Sports Supplements: Doctor Takes on Creatine Controversy

Doctor Takes on Creatine Controversy

by Dr. Lynn Myers

Controversy is swirling around the use of the popular supplement creatine. Parents, athletes, and coaches are concerned about its widespread use and long-term consequences. There is now little doubt, when you study the scientific literature and talk to athletes, that creatine improves athletic performance. Athletes participating in sports that require short-term explosive muscle contraction such as football, baseball and wrestling appear to benefit the most. Scientific studies confirm that creatine increases muscle mass, strength, explosive power, and stamina. As a result, creatine has become the supplement of choice for athletes across the country. A recent study found that 48% of Division 1 NCAA male athletes take or have taken creatine. Last year, an estimated six to eight million pounds were consumed in the United States. Although creatine has been widely used in the U.S. since 1992, some still caution that it has not been used long enough to determine any possible long-term side effects. Others are opposed to creatine supplementation purely for philosophic reasons. They believe that supplements are contrary to the rules, spirit and significance of sports.

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Although there are legitimate questions that need answers, much of what is reported about creatine is based on rumors and half-truths. In order to make an informed decision about taking creatine, it is important to understand the facts.

Background
Creatine is a protein made from amino acids. Our body makes one gram of creatine each day from amino acids. We also eat about one gram each day from meats such as beef, chicken or fish. Creatine is not a source of energy, but allows extra energy to be stored. It acts like an uncharged battery. When creatine is charged with energy from food, it becomes the major energy source for immediate muscle contraction. When additional creatine is taken to supplement the creatine consumed in meats and produced in our body, then more energy is available for muscle contraction.

High Dietary Intake of Creatine Not Unsafe
Early hunters such as the American Plains Indians, African Tribes, and Eskimos ate huge amounts of meat. During the winter season, they sometimes consumed an all-meat diet. Since meat contains about one gram of creatine per each half pound, these hunters easily consumed 3-5 grams of creatine per day. Remarkably this creatine dosage is similar to that recommended today by many scientists. Since mankind began and remained a hunter for thousands of years, it seems highly unlikely that heavy consumption of meat containing creatine is dangerous.

Creatine Supplement Use Not New
While creatine is “new” to many in the U.S., it is not “new” to the rest of the world. The Russians and other Eastern Block countries have used creatine as a sport supplement for at least 20 years. Recently a Russian sports scientist said that the Russians never found any dangerous side-effects while using creatine.

Creatine Use In the United States
In the West, creatine has been manufactured and sold as a sport supplement for about nine years. Creatine was used successfully in the West in the 1992 Olympics. As creatine became widely available in the United States many bodybuilders began taking creatine in massive amounts. Believing that if a little was good, more must be better, they took twenty, forty and even sixty grams of creatine powder a day, all without injurious effect on their health. If creatine were as dangerous as some would have you believe these human “guinea pigs” would have clearly demonstrated serious side-effects. This has not been the case.

Creatine is a Vital Muscle Nutrient
We have learned much of what we know about vitamins by studying what happens when a person has a vitamin deficiency. The same is true of creatine. In animal studies, researchers have blocked creatine uptake by the muscle cells. The result is a loss of fast-twitch muscle fibers. This is the type of muscle that is called into action first in power sports. Secondly, some children have a genetic defect where they can not make creatine in their body. These children experience muscle loss and weakness. Creatine supplementation strengthens these children. Both these examples show that creatine is necessary for healthy, strong muscle.

Physicians Using Creatine Have Found No Creatine Toxicity
During the past few years medical scientists and physicians began experiments to learn if creatine can be used to treat various medical disorders. In these carefully done studies, doctors have not reported any injurious creatine effects on the body. On the contrary, many of these studies show promise that creatine can be helpful in preventing or slowing certain disorders such as Lou Gehrigs Disease, Huntingtons Disease, and Parkinsons Disease.

Creatine Not Found Injurious By Sports Medicine Roundtable
The American College of Sports Medicine hosted a roundtable discussion by several top scientists interested in creatine. They concluded that “there is no definitive evidence that creatine supplementation causes gastrointestinal, renal, and/or muscle cramping complications.” 1

Summary
Despite all the rumor and speculation over the past few years, I find no credible evidence that creatine supplementation is harmful in anyway to our health. On the contrary, an ample amount of creatine is absolutely necessary for healthy muscle and other cellular function.

Dr. Lynn Myers is a practicing pathologist and Director of Research and Development for NuCare, a nutrition company that makes a chewable creatine tablet. Dr. Myers is regarded as one of the country’s foremost experts on creatine. He has been interviewed by CNN Sports and heard on ESPN’s “One On One Sports”. Dr. Myers has addressed the National Wrestling Coaches Association as a special guest speaker on nutrition.

1. Med. Sci. Sports Exerc. 2000 Mar; 32 (3): p. 706-17

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