Within the past five years creatine has emerged as
the top selling nutritional supplement in the world,
Creatine sales totaled over 400 million dollars in
last year alone! There is a good reason for this
increase in creatine sales: it is safe and it works!
There are a great number of studies touting it's
effectiveness and its safety, however, over the past
few years some people have questioned creatine's
safety with opinions that are not verified by science.
This has led to a large-scale spread of
misinformation among the public about creatine. Some
people have claimed that creatine causes multiple
problems from muscle cramps and dehydration to kidney
failure. Due to this misinformation many coaches and
schools have forbidden creatine usage and teams like
the Tampa Bay Buccaneers do not even allow it in the
locker room. The NCAA has recently banned the
distribution of creatine by colleges to its players
and is even considering banning the use of creatine.
The time has come to stop this spread of
misinformation about creatine so people can make
intelligent decisions about creatine supplementation,
based on scientific evidence, not opinion.
What Is Creatine?
Creatine is a combination of three different amino
acids, glycine, arginine, and methionine. It is
produced by the liver and can be found in foods such
as meat and fish, usually at a concentration of four
grams per kilogram of meat. Most people ingest about
one gram of creatine per day and the body makes about
one gram of creatine per day.
When creatine is taken in the form of a supplement it has
several benefits for hard training athletes. After
creatine is ingested it bonds with a phosphate group
to form creatine phosphate. CP (creatine phosphate)
can then donate a phosphate molecule to ADP (adenosine
tri-phosphate) to form ATP (adenosine tri-phosphate).
ATP is the energy currency of the cell and is used to
drive almost all cellular functions and is a crucial
molecule in muscular contraction. Supplementing with
creatine increases the body's ATP production thus
enhancing performance and decreasing fatigue in
intense, short duration activities such as
weightlifting and sprinting (NCAA).
Another benefit of creatine to athletes is its
ability to hydrate muscle cells. Creatine pulls fluid
from outside the muscle cell into the cell. This
increase in water retention by the cell also causes
more ions such as Nitrogen to be pulled into the cell,
which increases muscle protein synthesis. This
increase in muscle protein synthesis allows athletes
to recover from exercise faster and in turn grow more
muscle(5). One can easily see the obvious benefit of
creatine supplementation to athletes who engage in
high intensity sports that require quick bursts of
energy or athletes that merely want to improve their
strength and speed.
Long Term Side Effects?
Opponents of creatine supplementation cite several
reasons for not using creatine. The NCAA recently
banned the distribution of creatine by college's to
their athletes "because of the lack of long-term
studies on possible side effects (6)." They claim
that since creatine is a relatively new supplement
there is no way to tell whether or not it has any
long-term side effects. This statement is misleading
as it is only recently that creatine has become
popular, however creatine itself has been around for
quite some time. Steven Scott Plisk, director of
sports conditioning at Yale University says, "it has
been used in the United Kingdom since the early 1980's
without any problems... if creatine caused long-term
side effects, there would be indicators in the shorter
studies. With anabolic steroids, you see some signs
in the short term that warn you about what's coming in
the long term, and you don"t see any of that with
creatine (7)." There have been several studies
conducted on creatine supplementation, which concluded
that long term creatine use has no side effects (8 and
9).
Cramping And Dehydration?
Some coaches claim that creatine has caused
dehydration and muscle cramps among their athletes.
Ross Bailey, head athletic trainer at Texas Christian
University believes that creatine is the cause of
frequent cramping and pulled hamstrings among athletes
at Texas Christian. "We have no scientific evidence,
but the use of creatine is the only thing that has
changed" says Bailey(4). There is no scientific
evidence to support his claims as he states, there are
only anecdotal reports. The cause of muscle cramps
and dehydration are both due to inadequate water
consumption, not creatine supplementation. There is
scientific evidence to verify that creatine does not
cause dehydration or muscle cramps among college
athletes.
Two similar studies on creatine's effects
were conducted upon college athletes by the American
Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation
and Dance (AAHPERD) which demonstrated creatine
safety. One study looked at the side effects
associated with creatine supplementation on Division
I-A football players during 3-a-day practices. The
other study was almost exactly the same, the only
difference being that Division I-A baseball players
were studied during the fall collegiate baseball.
Both studies concluded that there were "no perceived
side-effects or health-status problems associated with
creatine supplementation" in the athletes during the
time period in which they were examined(2 and 3).
