Stephanie Wilson 07011139 Nutrition for Sport and Performance

Creatine Monohydrate
The present day desire for the perfect body is evident in our society whether it be the wish for toned, lean muscle mass or for the bulging biceps of a body builder. There is an ever increasing demand for the quick fix supplied by ergogenic aids along with the influx of new and improved supplements with remarkable ergogenic claims as equally abundant, but how well do these so called enhancers stand up to critique by both the consumer and scientific evaluation. One of the most widely known and popular ergogenic aids available is Creatine Monohydrate, I have selected 4 of the most commonly sold brands found in both health and fitness shops and online for critical reviews. In Hardys Health 2000 I found two brands of creatine supplements, Nutralife Balance 100% Creatine Monohydrate and NFS Kre-Alkalyn pH Correct Creatine, and while searching the internet I came across Micronised Creatine by Reactive and Creatine Monohydrate a product of 4Ever Fit. In one way or another each product gives the impression that adequate intake of the supplement will improve muscle properties, energy production and strengthen the immune system in order to aid recovery. Creatine is an naturally occurring non-essential amino acid which is found in the muscle tissue in our bodies (approx. 100-115g throughout the entire body, around 95% in skeletal muscle) it is both made by the body itself and is also provided in our diet in the form of meats and fish. Creatine is easily absorbed through the intestinal tract into the bloodstream and when dietary consumption is inadequate for mechanical needs the body is able to synthesise creatine from various amino acids such as glycine, arginine and methionine. To better understand how creatine supplementation is of any advantage for the everyday athlete we need to look at the underlying physiological effects that creatine has on the body.

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(Bemben & Lamont, 2005)

Stephanie Wilson 07011139 Nutrition for Sport and Performance

Firstly, for muscles to be capable of doing work they need energy in the form of ATP, ATP stores are not very plentiful and rapidly deplete especially during high intensity exercise. The body is able to compensate for this ATP depletion by metabolising phosphocreatine, by donating the phosphate group to ADP to produce ATP for the working muscle. This leaves a product of ATP + Creatine, the ATP produced during this pathway is readily used by the muscles and the remaining creatine is able to be transformed back into phosphocreatine by the body, but this takes some time (around 30-60 seconds). This form of energy production is most commonly utilized during high intensity power exercise, thus making creatine supplementation most advantageous for the power athlete (Bemben & Lamont, 2005) . The original purpose of creatine supplementation is to elevate the available creatine content in the working muscle, thus by raising the creatine content the muscle is suggested to contract more efficiently. There has been extensive research regarding the beneficial properties that creatine supplementation has on an athlete, with most concluding that creatine does in fact have beneficial ergogenic properties. For example a study carried out by Okudan and Gokbel had substantial results, they researched the effects of creatine supplementation on supramaximal exercise performance. This experiment consisted of 23 untrained men involved in a randomised double-blind experiment where there was a control group taking a placebo and one group being
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Stephanie Wilson 07011139 Nutrition for Sport and Performance

supplemented with creatine. All of the subjects were tested for exercise performance using the Wingate test measuring the parameters peak power, mean power and fatigue index, and were then subjected to either supplementation of creatine or a placebo. For six days the creatine ingested 5g of creatine monohydrate, whilst the placebo group consumed a flavoured drink lacking any creatine monohydrate, both groups ingesting this four times a day. After one week of supplementation all of the participants were then retested using the same parameters prior to supplementation, these measures showed that total power output in the creatine group increased by around 7.6%, there was also a reduction in susceptibility to fatigue and an improvement with maintenance of mean power over 5 bouts. The placebo group showed no change, neither positive nor negative when re-tested. The results of this investigation clearly showed that creatine supplementation is capable of enhancing maximum power output over a series of repeated bouts of supramaximal exercise. In addition to the abundance of positive research about the beneficial ergogenic effects of creatine monohydrate a review carried out by Bemben & Lamont gives a sound and concise report of the recent findings of various studies regarding creatine supplementation and exercise performance. The report proposes that according to up to date research that creatine is able to act via various mechanisms in order to provide potential ergogenic aid, but most advantageous in exercise which involves short bouts of high-intensity exercise, this includes such activities like jumping, sprinting or cycling. Yet for endurance type of exercise there is only contradictory evidence, leaving no real scientific proof of any ergogenic aid of creatine for continuous and intermittent exercise. This paper also reported very little and

