorders. L-citrulline has been shown to promote the metabolic regulation of innate immunity, thus further reducing inflammatory responses and attenuating the impact of cytokine-induced low-grade inflammation [78]. L-citrulline also supports adaptive immunity through the regulation of CD4+ T cells’ energy and function. It also promotes glycerol-phosphate dehydrogenase in lymphocytes which is a rate-limiting enzyme for T-cell activation, and phagocytosis. These results are supported by studies that show l-citrulline attenuates the blood pressure reactivity observed in prehypertensive or hypertensive people to acute sympathetic stimulation.