Opponents of creatine supplementation sometimes try to
discredit studies such as these by stating that they
are only looking at a short period of time and cannot
determine how creatine supplementation affects
dehydration and muscle cramping in athletes over a
long period of time. Once again, there is scientific
evidence to counter their argument. A recent study
examined the relationship between adverse health
effects and long-term creatine supplementation in
athletes. The researchers concluded that there "were
no differences in incidences of cramps, muscle injury,
or side effects between athletes and controls (9)."
Kidney Problems?
Opponents of creatine supplementation also like to
state that creatine is hard on the kidneys and can
cause kidney damage with long term use. Once again,
there is no scientific evidence to back up their
claims. There is scientific evidence to refute these
claims however. A new study examined whether or not
oral creatine supplementation affected the kidneys of
athletes over short-, medium-, and long-term periods
of supplementation. The researchers concluded that
"no detrimental effects on athletes' kidney functions
from short-, medium-, or long-term use of this
supplement (8)." Jeff Volek, a doctoral student at
the Center for Sports Medicine at Pennsylvania State
University recently completed a study that found no
negative side effects to creatine use states, "because
it is a naturally occurring compound, side effects are
not as likely... and it has been proven to be readily
handled by the kidneys(4)".
Unfair Competitive Advantage?
Still opponents of creatine find other ways to
discredit it. Some opponents claim that creatine may
give athletes an unfair advantage. Once again this is
a ludicrous claim. Creatine is available to anyone
and is very affordable (a 250-day supply can be found
for as little as $19.99 on Bodybuilding.com). Using the same notion that creatine may
provide an unfair advantage to athletes using it one
would have to consider whether vitamins provide an
unfair advantage to athletes who use them. Should
athletes thus be discouraged from supplementing with
vitamins? Obviously not. Creatine should not be
treated differently. Unfortunately, it is because
of ludicrous claims such as these that the NCAA has
banned the distribution of creatine stating that there
are a number of schools that have more money than
others and can provide items that others can't (6).
Once again if one follows this idea that some colleges
have more money and may be able to provide it's
athletes with creatine where other schools cannot,
should the NCAA then ban or limit the spending the
quality of training equipment (among other things)
that schools are allowed to buy? Following the NCAA's
logic superior training equipment may be an unfair
advantage to schools with more money, but do they ban
or limit the amount or quality of training equipment a
school can buy? Of course not, creatine however seems
to be treated differently because of the
misconceptions that surround it.
Conclusion
Over the past few years creatine has emerged as an
effective and safe supplement that benefits athletes
who are looking to increase strength, size, and power.
It's safety and effectiveness has been supported in
numerous peer-reviewed studies and many experts in the
field of sports nutrition. How unfortunate it is that
unfounded statements regarding creatine's safety by
people looking to stir up controversy has caused the
spread of misinformation throughout the country and
has even led the NCAA to ban the distribution of
creatine. Hopefully, in the years to come this wave
of misinformation will be replaced by scientific
reasoning and allow people to make educated decisions
regarding creatine.
More Info And Top Creatine Products
For more information on creatine see my other article
on creatine supplementation... Click Here.
References
1. Sahelian, Ray. Creatine--just the FAQs ma'am.
Better Nutrition. May 2000 v62 i5 p26
2. Kreider et. al. Perceived Fatigue Associated With
Creatine Supplementation During the Fall Collegiate
Baseball Series of Division I Players. Journal of
Athletic Training. April-June 2001 v31 i2 pS 83.
3. Greenwood et. al. Perceived Health Status and
Side-Effects Associated With Creatine Supplemenation
of Division I-A Football Players During 3-a-Day
Training. Research Quarterly for Exercise and
Sport. March 2001 v72 i1 pA-29.
4. Huggins, Sally. Energy Supplement Stirs up
Debate. The NCAA News. October 28, 1996.
http://www.ncaa.org/news/1996/961028/active/3338n02.html
5. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise (New
in Review). Journal of American Dietetic
Association. May 2002 v102 i5 p740(2)
6. NCAA Clamps Down on Supplements (New NCAA rule
disallowing creatine distribution draws criticism).
Momentum Media. August/ September 2000.
http://www.momentummedia.com/articles/am/am1205/bbsupplements.htm
7. Hawes, Kay. Creatine Boom Creates Administrative
Challenges. The NCAA News. September 14, 1998.
http://www.ncaa.org/news/1998/19980914/active/3532n03.html
8. Poortmans, Jacques R. and Marc Francaux.
Long-term Oral Creatine Supplementation Does not
Impair Renal Function in Healthy Athletes. Medicine
and Science in Sports and Exercise 31 (1999):
1108-1111.
9. Schilling, Brian K., et al. Creatine
Supplementation and Health Variables: a Retrospective
Study. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise
33 (2001): 183-186
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