Creatine Helped Women With Bad Knees Stand Up Better. Not Why You Think
Creatine is usually pitched at young lifters, but a randomized, double-blind trial tested it in postmenopausal women with knee osteoarthritis. After 12 weeks of leg training, the creatine group's timed-stands score rose from 15.7 to 18.1, while placebo barely moved (15.0 to 15.2). Creatine also improved stiffness, lean mass and quality of life. But pain relief and leg-press max strength were no better than placebo. Here's what the numbers show and who this might actually help.
A 40 mg Collagen Dose Doubled Time to Knee Pain. Here's the Catch
Achy knees under the bar or on the road? One randomized trial found that just 40 mg a day of undenatured type II collagen (UC-II) was linked to knee pain starting later, from 1.4 to 2.8 minutes, and to better knee extension. That is about 250 times less than a typical 10 g scoop of hydrolyzed collagen, and it is a different kind of product. But the study was small, industry-linked, and done in healthy people rather than arthritis patients. Here's what the data show, where the headline needs context, and how to read a label.
Cheap Gut Fibre Beat Placebo for Knee Pain: 1.11-Point Drop
A cheap chicory-root fibre just beat placebo for knee pain in a randomised trial. 20 g/day of inulin cut pain by 1.11 points, past the 1-point threshold for a meaningful change, and it also improved grip strength. Only the inulin groups saw butyrate and GLP-1 rise, hinting at a gut-muscle link. But participants were older adults with knee OA (mean age 67.5), and physiotherapy-supported exercise reduced pain even more (1.55 points). Here's what the study found, what it can't tell us, and how to use it sensibly.