Vegetarians have significantly lower muscle creatine stores and levels compared to those who eat meat and/or fish products. The average creatine pool for a 70 kg individual ranges from 120-140 g, and approximately 2 g d −1 is lost in the urine in the form of creatinine. Vegetarian diets have lower contents of lecithin, choline, and l-carnitine, which might result in a lower production of TMAO. Vegetarian diets are associated with a more favorable profile of metabolic risk factors and lower blood pressure, but the protective effect in CKD is still unknown. Current evidence suggests that the adoption of plant-based diets, such as the Mediterranean diet (MD) or the lacto-ovo-vegetarian diet (VD), has potential benefits in managing protein, sodium, potassium, and phosphorus.
Traditional dietary recommendations for patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) focus on the quantity of food, nutrition, and vegetarianism. A vegetarian diet can be safe and beneficial for kidney disease patients with careful planning, focusing on managing protein, sodium, potassium, and phosphorus. Creatine is mostly found in meat, so those who follow a vegetarian or low protein diet may have lower levels than meat eaters. In these instances, supplementation may help. Studies suggest that creatine will decline if you’re on a vegan or vegetrian diet, and that this can be fixed by taking creatine supplements. However, the body creatine pool declined over a 3-month vegetarian diet in omnivorous women, which was ameliorated when accompanied by low-fat foods. Vegetarians present with lower serum creatine and creatine clearance, owing to low dietary creatine intake.
📹 Should Vegetarians Take Creatine to Normalize Homocysteine?
Creatine may normalize homocysteine levels. What are the consequences of having to make your own creatine rather than relying …
Which foods reduce creatinine levels?
Creatinine levels can be reduced and maintained through various foods, such as vegetables like bitter gourd, red bell pepper, cucumber, and onions, nettle leaf tea, spices like cinnamon, and Alpha Lipoic acid. These foods help regulate creatinine levels and increase kidney energy. Home remedies to balance creatinine levels include avoiding creatinine supplements, reducing protein intake, consuming more fiber, balancing fluid intake, reducing salt intake, avoiding smoking and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and balancing alcohol consumption. Creatinine is an essential by-product, and high levels are not a medical issue. Maintaining creatinine levels is crucial for overall health.
Does a vegetarian diet lower creatinine levels?
The study found that serum creatinine concentrations and clearance differed between vegans and omnivores, with vegans having lower levels (median 0. 81 vs. 0. 81). The study also highlighted the use of cookies on the site, and the copyright © 2024 Elsevier B. V., its licensors, and contributors. All rights reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies.
Do eggs increase creatinine?
Elevated creatinine levels can be attributed to protein sources such as eggs and chicken. Conversely, a diet that is more vegetable-based and that reduces protein intake can help to lower creatinine levels in the body.
What diet causes low creatinine?
Low creatinine levels can be caused by a variety of factors, including a plant-based or low protein diet, malnutrition, low muscle mass, and underlying health conditions. Treatment may involve lifestyle and dietary changes, as well as medication. Creatinine, a chemical waste product of creatine, is a result of normal muscle metabolism and food digestion. It enters the bloodstream after being broken down, and is then removed by the kidneys and excreted through urine.
Do vegetarians have less creatine?
Creatine, a naturally occurring amino acid found in animal tissue, is not essential in the diet, but studies have shown that vegetarians have lower muscle creatine levels. A lacto-ovo-vegetarian diet can cause a significant decrease in muscle creatine levels. Creatine supplements may offer significant benefits for vegetarians, including improved muscle function and reduced risk of kidney stones.
Does non veg increase creatinine?
This study found that serum creatinine is significantly reduced in vegetarian women and men compared to their meat-eating counterparts, and it was a strong independent predictor of lean body mass (LBM). Vegetarian men and women tended to consume less protein than omnivore men and women, and protein intake and LBM were directly correlated. Additionally, vegetarians had significantly lower handgrip strength than their omnivore counterparts, which may have important physiological relevance as LBM and handgrip strength are related to quality of life.
Several large cross-sectional trials have reported significant reductions in serum creatinine concentrations in vegetarian populations compared to omnivores. Dinu et al. reported a significant reduction in serum creatinine in adults at medium-to-low risk for cardiovascular disease randomized to a hypocaloric vegetarian diet vs. a hypocaloric Mediterranean diet for 3 months. The only dietary differences between groups were for protein and fiber, but correlation analyses showed no significant associations between these dietary changes and change in serum creatinine.
