Protein Powder vs Creatine: Discover the Benefits

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Navigating protein supplements in today's world exposes you to so many options. Protein powder and creatine are two of the most popular supplements there are, with creatine monohydrate being the most common creatine supplement. What is so special about protein powder and creatine, and do you need to take one if you take the other? 

While both supplements will aid muscle and strength growth and general fitness, they have different uses. Protein powder is a convenient way to up your protein intake, and creatine stands out for its direct impact on improving energy production, especially during high-intensity workouts. 

Like many factors that affect your health and fitness, there is a lot of nuance to consider before choosing between protein powder and creatine. Continue reading to learn these considerations and see how both supplements can get you to the next landing in your fitness journey. 

Is Protein Powder Better Than Creatine?

If your goal is to grow muscle, you can benefit from taking both protein powder and creatine. Protein powder is mostly used as a way to ingest more protein. So, if you can get enough protein from whole food and animal sources like chicken, you do not need protein powder. 

Creatine, on the other hand, is a substance that has a more direct application to sports and physical activity. Already produced by your body, the substance aids in the production of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the primary energy source for high-intensity, short-duration exercises like weightlifting or sprinting. 

Now, when taken as a supplement, creatine enhances energy and strength production even more. It also delays fatigue during exercise. This increased exercise performance correlates to increased muscle mass and strength growth because you can train harder and recover faster from high-intensity strength training. 

Do I Need Creatine If I Take Protein?

No, you don't need creatine if you already take protein. Most individuals who are not athletes or bodybuilders can get enough protein from eating a balanced diet with animal protein sources like red meat and seafood. Also, creatine is a non-essential amino acid. This means that your body can make its own creatine, and you don't need to get it from external sources. 

However, if you are looking to pack on some muscle or get stronger, creatine can help. Supplementing with the substance means you get more energy when you need it. So, while you don't need to take both creatine and protein powder, there's no harm in exhausting all options. They're both valuable supplements for muscle and strength growth. 

6 Benefits of Protein Powder

Protein powder (affiliate link) has a myriad of benefits for general health and muscle and strength building. Here are some of them.

1. Muscle Growth and Repair 

Protein is an essential source of muscle growth and repair, and after a workout, muscles are in a state of breakdown and require protein ingestion. Consuming protein powder, particularly whey protein, provides a quick and efficient source of protein to the muscles. This benefit is especially helpful for athletes and bodybuilders who require a constant supply of protein to facilitate muscle recovery and hypertrophy. 

Additionally, protein supplements also contain a fair amount of amino acids, both essential amino acids and non-essential, that are important for muscle protein synthesis, which is how the body produces new muscle tissue. 

2. Weight and Fat Loss 

There are many reasons people try to lose fat, including health and aesthetics. If, for any of these reasons, your goal is fat loss, protein powder could go a long way. First of all, protein powder options are usually low in calories. This means that you can consume a good amount of protein without ingesting too many calories, helping you control your body weight. 

Again, research has shown that protein is also the most satiating macronutrient. The simple implication of this is that protein keeps you fuller for longer, helping you reduce how much you eat. 

Even better, protein can also improve your metabolism because it has a higher thermic effect. When you eat, the body expends some of its resources (in the form of energy) towards digesting and metabolizing the food. This energy is called the thermic effect of food, and protein's thermic effect is higher than that of fat and carbs. So, the macronutrient helps you burn more calories, even when you're not momentarily engaged in any exercise.

3. Dietary Inclusivity 

Protein powders can be an inclusive dietary option for various lifestyles and dietary restrictions. For example, plant-based protein powder brands provide a great option for vegans and vegetarians. In the same way, lactose-free or gluten-free protein powder brands are a suitable choice for people who have dietary intolerances and allergies. 

Getting adequate protein from whole and natural food sources alone may be difficult to pull off for many people. Protein powder's dietary inclusivity helps people with different nutritional preferences and backgrounds supplement their protein intake effectively. 

4. Versatility 

Protein powder can be consumed in so many ways. The most common way is to blend it into shakes, smoothies, and the like. However, protein powder can also be used in baking and cooking. People regularly use the supplement to add a protein boost to bread, pancakes, muffins, and cookies. It can also be incorporated into oatmeal, porridge, and homemade protein bars. 

Other applications of protein powder in regular meals include the addition of yogurt and cereal, not to mention coffee and tea. Essentially, you can add some protein powder into your regular meals spread throughout the day to make them protein-rich and also enhance their taste. 

5. Portability and Convenience 

Maintaining a busy lifestyle while trying to get enough nutrients for health and fitness purposes can be difficult. Having to work, go to school, or take care of family members is part of many people's daily lives, and these already take a lot of effort. Adding health and fitness activities like working out and eating the required nutrients requires even more effort. 

