The truth about creatine side effects.
Controversy and creatine...
Two words that have become synonymous and inseparable over the
last couple of years. How ironic that an amino acid that is
manufactured in the human body has become the proponent for such
global conjecture, scrutiny and supposition. Albeit, through it
all, creatine has been established as one of the most effective
and fashionable supplements found in the marketplace today for
body builders, sport enthusiasts and those that desire to
improve performance, stamina and quicker recovery time.
Incidentally, now creatine has proven to aid in a whole host of
other non-sport related issues. Nevertheless, like every other
non-FDA sanctioned properties, there are concerns that creatine
is unsafe.
So, is all the publicity and feeding frenzy going on about
creatine side effects that so often appear in the media and
search engines, rhetoric or are they founded on fact or fiction,
is it biased or unbiased and is it from gospel truth or merely
litigious lies?
Simply put, creatine and its derivative brothers and sisters are
immensely envogue. Primarily because it rapidly quickens gains
in muscular size, strength and stamina compared to just exercise
alone. Pennsylvania State University, in a study led by Jeff
Volek, conducted a 12-week trial discovering that creatine
consumers wound up stronger in both the bench press and the
squat, in comparison to subjects using a placebo supplement.
They also witnessed twice the gains in lean muscle mass and a
much faster recovery rate.
Are Creatine Side Effects Tangible or Intangible? In recent
reports, it has been eluded to that creatine consumers are more
susceptible to cramps, muscle spasms, and even pulled and torn
muscles. Conversely, in a three-year study designed to determine
whether these creatine side effects really do exist, it was
discovered that creatine had no effect on the incidence of
injury or cramping in a group of American football players.
Recently, research published in the journal Medicine and Science
in Sports and Exercise reveals similar findings. From a group of
26 athletes taking creatine for nearly four years, there was no
discrepancy in the reported incidence of muscle cramp or injury
of that put side by side with athletes not using creatine.
In my personal experience, as well as that of working with
several hundred athletes, I have witnessed that they (athletes)
on a whole experience cramps, spasms and are more susceptible to
injury, by and large and to a greater degree than most folks,
simply by virtue of use, function and the extent in which they
subject their bodies to.
Additionally, published reports in the September 2004 issue of
the International Journal of Sports Medicine, also shows that
creatine side effects are rare. A group of 176 subjects received
either 10 grams of creatine or placebo daily for an average
period of 310 days. Slight cases of diarrhea and nausea did
cause three subjects to stop using creatine. Nevertheless, there
were no other significant differences between the groups
In another study conducted using twenty-three members of an NCAA
Division II football team, they separated the players into a
control group (consuming no supplements whatsoever), as well as
a creatine user group. All subjects in the creatine group
averaged 14 grams of creatine a day for more than three years;
thus far the researchers have uncovered absolutely no damaging
effects on either liver or kidney performance.
To re-illuminate the issue of cramping, scientists still are not
sure what actually causes cramps or spasms to occur. My
speculation is that with increased hydration, the proper,
necessary processing of creatine through the system is more
adequately accomplished and incidences or concern would
subsequently diminish or entirely disappear. Few people hydrate
well anyway, so exacerbate that with additional functional
system tasks and something well most likely occur. Cramping
happens anyway from poor hydrative habits, it only makes sense
that with an added undertaking (creatine ingestion), subsequent
spasms and cramps can and most likely will happen.
Less common, but maybe even more important is that creatine has
numerous positive and protective consequences and outcomes in
heart, muscle and neurological diseases; including depression
and wasting diseases and related disorders. In truth, after
several months of creatine supplementation in both men and women
with borderline high cholesterol levels, the results showed
reduced low-density lipoprotein levels by almost one-third,
that's somewhat noteworthy, don't you think?
Moreover, analogous findings were reported in the journal
Metabolism. Twenty-eight days of creatine supplementation and
resistance exercise lowered total cholesterol levels
significantly more than resistance exercise alone.
Conclusively...
Cautiously managed studies over short- (five days), medium-
(nine weeks) and long-term (five years) have yet to reveal that
creatine supplementation has any adverse consequences on blood
pressure, kidney or liver function in healthy specimens.
However, to be as impartial as possible, the fact that
significant and costly invasive trials have yet to unearth any
serious creatine side effects doesn't mean that none exists.
There have been isolated case reports of persons suffering from
kidney troubles after using creatine. Anyone with existing liver
or kidney disorders, or those predisposed to such ailments,
should seek proper medical advice before using creatine.
Nonetheless, if you are exercising, and the promise of bigger
muscles, increased stamina, recovery that is more expedient or
any of the host of possibilities or potentials exhibited from
creatine use drives you to explore creatine for yourself, please
increase your water intake. After all your entire composition
(body) is literally nothing but water and amino acids, so
replete what you deplete. I urge you to check out the Neo Physis
Super Premium Creatine. There are very few creatine products on
the market that can compete with this product. So, please do the
research...I did!