In a case report, a 65-year-old male with type 2 diabetes and stage 3 kidney disease adopted a vegetarian diet, and after four months, serum creatinine concentrations fell 38 from 1. 6 to 1. 03 mg/dL, attributed to the loss of lean body mass. Kochlik et al. followed serum creatinine change in adults adhering to a meatless diet for 6 days but fed 160 g cooked chicken on day 4, suggesting the dependence of plasma creatinine on muscle metabolism and not meat ingestion.
Creatinine is generated at a constant rate from the spontaneous, non-enzymatic cyclization of creatine in muscle cells. Due to its steady production and free filtration through the glomerulus, serum creatinine is used clinically as an indicator of kidney function, and high serum concentrations of creatinine are a marker of compromised kidney function. However, less attention is directed at creatinine concentrations in the low-normal range, which can indicate acute illness, severe liver disease, and the loss of muscle mass, such as malnutrition, muscular dystrophy, or sarcopenia in older adults.
Does plant protein raise creatinine?
Consuming more plant protein can help reduce kidney stress, as healthy vegetarians have lower creatinine levels compared to those who consume both meat and vegetables. However, excessive red meat consumption is linked to a higher risk of kidney failure, with those who consume the most red meat also eating the least fruits and vegetables. Some studies suggest that replacing animal protein with plant protein may lower the risk of kidney problems.
Does eating meat affect creatinine levels?
Studies have shown that increased protein consumption and amino acid infusion can lead to increased renal function, particularly in preclinical studies. However, acute ingestion of cooked meat can cause a transient increase in serum and urinary creatinine levels. Cooking meat converts creatine in skeletal muscle to creatinine, and studies have shown significant increases in creatinine levels. Ingestion of meals containing cooked meat caused a marked postprandial increase in serum creatinine concentration, whereas ingestion of raw meat had no effect on serum creatinine in normal human subjects.
A large cooked meat meal (225 g) caused an average increase of 52 in creatinine compared with the mean value on a control meal in six healthy individuals. A study on renal transplant patients and healthy control subjects showed a 30 increase in serum creatinine, with the rise in absolute terms being higher in the transplant group. The effect of cooked meat on serum creatinine might be higher in more advanced CKD stages. A recent study on 17 healthy volunteers and 15 patients from a care-of-the-elderly day unit showed a significant median serum creatinine rise from 80.
5 to 101. 0 µmol/L (0. 91 to 1. 14 mg/dL) and median eGFR fall from 84 to 59. 5 mL/min/1. 73 m 2 at 1–2 hours after intake of a normal helping of cooked meat. However, evidence for the effect of cooked meat on creatinine in a well-defined patient population with different stages of diabetes-related CKD is lacking in the literature.
Do you get enough creatine from meat?
Creatine, a three-amino acid compound, is primarily found in the body’s muscles and brain. It is primarily obtained through seafood and red meat, but at lower levels than synthetic creatine supplements. The liver, pancreas, and kidneys can produce about 1 gram of creatine daily. Creatine is stored as phosphocreatine in muscles, used for energy. Oral creatine is used to improve athletic performance and increase muscle mass, treat brain disorders, neuromuscular conditions, and aging skin.
Are eggs bad for creatinine?
To control serum creatinine levels, limit protein consumption, as excessive meat and egg consumption can precipitate creatine levels. Kidneys are vital organs that perform excretion and urine formation, keeping the body healthy by removing toxins. Lifestyle changes and trends have led to fluctuations in serum creatinine levels, which can be influenced by factors such as age, gender, sex, and habits. Women’s levels range from 87 to 107 mL/min, while men’s range from 107 to 139 mL/min. Maintaining kidney function is essential for maintaining healthy blood flow.
📹 The Efficacy and Safety of Creatine for High Homocysteine
Those on a healthy plant-based diet with elevated homocysteine levels despite taking sufficient vitamin B12 may want to consider …
All of the articles in this series can be found on the playlist: youtube.com/watch?v=G1E7Upc2lPQ&list=PL5TLzNi5fYd-JfMG0FuywGxsnbjYFFKWU. My new series on B12 recommendations will be coming out in a few weeks, but if you want them all now, you can also get those in a digital download here: drgreger.org/collections/videos/products/b12-recommendations-digital
I thought I should share my experience, after seeing this article I had my homocysteine levels and B12 levels checked. My b12 was fine, but my homocysteine levels were high. Also my blood pressure was elevated. I started creatine about 2 weeks ago as of Wednesday my blood pressure seems to have normalized.
