Creatine Information
and Research
Whether you're an accomplished athlete or
you've just started an exercise program, you
need to know about creatine. Many
supplements touted over the years as
performance enhancers have come and gone,
but creatine is here to stay. I predict that
it will be one of the most popular
muscle-building nutrients ever made
available to you. Why? Because it works.
Yes, it really works to increase muscle
mass.
Note: Over the past two months I have had
reports from three individuals (or family
members) who have noted increased
aggressiveness and irritability from
creatine. A study published in the Nov 29
issue of JAMA reports that some creatine
products may have been contaminated with
small amounts of androstenedione or other
anabolic steriods. Could this account for
the irritability and aggressiveness? I don't
know for sure at this time.
Q. What is Creatine?
A. When we told our friends that we were
writing a book on creatine, some of them had
quizzical responses. You're writing on
creating? Creating what? Is it an herb?
Creatine is not an herb, mineral, vitamin,
hormone, or steroid. Creatine is a natural
nutrient found in our bodies and the bodies
of most animals. Approximately 95% of the
body's creatine supply is found in the
skeletal muscles. The remaining 5% is
scattered throughout the rest of the body,
with the highest concentrations in the
heart, brain and testes.
The human body gets most of the creatine it
needs from food or dietary supplements.
Creatine is easily absorbed from the
intestinal tract into the bloodstream. When
dietary consumption is inadequate to meet
the body's needs, a limited supply can be
synthesized from the amino acids arginine,
glycine and methionine. This creatine
production occurs in the liver, pancreas and
kidneys.
Q. How Does Creatine Work?
A. Creatine is an essential player in the
primary energy source used for muscle
contraction. It exists in two different
forms within the muscle fiber: as free
(chemically-unbound) creatine and as
creatine phosphate. This later form of
creatine makes up two-thirds of the total
creatine supply. When your muscles contract,
the initial fuel for this movement is a
compound called ATP. ATP provides its energy
by releasing one of its phosphate molecules.
It then becomes a different compound called
ADP. Unfortunately, there is only enough ATP
to provide energy for about 10 seconds, so
for muscle contraction to continue, more ATP
must be produced. Creatine phosphate comes
to the rescue by giving up its phosphate
molecule to ADP, recreating ATP. This ATP
can then be burned again as fuel for more
muscle contraction.
The bottom line is that your ability to
regenerate ATP depends on your supply of
creatine. More creatine, more ATP remade,
and more ability to train your muscles to
their maximum potential. It's that simple.
This greater ATP synthesis also keeps your
body from relying on another energy system
called glycolysis, which has lactic acid as
a byproduct. This lactic acid creates the
burning sensation you feel during intense
exercise. If the amount of acid becomes too
great, muscle movement stops. But if you
keep on using ATP because of all the
creatine you have, you can minimize the
amount of lactic acid produced and actually
exercise longer and harder. This helps you
gain strength, power and muscle size; and
you won't get fatigued as easily.
Creatine has also been shown to enhance your
body's ability to make proteins, especially
the proteins within the muscle fibers. Two
of these proteins, actin and myosin, are
essential to all muscle contraction. So when
you build up your supply of these
contractile proteins, you actually increase
your muscle's ability to perform physical
work. And the more work you do (whether it's
lifting weights or running 100-meter
dashes), the stronger you become over time.
Creatine can also absorb intracellular
water, thus resulting in a higher muscle
volume. This could lead to the "pumped up"
feeling and look. An additional way creatine
increases muscle size is thought to be its
fluid retention abilities within muscle
tissue.
Q. Who Can Benefit From Creatine?
A. Although the research on creatine and
exercise performance is relatively new, so
far it appears that the greatest benefits
occur in those who wish to put on muscle
mass. Athletes in bodybuilding, powerlifting,
martial arts, and track and field events
such as javelin and shot-put may benefit due
to greater strength. So could wrestlers and
football players. We doubt that creatine
will be of any benefit for people who
comfortably cruise on a cart around the golf
course and occasionally get up to putt.
Other sports where creatine is not likely to
be of any significant benefit include skeet
shooting, and certainly billiards. Body
builders and anyone who wishes to have more
muscle build will find creatine extremely
helpful.
It is still unclear whether athletes
involved in endurance activities such as
marathon running or long-distance bicycling
will benefit from creatine supplementation.
There have been anecdotal reports that
people in these sports may benefit (Stroud,
1994), although other studies show that
creatine either does not help or may
actually hurt. The difficulty in these
situations appears to center on the
increased muscle mass which creatine
provides. While that's great if you're a
bodybuilder or wrestler, it can be a
detriment if you have to carry all that
weight around during a marathon or
triathlon. It becomes a tradeoff between the
increased strength you get from creatine and
the increased muscle mass. Further research
will provide us with more definitive answers
as to what role creatine supplementation can
play in endurance-type sports.
Written by
Ray
Sahelian
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