Let's talk about Creatine : PART 2

PercivalHackworth

Let's talk about Creatine : PART2

I presented here how creatine works :
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/611349-let-s-talk-about-creatine

I'll present in that part several ideas that exist around that supplement, most of them being false.
I'il first present the side-effects of the creatine that could occur.

Good news is, Creatine doesn't really have side-effects, as you may find out on the Internet, for healthy people.
# Dehydration
Contrary to what you may hear, creatine doesn't dehydrate you. Several isolated cases has been reported, bur for most of us, not any dehydration state would be caused by creatine :

Conclusions: Short-term CrM supplementation did not increase the incidence of symptoms or compromise hydration status or thermoregulation in dehydrated, trained men exercising in the heat.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1421496/


# Kidney damage
Other rumours exists about the potential damage to the kidneys creation-mono could make on the kidney and/or liver
This is also a false statement

Therefore, it appears that oral supplementation with CrM has no long-term detrimental effects on kidney or liver functions in highly trained college athletes in the absence of other nutritional supplements.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12500988

Some people have reported cramps (without any direct relation with hydration), headaches, digestive pain, and enven arterial presure increase for some people; but again, these remain isolated cases.

One possible explanation is creatine is a very hydrophilic molecule, which carries a lot of water. Such could lead to imbalances to electrolytes. Keep in mind creatine doesn't dehydrate, while the lack of water does.

# People who shouldn't take creatine.
People being on the following treatment shouldn't take creatine :

- Ciclosporin (Immunosuppressant drug)
- Trimethoprim (Tretrahydrofolic acid)
- Cimetidine (Gastric secretion inhibitor)
- Amikacin (Used for treating several infections)
- Gentamicin (Antibiotic)
- Tobramycin (Same as above)
- Probenecid (Uric acid secretion enhancer)

Also :
- Pregnant women (Still ongoing researches)
- Bipolar people (Maniac episodes possible)


Myths around Creatine

#1- Creatine works instantly
You need at least one week of supplementation in order to see the difference, but target around three weeks. In order to have all the benefits, target one month

#2- My creatine rocks way more than the monohydrate one
The only creatine that showed most of the positive effects we talked about remain the creatine monohydrate. Though that last could be more of less purified. The wastes made by the creatine synthesis could be toxic. In order to make sure you buy a good product, look for the "creapure" label.

#2- Creatine ethyl is the best one
Some studies showed that creatine ethyl/ ester wasn't stable into an acidic environemnt and into the stomac. Not to mention an higher degradation rate to creatinine, a useless waste for the body (phosphate degradation). Also other researches showed it was less efficient that the monohydrate creatine.

#3- Creatine is a doping product
Creatine has the same status as the vitamine C...

#4- Creatine is dangerous for the kidneys
By having a creatine supplementation, you simply higher the production of creatinine, but that increase is not in any way related to any kidney function. In some rare cases, it is possible that the mix between the product and some medics could lead to side-effects (see above) (only two cases have been observed since studies on creatine are going)

#5- Creatine doesn't work on me :-(
Some people are less sensible to creatine supplementation, and again, women less than men, as starters compared to regular trainers. Morphotype could also lead in differences on the assimilation of the creatine supplementation.
Make sure to include it into your feeding protocol during a month minimum.

#6- Vegetarians need more creatine
Yup :-)

Since meat is the primary dietary source for creatine, the examination of vegetarians may provide a unique aspect to creatine metabolism research. Watt et al. examined how five days of creatine supplementation affects vegetarians versus omnivores in regards to total creatine content and CreaT expression [20]. Results indicated that vegetarians had a lower initial total creatine concentration, and during supplementation, both groups significantly increased total creatine levels. However, vegetarians' total creatine content increased to a greater extent. Therefore, during a creatine loading protocol, vegetarians appear to possess a greater ability to take up creatine when compared to their omnivorous counterparts.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2129152/
Vegetarian people have their creatine level decreased compared to us, meat eaters. It could be interesting in such case to have creatine as a supplement.

#7- No need to take creatine when I cut
As we saw on the first part of the post, creatine synthesis is not a priority for the body, thus a deficit lowers the levels of creatine. For both gain and cut periods, creatine supplementation remains interesting.

#8- I only need to take my creatine one time per day
No, not really, the more creatine is assimilated, the more it would be efficient. A unique massive does prevents its total assimilation, because creatine lasts around 3 hours into the body. In the end, most the the intake ends in the urine.

