What Does Creatine Actually Do?

[T-Man]

Alot of times people just explain what creatine does, like increase strength, or helps build muscle. However, can someone explain to me how and what creatine does inside the body to produce its results?

Thanks,

Josh

 

[crazy_enough]

c'mon man...Dont be lazy...Do a search on the forum, creatine issues have been addressed 1000's of times...Otherwise, google it!

 

[Tanked]

www.creatinefacts.com

 

[soxmuscle]

I thought this was pretty interesting.

In my opinion creatine use has four possible avenues that might ultimately lead to adverse consequences. Firstly, abnormally high levels of creatine in the body have been shown to halt the absorption of creatine by skeletal muscle. This is a classic example of biological feedback. The production of creatine in the liver is also subject to this same negative feedback mechanism. That is, creatine production is interrupted when creatine availability is high. These physiological responses, after all, make sense since the body should not have to waste energy storing or producing creatine if it is already present at high levels. It is thus feasible that exposing the body to unnecessarily high levels of creatine might shut off creatine absorption and synthesis for longer than actually necessary. The second avenue of side effects is that creatine causes our muscles to retain water making them swell. This is a process known as muscle volumizing. Certain types of athlete, such as bodybuilders, might find this effect desirable because of the pump that ensues. Other athletes, on the other hand, may find the increase in body mass a detriment to their performance. It is easy to imagine how a few extra kilos might compromise one's performance in the marathon. Closer consideration, however, reveals that muscle volumizing might equally lead to dehydration and muscle cramping if not compensated for by adequate fluid intake. The third potential problem (alluded to earlier in this article) is the extraordinary stress creatine use might place on the kidneys, especially during the loading phase. During the loading phase the kidneys have to work extra hard to remove any unabsorbed creatine from the blood stream. Therefore, I highly recommend that you not extend the loading phase for more than five days and that persons predisposed to renal complications, such as diabetics, abstain from using creatine. Fortunately, scientific studies have preliminarily indicated that short- and moderate-term creatine use is well tolerated by persons with normal creatine function (5). A final potential problem is that creatine is not regulated by the FDA taking a lot of the responsibility away from creatine manufacturers. This in combination with the fact that creatine is a multi-million dollar industry is a formula for abuse. Fierce market competition has caused creatine manufacturers to relax quality control measures in order to keep production cost low and to remain competitive. On the up side, this has caused a huge drop in the price of commercial creatine monohydrate. On the downside, certain contaminants that might possess adverse properties could be escaping detection. This is particularly true for cheaper brands of creatine and is especially worrisome during the loading phase when grams of contaminants could potentially be consumed weekly.

I didnt think it put an extraordinary amount of pressure on your kidneys. Is this article a respectable piece?

 

[soxmuscle]

Forgot to mention also that it says it stunts growth earlier on on that website. That can't be right... can it?

 

[Brolly]

Of course it fucks ur kidneys... think about the filtering ur body has to go through to deal with how ur shocking it

 

[brogers]

From the first line in your article:

In my opinion

Does that answer your question?

 

[Seanp156]

Another one I found as I too was curious: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/dimaggio2.htm

 

[gococksDJS]

Of course it fucks ur kidneys... think about the filtering ur body has to go through to deal with how ur shocking it

Do you take 300 grams a day or something? If you take a normal does, like 5 grams a day, it doesn't fuck your kidneys.

 

[Seanp156]

Providing you drink enough water, that is.

 

[Brolly]

I take creatine 4 times a day since im still in my 5 day loading phase.. i take it 6a.m , 11a.m, 3p.m, and then post WO.... i use celltech and its retarded the amount per serving.. its like 10g creatine ... ill just end up pissing a lot of that out.. also has enormous dextrose so i take half of that for one of my four doses... so i take 5gcreatine x4 =20g daily on my loading phase