Creatine

Creatine Corner: Muscle & Fitness, December 1998

• Creatines Saftey has been on the minds of many athelets, coaches, parents and researchers after three college wrestlers who died were have said to be taking this natural supplement. A lengthy presentation and media session with top researchers in the feild left us with the understanding that no mechanism exists by which creatine supplementation could have caused these deaths.
• Creatines loading effects last for up to four weeks. If you ingest 0.35 grams of creatine for each 2.2 pounds of lean body mass and then stop taking the supplement, you won't lose any of its benifits for about a month. Talk about saving a coin.....
• Take creatine anyway you can get it. When comparing a powdered form and a gelled candy form of creatine, equal gains in lean body mass and strength were observed.
• Creatine monohydrate and phosphate enhance performance. When men with at least two years of weight training experience loaded (5 grams four times per day for three days) and then used a maintenance dose of 5 grams twice a day for six weeks, they incresed their one-rep max in the bench press (by approximately 10 pounds) and their lean body mass (by about 6 pounds) significantly more than the control group.
• Creatine nonresponders are more common than you think. Some studies find no positive effects of creatine use, and if you look closely at the data from the studies that find positive effects, you'll find that many subjects don't get anything from this supplement. The exact reasons for this are not clear.

Baby Boomers Making Gains with Creatine: Muscle Media, November 1998

As we grow older, everything seems to slow down - including metabolism, speed of movementm and the ability to recover adapted. Others have fought this tooth and nail with diet, exercise, and supplements. This latter group has probably figured things out on their own. The rest of us may need a research study to show the way.
Research has shown aging is associated with a decline in muscle phosphocreatine levels. This decline is more than likely due to the age-related decline in the size and number of Type II muscle fibers. Type II fibers are the fast-twitch fibers, which store most of the creatine. Because of the decline in muscle-creatine levels, strength, stamina, and recovery time may be compromised.
To determine whether creatine supplementation may affect this age-associated decline in muscle creatine levels, researchers compared a group of test subjects whose average was 31 to a group of older individuals (average age age:58). All the participants were healthy with similar levels of physical activity and dietary habits. The researchers made sure all the subjects ate meat at least five times a week. This was to eliminate the possiblity that diet was the cause of the lower phosphocreatine levels in the more mature group.
Participants performed three bouts of leg-extention exercises seven days apart. The first two bouts lasted two minutes each, and a third bout continued until exhaustion; all bouts were separated by three minutes of recovery. To make sure there was no placebo effect, the subjects were told they would randomly participate in two trials. However, all the placebo trials were conducted first because creatine may take some time to clear the body. Participants consumed a placebo for seven days prior to the first trial. After the first trial, subjects consumed 0.14 grams of creatine per pound of bodyweight. For a 180-pound person, this would be about 25 grams of creatine per day. During the placebo trial, the middle-aged group had a lower resting level of phosphocreatine and wasn't able to resynthesize posphocreatine after exhaustion as fast as the younger group. After creatine supplementation, resting phosphocreatine increased 15% in the younger group and 30% in the middle-aged group. Due to creatine supplementation, the middle-aged group also increased their ability to resynthesize phosphocreatine by about 30%. Furthermore, both groups increased time to exhaustion during exercise by 30%.
The results of this study indicate creatine supplementation may increase muscle endurance capacity, and delay fatigue. Further, these changes may be much greater (perhaps even double!) for older individuals compared to younger folks.

Creatine Links and Articles

What is Creatine....from Bill Phillips Sports Supplement Review 3rd Issue

EAS Research Update: Creatine: Dec 96
EAS Research Update: Creatine: Mar 97
EAS Research Update: Creatine: Oct 98
Research Paper: Creatine
Creatine: Quick Fitness or Just Quick Profit
Creatine and Athletic Performance
FAQ: Creatine Monohydrate
Healthworld Online: The ABC's of Creatine
Creatine Monohydrate: It Will Move You!
Creatine Report