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Creatine
Creatine is an important compound manufactured primarily by the liver. The body also acquires this substance through food: Meat and fish--and the protein they provide--are key dietary sources.
Creatine assists muscles in producing adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the substance that fuels bursts of energy on the cellular level. (Creatine donates a part of itself--high-energy phosphate--to create the ATP, which the muscles can then use for energy.)
In recent years, creatine also has become available as a dietary supplement. Taken in this concentrated form, it is popular for enhancing athletic performance and is sometimes used by professional and collegiate athletes, amateur and recreational competitors, and body-builders.
When creatine is taken orally in the form of a powder or pill, it gets absorbed through the intestines and then enters the bloodstream. This provides a ready source of creatine that the body can draw upon during demanding exercise, when muscles need quick supplies of ATP to keep on performing at peak levels.
Unfortunately, for reasons including "overly enthusiastic" advertising, many people now have inflated expectations about what this supplement can do, and some end up taking more than is effective or safe. In addition, although experts still don't know exactly why, some athletes experience no performance boost at all after taking creatine.
In addition, most creatine studies have been done in healthy young males between the ages of 18 and 35. This means that creatine's safety and effectiveness in women and older individuals is not as well established.
Some sources recommend taking creatine to treat symptoms of serious illnesses, such as the muscle weakness associated with congestive heart failure. Others contend it can benefit people suffering from neuromuscular disorders, such as muscular dystrophy, stroke, and the hardening of the arteries that feed the heart. There is ongoing research--but still limited evidence--for these uses.
The strongest evidence for taking creatine supplements is to fuel and enhance short bursts of high-energy exercise.
Specifically, creatine supplements may help to:
Enhance athletic performance involving brief bursts of explosive, high-energy activity. The extra energy creatine produces lasts only a few seconds because the body rapidly exhausts its supply of ATP. For this reason, creatine supplements primarily benefit athletes who perform quick spurts of intense activity followed by short periods (20 to 50 seconds) of rest. Creatine significantly enhances the ability to generate higher muscular force (and power) for these critical energy bursts.
Creatine has been shown to improve performance in high-output sports, such as sprinting, swimming, jumping, weight lifting, and short-term cycling. However, once saturated with creatine, the muscles can't absorb any more, and the excess creatine then gets excreted in the urine. For these and other reasons, creatine supplements don't benefit endurance sports.
Special note on strength training: Many body-builders hope to develop bigger muscles by taking creatine supplements. And while creatine does indeed provide enhanced power for weight lifting, most people end up disappointed over the long run. Here's what generally happens: After taking creatine for a few days, urine production plummets and the body starts retaining fluids. The amount of creatine in muscles does increase, but the muscles become larger only temporarily because they're full of water. In contrast, true strength training, such as weight lifting, which involves physical stress on the muscles, actually increases the mass of the muscles by stimulating the growth of muscle cells.
Treat muscle aches and pains, and various sports injuries. Creatine supplements may reduce muscle fatigue and soreness by helping to repair tiny tears in muscle tissue following especially strenuous activity. Creatine appears to help build and repair muscle, but indirectly--by being readily available to make the task of generating muscle protein faster and easier. Some studies have shown that the microscopic muscle tears that occur during sports injuries heal more quickly in the presence of added creatine.
Special tips:
--Although you may see different types of creatine on the shelves of health-food stores (including creatine citrate and creatine phosphate), try to buy creatine monohydrate; it's the form used in most of the clinical studies done on creatine.
--Stick to recommended dosages. The body can only absorb and use a limited amount of supplemental creatine; taking excess amounts is therefore pointless, expensive, and even potentially unhealthy for the liver and kidneys, since they will try to process this compound. A point to remember: Extra creatine never reaches the muscles; instead, it is simply excreted in urine.
--One teaspoon of creatine monohydrate is equivalent to 5 grams.
For enhanced exercise performance: Start with 2 to 4 teaspoons of creatine monohydrate daily for 5 days, then reduce the daily dose to 1 teaspoon (5 grams). There is likely no benefit to taking 20 grams or more of creatine a day beyond 5 to 7 days.
For muscle aches and pains and sports injuries: Take 1 teaspoon (5 grams) of creatine monohydrate powder twice a day (mixed with juice) until the soreness resolves.
Opt for pure creatine products. Products that combine creatine with other compounds (caffeine, vitamins, minerals, taurine, herbal extracts, and so on) do not appear to provide any added benefit. There is even evidence that the caffeine in coffee, sodas, and other products may make creatine less effective, so try to avoid combining different substances.
Don't overdo it. The body retains most of the creatine taken in supplement form within the first few days. With continued daily consumption, however, 90% or more of the added creatine is excreted because the muscles have absorbed all that they can from the blood.
Stay hydrated. Because creatine may have a mildly dehydrating effect in some people, drink plenty of water when taking it.
There are no known drug or nutrient interactions associated with creatine.
No serious side effects have been reported with creatine supplements. However, a lack of adverse effects does not mean that this compound is necessarily safe. In particular, it remains unclear what negative health effects creatine supplementation may have when taken over months or years, particularly by adolescents whose bodies are still growing and changing.
Various sports associations warn that there have been individual reports of side effects related to creatine use; these include some cases of brief but acute dehydration, stomach and muscle cramps, and diarrhea. Although these reports are anecdotal (i.e., not substantiated by well-designed research studies), regular creatine users should be aware of such possible problems.
Another common side effect, especially at higher than commonly recommended doses, is water retention. Many users mistake this retention for true, long-lasting muscular weight gain.
More is not better when it comes to taking creatine supplements. In fact, just because a little creatine can sometimes boost performance, it's potentially hazardous to the health to take very high doses of creatine for a prolonged period of time. Experts caution that extended high doses can lead to kidney and liver problems.
Don't take high doses of creatine immediately before or during exercise; anecdotal cases of nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea have been reported.
Avoid taking creatine when exercising outdoors in the heat. When entering the muscles, creatine draws water from the blood as well, which could cause dehydration, heat exhaustion, muscle cramps, and other problems. (Instead, be sure to drink plenty of water and electrolyte-enhanced fluids to replace what the body loses under such circumstances.)
Long-term use of high doses of creatine could potentially damage the kidneys. Don't take creatine if your kidney function is impaired.
Avoid taking high doses of creatine with nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications (NSAIDs like aspirin or ibuprofen) because doing so may put added stress on the kidneys.
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Ailments
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Dosage
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| Muscle Aches and Pains |
1 tsp. (5 grams) creatine monohydrate powder twice a day mixed with juice until soreness resolves
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| Sports Injuries |
1 tsp. creatine powder mixed into juice, twice a day.
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