Does creatine actually prevent muscle from being broken down?

Creatine does not actually prevent the old rip and tear. It does help to make muscles stronger and thereby resist some of the breakdown much like getting stronger helps you not get sore at the lighter weight.

Hi Gentlemen

First a little background on the evidence of how creatine works...

Creatine has been shown to increase the expression of genes that cause muscle fibre growth in both humans and animals. It has also been shown to increase muscle fibre size.

Many (most?) people think that creatine just increases water retention in muscles. This has not been consistently shown in studies and many eminent creatine experts believe that water retention has little or nothing to do with the rapid increases in muscle mass that occur with creatine supplementation.

Any intervention that increases the muscle-building process will prevent muscle breakdown unless the intervention also increases muscle protein breakdown (which creatine does not).

As far as muscle breakdown, studies also show that creatine supplementation results in less loss of muscle when on a calorie-reduced diet.

So yes, there is good evidence that creatine reduces muscle loss and muscle breakdown.