RED FLAG! As a WFPB for 10 years I was happy to hear that Creatine could lower my homocysteine levels. On the 3rd day of taking a gram of creatine a day, I had a GOUT flareup. I have never had gout before. I thought Vegans didn’t have to worry about gout. It’s very painful. You don’t want it. Creatine is high in purines, and so is nutritional yeast, one of my favorite foods. Body builders complain of creatine triggering gout attacks. I have stopped taking these supplements. Just giving you a heads up.
Great series! Glad to watch it to the end. When researching for potential side effects of B12 I found some studies that reported higher incidence of pulmonary cancer in men taking high doses of this vitamin. Could you adress this issue in a future article please? Thanks for all the content in here and elsewhere, it’s been life changing for me. Greetings from Portugal
The thought has occurred to me that if you are already suffering the effects of too much meat consumption, then eliminating meats or drastically reducing them and then taking a creatine supplement might be beneficial. I have been taking the buffered kind by EFX. And it makes a major difference in my strength levels. I even read something that said creatine can help fight cancer by fueling immune cells.
I’ve been perusal different articles on strokes. Dr. Greger says that you have to take a proper B12 supplement to prevent strokes. Having had 3 strokes, I’m concerned with what is considered to be a proper B12 supplement. Can you answer this Dr. Greger? I don’t eat foods supplemented with B12 but I take some liquid B12 most days.
Cyanocobalamin is like sipping cyanide for my MTHFR mutation…..just sayin’. There are reasons why homocysteine in high that regular medicine has made pronouncements about that will harm some of us. The CDC still recommends folic acid when some of us can not tolerate (do not have the ability to transform it into useable form) and the result blocks our pathways even further and causes high homocysteine and general unwellness.
Hmm, I developed symptoms of renal failure while taking 1.5 g of creatine daily over a couple of years. Symptoms went away when I stopped the creo. When I had my kidneys checked later there was no sign of any underlying disease. So I think the common belief that renal failure on creatine only happens to people with an underlying kidney disease is dubious. Of course it might have been caused by contamination of the creo I was using.¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
I would wonder whether these vegetarian populations with elevated homocysteine levels were consistently engaged in resistance training? I’m still learning about this but it seems to be that there is less methylation available, due to excessive methylation during creatine synthesis, and couple this with B-vitamin(s) deficiency, and we have a higher likelihood of homocysteine levels. Interestingly, resistance training has been shown to potentially upregulate endogenous creatine synthesis yet reduce homocysteine levels. Also, betaine, found in whole grains and beets has been shown to act as a methyl donor and sustain adequate methylation to ensure normal homocysteine levels. So it appears to me we have a two-fold issue: A low compliance or adherence to a steady resistance training program and inconsistent vitamin B12 supplementation as well as perhaps holes in one’s diet (not all plants are created equal via nutrient density). For example, refined grains have substantially lower levels of betaine compared to whole grains, thus we have less methyl donors available, and this is even more important in a vegetarian population due to increased metabolic burden of creatine synthesis as you put in the article.
Some people have the mthfr gene mutation, either from one parent or a double mutation, one from each parent. This can lead to high homocysteine and a host of other problems. Folks with these gene issues should see their physician as they may need more help. They may need more help getting homocysteine levels down and investigation into other problems that may arise from the mutation. People can find out if they have this mutation through 23andme or similar gene testing if they want to.
I have yet to find a B12 supplement of cyanocabalamin that is sublingual, or chewable, that doesn’t have added questionable ingredients. I have viewed all your B12 articles and haven’t heard you mention any concerns about the added compounds — but I would rather not take them! Nature Made has one, but it has about 10 questionable ingredients! And it has the USP Stamp? I completely lost faith in that USP stamp now!
I get it that strength training isn’t Greger’s thing, but he’s way too cautious with creatine. It’s the best studied and safest supplement on record, and high quality manufacturers are easy to find. Just look for GMP certification and a well known third party testing certificate like informed sport and informed choice. Also the correct dosage is .045 grams per kilogram of body weight.
I was one of the vegans neglecting B12 supplementation… I am utterly ashamed! I really thought that it would be stored better and the amount found in plant milks and such would be enough, and I also was a bit scared of cyanocobalamin as I thought there was a risk it would convert to cyanide… I have learned my lesson and now take 1000 mcg of B12 3-4 times a week. I never want to become deficient again. I haven’t tested my homocysteine level but it can’t hurt to use half a teaspoon of my bf’s creatine powder a couple of times a week!