By Heide Kennedy, Arizona Farm Bureau Communications Intern
Photo courtesy of the Arizona Beef Council.
If you’ve ever been into working out, you’ve probably heard of a popular supplement called creatine. Athletes and fitness enthusiasts alike take this supplement whether it be in a powder form, or already put into energy drinks, as it offers a lot of performance boosting benefits. But did you know that beef is an amazing source of creatine, and it also helps our bodies to naturally produce their own creatine?
According to dietician Michael Joseph, there is about 350 milligrams of creatine in every 100 grams of beef consumed. And, to top that off, our livers naturally produce about 2 grams of creatine per day, but only as long as we have given our bodies the right “ingredients,” which are arginine, glycine, and methionine. Beef is a great source of all three, and as Joseph notes, it is the single most significant dietary source of them.
It is recommended that we should be getting around 1-2 grams of creatine per day so that we can reap some of the benefits it has to offer. Some of the most notable include helping our cells produce more energy, building muscle mass, improving high-intensity exercise performance, and speeding up muscle growth. Eating beef, taking in the creatine that it has to offer, as well as utilizing those three “ingredients” to help our bodies make creatine takes us right to, and slightly above that recommended daily amount of creatine!
So, next time that you want to boost your creatine intake, consider having some beef! We produce some of the best beef here in Arizona, look for some locally raised beef products next time you’re out shopping!
Want to learn more about all of the other health benefits of beef? Check out these articles from Fill Your Plate!