All About CREATINE

Creatine is one of the most researched, popular natural supplement.

Creatine is produced endogenously, it’s synthesis predominantly occurs in liver, kidneys and to a lesser extent in pancreas. 95% of the body creatine stores are found in the skeletal muscle and remaining 5% are distributed in brain, liver, kidney and testes.

Creatine is a molecule that’s produced in the body from amino acids. It stores high energy phosphate groups in the form of phospho creatine which are donated to ADP(Adenosine Bi Phosphate), regenerating it to ATP(Adenosine Tri Phosphate), the primary energy carrier in the body.

Benefits of Creatine

The main purpose and primary benefit for which creatine is well researched is an improvement in strength and power output during resistance exercise. When used in conjunction with resistance exercise, creatine mildly increase the lean mass(muscle mass).

Indirectly, creatine also aids in negating fatigue by increasing the strength and power output.

Side Effects

1. If you consume creatine without enough water, stomach cramping can occur. Diarrhea and nausea can occur when too much creatine is taken at once.
2. Creatine can cause bloating but it is purely water weight. So, no need to worry about that.

CAUTION: If any supplement selling company is professing that their creatine doesn’t cause bloating, it means that their product is ineffective or it’s not creatine but just a cheap supplement which they are selling under the guise of creatine.

Best Form of Creatine and Dosage

There are plethora of forms of creatine present in the market but creatine monohydrate is the most cheapest and most researched form of creatine and it is widely used.

When it comes to dosage, according to various researches, the best results were noticed at dosage of 0.03 – 0.05g/kg of body weight per day.

Creatine and Kidneys

To store creatine you ingest and creatine your liver produce, your skeleton muscle, your brain and other tissues transform it into phosphocreatine and when they use their stores to recycle ATP, one of the byproduct is creatine.

Kidneys excrete this by product unchanged. If their functioning deteriorates, so does creatinine clearance.

Creatinine clearance can be estimated from a blood test or through a combination of blood test and 24 hours urine test. Creatinine blood levels are most commonly used as indicator of kidney function. If your levels are high, your kidneys are not doing the job optimally.

Although taking creatine may increase creatinine levels, long and short term studies have validated that dose <= 10g/day don’t impair kidney health in people with healthy kidneys.

If you have or had some kidneys related issues in past, then do consult your physician before consuming creatine.

Creatine Loading

Creatine is a supplement that is known for having “loading phase” followed by a “maintenance phase”. Typical creatine loading looks like:

1. Taking 20-25g for 5-7 days
2. Taking 5-10g for 3-4 weeks

Do you need to load creatine?

No, you do not need to load creatine. Many studies that observed the benefits of creatine used either a straight dose of 5-10g/day or even smaller amounts(2-3g/day).

And as mentioned previously, taking too much creatine at once can cause diarrhea in some people. So, better to keep yourself on safe side of consuming 3-5g/kg of creatine per day.

So, that’s all about today’s blog, I've explained you All About Creatine. See you all in my next blog. Till then, keep exercising, stay fit and be benevolent towards others.