#9- How much ?
The more you take creatine, the less body body produces it. First the production slows down, then it ceases. From 3g to 5g per day is enough.

#10- Creatine supplementation requires a cycle based on load then a maintenance
Nope, not really

#11- Creatine is not well-absorbed by humans
Latest studies show that Creatine have an average rate of absorption up to 100%
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11811571

#12- Coffee or Caffeine shouldn't be taken with Creatine
That idea was born in 1996, in Belgium. Scientists simply showed up two things =
a- Caffeine supplementation along creatine supplementation wasn't more efficient than creatine supplemention

b- Caffeine and Creatine were though antagonists against muscular relaxation. Both caffeine and Creatine act on the calcium pump, which regulates the contraction, but the effects only occur a couple of weeks after the creatine intakes ; you can then safely drink your coffee

Elizabeth_C34

Bookmarking again so I can read up later when I have a little time.

Thank you for taking the time to post this information. It's very helpful!

Cr357

great info

mmapags

Raz, a question about age. Is there benefit to Creatine for someone late 50s or early 60's like, say, me . Is there some dimished benefit above a certain age?

PercivalHackworth

Raz, a question about age. Is there benefit to Creatine for someone late 50s or early 60's like, say, me . Is there some dimished benefit above a certain age?

Hey I was totally wrong when I was saying above a certain age you lose the benefits of the supplement, sorry.
In fact for both young and seniors, Creatine DOES help to increase performance due to an increased of that last for the two categories :-)

Conclusions
Though there is a higher loss of muscle mass and strength with age, small amounts of creatine added to the diet are beneficial to older men, as it is in younger men. In fact, the improvement is markedly more in the older men. Muscle mass and lean tissue mass improve further when creatine is taken in combination with a protein supplement. Creatine consumption in small amounts, only on training days, brings down the production of harmful byproducts like formaldehyde to safe levels. Creatine also reduces catabolism or breakdown of muscle protein and bone tissue. In older men as in younger men, creatine helps preserve muscle health.

Read more at FYI Living: http://www.fyiliving.com/research/creatine-with-protein-helps-strength-training-for-older-men/#ixzz1wEzdFcZq

http://www.fyiliving.com/research/creatine-with-protein-helps-strength-training-for-older-men/

So yes bruv, better to have it, it'll help to continue muscle synthesis along time.
Make sure you have it for an enough time.

The only recommendation I could provide is the following :
As we saw, supplementation could cease creatine production, if the supplement helps you to break PR, you would make sure not to try to lift the same weight the day you don't have it. Simply because we don't really know it the produced levels are the same as the supplement brings, meaning you could hurt yourself :-)

mmapags

When you say supplementation causes you to cease producing it, is that permanent or upon ceasing supplementation does the body begin to produce it again after a period?

PercivalHackworth

When you say supplementation causes you to cease producing it, is that permanent or upon ceasing supplementation does the body begin to produce it again after a period?

The body produces it back when you cease the supplementation :-)

VMarkV

Creatine and caffeine are thought to be contraindicated because caffeine supposedly dehydrates people. However, caffeine is a very, very weak diuretic when compared to an actual prescription diuretic. Again, nothing to be concerned about if you drink enough water.

mmapags

When you say supplementation causes you to cease producing it, is that permanent or upon ceasing supplementation does the body begin to produce it again after a period?

The body produces it back when you cease the supplementation :-)

Thanks man! I'm gonna get some with my next supp order. This should help now that I'm at about the 30th workout with SL 5x5 the weights are heavier and my recovery is longer. So I'm sometimes only getting in 2 strength trainings per week. Sounds like this would help with that and enable better recovery and getting in on more strength session.

PercivalHackworth

When you say supplementation causes you to cease producing it, is that permanent or upon ceasing supplementation does the body begin to produce it again after a period?

The body produces it back when you cease the supplementation :-)

Thanks man! I'm gonna get some with my next supp order. This should help now that I'm at about the 30th workout with SL 5x5 the weights are heavier and my recovery is longer. So I'm sometimes only getting in 2 strength trainings per week. Sounds like this would help with that and enable better recovery and getting in on more strength session.

Yes totally :-)

Don't forget the good diet first. I've noticed for lunch (I train 5 hours after) if I eat less than 100g of carbs, my session are pretty lame, I feel empty and tired (I don't eat anything meanwhile)

(just a note)
An interesting work to have with that supplement is being able to measure how much you perform with/ without it. That would allow you to prevent injuries and make you "predict" the recovery times after

funkycamper

Interesting. Bump.