Creatine
Brand Names
CreatineWhat is Creatine
Creatine is a chemical that is normally found in the muscles of our body. It is produced by the body. You can also get creatine from certain foods such as fish and meats. Creatine can also be made in the laboratory.
Creatine is very often used for the improvement of exercise performance and increase of muscle mass in athletes and older adults. Scientists suppose that creatine helps to improve the athletic performance of young, healthy people during brief high-intensity activity such as sprinting. But creatine is not effective in older people.
Side effects of Creatine
In most cases, creatine causes no side effects, but large doses of it can lead to the following conditions:
- Weight gain
- Anxiety
- Breathing difficulty
- Diarrhea
- Fatigue
- Fever
- Headache
- Kidney problems
- Nausea, vomiting
- Rash
- Stomach upset
Indication
In our body creatine turns into creatine phosphate that helps to produce a substance called adenosine triphosphate (ATP). ATP provides the energy for muscle contractions.
Creatine is not only used for improving athletic performance, it can also be used to treat congestive heart failure (CHF), depression, bipolar disorder, Parkinson’s disease, diseases of the muscles and nerves, an eye disease called gyrate atrophy and high cholesterol. In addition, creatine reduces the worsening of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, Lou Gehrig’s disease), rheumatoid arthritis, McArdle’s disease and for various muscular dystrophies.
Precautions
You should not use creatine if you are taking such certain drugs as diabetes medications, acetaminophen, diuretics, especially caffeine and ephedra, because they can cause serious side effects.
You should not use Creatine if you have kidney or liver disease or diabetes. It is not recommended for children under age 18 and women who are pregnant or nursing.
Creatine may affect blood sugar levels in people who are taking any medication or supplement that could affect your blood sugar.
Dosage forms
Creatine dose for improving physical performance:
Creatine is typically loaded with 20 grams per day (or 0.3 grams per kg) for 5 days followed by a maintenance dose of 2 or more grams (0.03 grams per kg) daily. Although 5 day loading is typical, 2 days of loading has also been used.
A loading dose of 9 grams per day for 6 days has also been used. Scientists suggest that, instead of acutely loading, similar results can be obtained with 3 grams per day for 28 days.
During creatine supplementation, the water intake should be 64 ounces per day.
For heart failure: 20 grams per day for 5-10 days.
For Parkinson's disease:
- 10 grams/day
- A loading dose of creatine 20 grams/day for 6 days followed by 2 grams/day for 6 months, and then 4 grams daily for 18 months has also been used.
For improving resistance training in people with Parkinson's disease: a loading dose of 20 grams/day for 5 days, followed by 5 grams/day.
For gyrate atrophy: 1.5 grams per day.
For muscular dystrophies: 10 grams per day has been used by adults and 5 grams per day has been used by children.
For McArdle’s disease: 150 mg / kg daily for 5 days and then continue with 60 mg / kg / day.