Hence, it is expedient to find ways to make these activities easier and more convenient. Using protein powder as a dietary supplement is one of these ways. For example, if you have to go to a physical workplace or school, you could mix some protein powder in a shaker and take it along with you. Also, because protein powder is versatile, you can blend it in with a variety of meals. 

6. Enhanced Nutritional Profile

Some protein powder brands fortify their products with additional vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients, enhancing their overall nutritional profile. Examples of these nutrients are antioxidants, B vitamins, and fiber. The addition of these micronutrients provides an easy way for people who are deficient in some of them to ingest them. 

Additionally, many protein powders also have functional ingredients like probiotics and enzymes that aid in digestion and overall gut health.

6 Benefits of Creatine

The benefits of creatine (affiliate link) cut across three broad areas: muscle growth, strength gain and performance, and brain health. Let's delve into the specifics. 

1. Enhanced Muscle Strength 

As mentioned above, creatine aids in the production of ATP, the body's primary energy currency. During high-intensity exercises like weightlifting, ATP depletes rapidly. However, by increasing your body's phosphocreatine stores, creatine supplements allow for quicker regeneration of ATP, providing more energy for immediate intense physical activity. 

Research has shown that this energy availability boost that creatine provides results in significant improvements in muscle strength, explosive power, and general athletic performance. Other sources have also shown that creatine has a long-term effect on strength and athletic performance.

Also, if you are choosing to only exercise at home, be sure to consider our list of recommended at-home workout equipment (affiliate link) to add variety and resistance to your routine!

2. Improved Exercise Performance 

Creatine allows people to perform better during exercise. The extra ATP production it provides means you can train harder for longer periods. It may also aid performance in high-intensity cardiovascular activities. 

3. Muscle Growth Acceleration 

Through the release of ATP, creatine increases your ability to train with intensity, and high-intensity training has been shown to support muscle growth. Away from ATP production, creatine has other, more direct effects on muscle building. 

One of these effects is an increase in water retention in muscle cells, which is anabolic and affects muscle growth positively. Another effect of creatine is an upregulation of muscle-insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I), which also increases muscle growth. By stimulating these processes in the body, creatine can fast-track fitness progress for people whose main goal is muscle gain.

4. Faster Recovery 

Creatine can reduce muscle cell damage and inflammation during resistance exercise, leading to faster recovery. This benefit is especially helpful for athletes who undergo frequent, intense training sessions. They can enjoy a high level of performance without risking overtraining and injury. 

5. Brain Health and Cognitive Function 

So far, research supports that supplementing creatine can improve brain health. The brain requires a significant amount of ATP to function optimally, and creatine could enhance the brain's energy supply, potentially improving memory and attention. 

Also, recent research points towards the possibility that creatine is beneficial for people recovering from mild traumatic brain injury. Another 2022 review concluded that creatine supplementation enhanced measures of memory performance in healthy people, especially in the older population.

6. Support for Older Individuals 

Creatine could support brain health in aging individuals, potentially slowing down cognitive decline. By enhancing muscle strength and endurance, the supplement could also help with sarcopenia (age-related muscle loss). 

Generally, creatine helps with muscle strength, brain health, and cognitive function. For older adults, there is a general decline in these areas. In this regard, research shows that through creatine supplementation, the older population can minimize the effects that aging can have on their muscles and brains.

Final Thoughts

When it comes to the question of creatine vs powder, there is no straight answer. While both supplements have similar benefits and use cases, they could also contribute to your health and fitness pursuits in different ways. Therefore, it is essential to consider the benefits of creatine and protein powder and supplement with each in correlation to how they affect your fitness goals.

Additionally, as you decide on which supplement is more suited to your goals, remember that nothing can take the place of natural, whole-food sources. Supplements are only designed to get you one step ahead, but you first have to lay the foundation with dialed-in nutrition. So, try your best to get the bulk of your nutritional needs from natural and whole foods.

Check out our Healthy Transformation Grocery List (affiliate link) for a compiled and convenient list of foods we recommend for anyone trying to gain muscle or lose weight on a clean diet.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I take only creatine without protein?

Protein is an essential nutrient for health and fitness purposes, especially muscle building. Creatine, however, is a protein supplement that aids with muscle strength and growth, brain health, and exercise performance. So, while creatine is a great way to supplement protein, it is important to also get some adequate protein from food — the FDA suggests 50 grams of protein for a 2,000-calorie diet.

Why am I losing weight on creatine?

Creatine causes water retention, which may amount to weight gain, but other factors could instigate weight loss when you're on the supplement, like your diet. If you're in a calorie deficit while taking creatine, you'll likely lose weight. Also, creatine causes increased muscle mass, which also increases your metabolism and instigates fat loss. 

Do I need creatine to build muscle?

You do not need creatine to build muscle. However, it is a valuable muscle-building supplement as it increases exercise performance, muscle mass, and strength. So, while you don't need creatine, it can go a long way to help you put on muscle.

This article has been reviewed by our editorial board and has been approved for publication in accordance with our editorial policy.