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Stephanie Wilson 07011139 Nutrition for Sport and Performance

vague information supporting the benefits of creatine for the prevention of muscle damage and pain following exercise (Bemben & Lamont, 2005). There is also significant scientific evidence supporting the claim of increased muscle mass, a literature review performed by Francaux and Poortmans in 2006 established that oral creatine supplementation is capable of increasing total muscle mass by around 1-2.3%, this increase in muscle is abundantly in the form of fat-free and skeletal muscle. It was observed that creatine does not increase the muscle size by amplifying muscle protein synthesis but instead stimulating transcription of certain muscle building genes. This review is supported by a study carried out by Olsen and associates who investigated creatine supplementation and its effects on satellite cell and myonuclei number in human skeletal muscles when induced by strength training. This experiment consisted of 32 healthy male subjects supplementing with around 6-24g of creatine alongside 16 weeks of heavy resistance training. Muscle biopsies were taken before and after supplementation and training, this study showed that creatine supplementation complimented with strength training resulted in an increased number of myonuclei per fibre and an increase of mean muscle fibre of around 14-17%, in comparison to the control group where no significant changes were observed. So, this trial demonstrates and supports the claim that creatine supplementation alongside strength training is able to amplify the exercise- induced increase in myonuclei concentration and satellite cell number in the working skeletal muscle fibres, thus proof of creatines enhancing effect on muscle fibre growth in response to resistance training (Olsen et al, 2006). From the various studies and reviews that have been performed on the benefits of creatine supplementation for the use of performance enhancement in the field of strength we can
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Stephanie Wilson 07011139 Nutrition for Sport and Performance

safely say that yes, creatine does have some ergogenic aid. But does creatine have any beneficial ergogenic support for the endurance athlete? A study performed by Reardon and associates concluded that no, creatine does not stimulate any metabolic adaptations to endurance sports. The study investigated how creatine supplementation affected muscle glycogen content, sub maximal fuel utilisation and endurance performance. The results concluded that there was little increase in muscle glycogen content, but not significant enough for it to be beneficial, there was no change in fuel selection, there was enhanced endurance performance but this was put down to the four week exercise regime and no credit was given to the supplementation of creatine for these adaptations. From the abundant research and reviews that have been conducted on creatine supplements the evidence is clear about the advantages and disadvantages that creatine supplementation has on both the body and on sport performance. In the field of performance creatine has shown to have the ability to improve strength and power in the form of stimulating an increase in myonuclei concentration and satellite cell number, thus enhancing the increase in muscle mass. This is one of the most sought after advantages of creatine monohydrate, scientific evaluation supports the muscle enhancing claim, giving substance to the declarations made by pharmaceutical companies. Recent research also supports the common claim of increased energy production, thus once again providing reputable evidence for the advantage of creatine supplementation. Although creatine has a few very advantageous qualities there are some mildly deleterious affects that supplementation can have on the athletes body. Some of the short-term side affects that creatine intake can include are diarrhoea, cramps, muscle spasms and sudden mood swings
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Stephanie Wilson 07011139 Nutrition for Sport and Performance

which is especially prevalent in young athletes, yet these short term effects do not seem to be significantly detrimental. Present research has concluded that although there may be some mild short-term side effects, there is no real evidence for long term deleterious effects on the body due to creatine supplementation (Francaux & Poortmans, 2000). But this area of research is fairly scarce and needs to be looked at more carefully and investigated more in depth. In conclusion from recent studies and review articles creatine monohydrate supplementation seems to have a fairly decent reputation in the sporting industry. With the various body building advantages of increased muscle mass and the ability to increase energy production backed up by an abundance of scientific support, this leaves little room for any contradictory evidence especially in comparison to the scarce amount of resources to contradict these claims creatine supplementation seems all around a beneficial sporting supplement. With the abundance of positive scientific research supporting the manufacturers claims, it seems that creatine monohydrate supplementation is they way to go for achieving that toned, buff body that is so fervently desired in todays society.

References
Bemben, M. & Lamont, H. (2005). Creatine supplementation and exercise performance: recent findings. Sports Med 35(2):107-25.
Francaux, M. & Poortmans, J. (2000). Adverse effects of creatine supplementation: fact of fiction? Sports Med 30(3):155-70.

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Stephanie Wilson 07011139 Nutrition for Sport and Performance

Gokbel, H. & Okudan, N. (2005). The effects of creatine supplementation on performance during the repeated bouts of supramaximal exercise. Sport Med 45(4):507-11.

Olsen, S. et al (206). Creatine supplementation augments the increase in satellite cell and myonuclei number in human skeletal muscle induced by strength training. J Physiol. 573(Pt 2):525-34.

Reardon, T., Ruell, P., Fiatarone, S., Thompson, C. & Rooney,K. (2006). Creatine supplementation does not enhance submaximal aerobic training adaptations in healthy young men and women. Eur J Appl Phsiol. 98(3):234-41.

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