Creatine [Forum Archive]

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Whether it is being able to train harder and longer or just down right out perform their opponent, athletes are always looking for a way to gain a competitive edge. For this reason, many athletes have turned to the use of nutrition supplements with the promise that they will help to increase their athletic ability and enhance their training and recovery in a way that helps them take their game to the next level.

Creatine has become a very popular supplement in the athletic world, with as many as 90% of supplement users using creatine as their main supplement, at the high school level [1]. The popularity of this supplement has lead to many questions such as “does it work”, “is it safe” and “is it legal”.

Creatine is a legal supplement, which appears to be safe to use [2]. Creatine is a naturally occurring amino acid stored in skeletal muscle as phosphocreatine [2]. Supplementation with creatine is believed to illicit increases in lean body mass as well as force output during short duration, high intensity events. While creatine is currently sold in a number forms (ie creatine ethyl ester, creatine malate, effervescent creatine, etc.), research has only be done on creatine monohydrate. Despite anecdotal claims to the benefits in absorption and utilization of these other forms of creatine, without proper research, it is not recommended that the athlete use anything other than creatine monohydrate. Poortmans and Francaux concluded that long-term creatine usage was not detrimental to kidney function in healthy adults [6].

There have been significant amounts of research showing the benefits of creatine monohydrate. While some studies are not consistent with these beneficial findings, the good appear to outweigh the bad. Stone et al, examined the use of creatine and pyruvate on anaerobic performance and body composition in football players. The creatine and the creatine plus pyruvate group significantly enhanced lean body mass. In addition, the creatine monohydrate group showed significant improvements in static vertical jump height and rate of force development [3]. This study contrasted the study of Wilder et al, who concluded that during a 10-week periodized training program, the creatine group did not show significant improvements in strength, body composition or anaerobic power [4]. Similar to Stone’s findings, Bemben et al, found increases in squat, bench press, power output and body composition in the creatine group when compared to a placebo group during a 9-week training program [5]. Besides the benefits in performance enhancement and body composition, creatine has also shown to be beneficial in preventing cramping and incidence of injury in a 2003 study conducted by Greenwood et al [7]. Another benefit of creatine supplementation that has recently surfaced is its positive effect on satellite cell proliferation and enhanced muscle fiber growth [8]. These findings suggest that creatine may have more effects on lean tissue growth beyond the previous hypothesis that the increase in lean body mass is nothing more than water weight gained due to supplementation. Stepping out of the sports performance realm, a more recent paper investigated the potential benefits creatine supplementation may have on those with Parkinson disease. The researchers at in the Department of Biobehavioral Sciences at Columbia University concluded that creatine enhances the benefits of resistance training in those with Parkinson disease [9]. These findings also positively suggest that the beneficial effects of creatine are not fully understood or investigated.

Despite what many believe, creatine appears to be safe and offers a variety of benefits ranging from increases in muscle mass and lean tissue to increases in max strength and anaerobic power. These benefits and the fact that creatine is legal to purchase and consume have led athletes at all levels to turn to the supplement to help augment their training, recovery and sports performance. While a significant amount about how creatine works is understood, there appears to be more benefits that have yet to be uncovered. Be on the look out for future research on more beneficial properties that this amino acid may offer with regard to sports performance and potentially overall health.

1) Swirzinski L, Latin RW, Berg K, Grandjean A. A Survey of Sport Nutrition Supplements in High School Football Players. J Strength Cond Res. 2000; 14(4): 464-469.

2) Beduschi, G, Current Popular Ergogenic Aids used is Sports: A critical Review, Nutr Diet, 2003; 60:104-18.

3) Stone MH, Sanborn K, Smith LL, O'Bryant HS, Hoke T, Utter AC, Johnson RL, Boros R, Hruby J, Pierce KC, Stone ME, Garner B. Effects of in-season (5 weeks) creatine and pyruvate supplementation on anaerobic performance and body composition in American football players. Int J Sport Nutr. 1999; 9(2):146-65.

4) Wilder N, Gilders R, Hagerman F, Deivert RG. The effects of a 10-week, periodized off-season resistance-training program and creatine supplementation among collegiate football players. J Strength Cond Res. 2002;16(3):343-52.

5) Bemben MG, Bemben, DA, Loftiss DD, Knehans AW. Creatine supplementation during resistance training in college football athletes. Med. Sci. Sports Exerc. 2001; 33(10):1667-1673.

6) Poortmans J, Francaux M, Long-term oral creatine supplementation does not impair renal function in healthy athletes, Med. Sci. Sports Exerc. 1999; 31(8):1108-1110.

7) Greenwood M, Kreider RB, Greenwood L, Byars A. Cramping and Injury Incidence in Collegiate Football Players Are Reduced by Creatine Supplementation. J Athl Train. 2003; 38(3):216-219.
8) Olsen S, Aagaard P, Kadi F, Tufekovic G, Verney J, Olesen JL, Suetta C, Kjaer M., Creatine supplementation augments the increase in satellite cell and myonuclei number in human skeletal muscle induced by strength training., J Physiol. 2006;573(Pt 2):525-34.
9) Hass CJ, Collins MA, Juncos JL, Resistance training with creatine monohydrate improves upper-body strength in patients with Parkinson disease: a randomized trial, Neurorehabil Neural Repair. 2007;21(2):107-15.