CREATINE - Magic or Myth

[wingman]

loading phase is a myth

 

[MaxBrenner]

A creatine sticky was made to address all these creatine questions and limit the same old threads.

Guys please just turn your attention to the sticky in this section

 

[nobullsupplements]

A creatine sticky was made to address all these creatine questions and limit the same old threads.

Guys please just turn your attention to the sticky in this section

Thanks for that MB! I realised there were 100+ posts in that thread but you summed it up quite nicely with your latest post,

"
Creatine is a nitrogenous organic acid that occurs naturally in animals and helps to supply energy to all cells in the body, primarily muscle. This is achieved by increasing the formation of Adenosine triphosphate (ATP).

Due to the ATP production, creatine would be expected to have an impact on increasing energy production in exercise lasting between 10 seconds and 2 minutes.

Creatine is naturally produced in the human body from amino acids primarily in the kidney and liver (about 1 gram per day). It is transported in the blood for use by muscles. Approximately 95% of the human body's total creatine is located in skeletal muscle.

Creatine is not an essential nutrient, as it is manufactured in the human body from L-arginine, glycine, and L-methionine.

Creatine improves brain function, has a positive effect on strength increase individuals with neuro-muscular disease, as well as increasing LBM and strength in trained healthy individuals.

Creatine causes an increase in certain hormonal regulators/gene expression of muscle tissue (Not anabolic signalling. Meaning no direct effect on protein synthesis). That can leads to an increase in LBM.

Creatine causes intramuscular water retention (which is also one reason why LBM increases) and another reason why strength is increased (as it the water is an essential part to the energy production cycle).

It does not cause the bloat that is normally associated with creatine supplementation. The key point being the excess carbohydrate intake and associated sodium increase is the reasoning behind the 'bloat'.

The negative effect on hydration that is often stated with creatine supplementation is also another myth. Most individuals will often have an inadequate water intake and poor electrolyte balance, that will lead to the cramping and hydration issues that have been blamed on creatine.

Creatine dose is generally done in a loading phase of either 20 grams for 5 days or 10 grams for 10 days. Typically that is then followed by a maintenance phase of 5 grams daily. Over time regardless of what loading phase you choose, if you do choose to load, your muscular creatine saturation levels will be eventually at 100%. Timing of creatine intake/consumption is irrelevant to achieving the benefits from creatine supplementation. Take whenever and however it suits you.


There are many different forms of creatine available on the market today, all of which are the typical creatine monohydrate with a different carrier molecule attached. Creatine Ethyl Ester, Tri Creatine Malate, Creatine Nitrite and the list goes on and on. All those forms of creatine claim to be the 'best' form available and more gains blah blah blah. Well in all studies done on these 'superior' forms of creatine, the have performed no better than (if not worse) creatine monohydrate. They are just another marketing gimmick that is simply trying to reinvent the wheel and offering no further benefit other than 3 times the price!

On a side note creatine can be taken in any form of liquid except Citrus juice/fruit as the conversion to createinine will occur and therefor make the creatine unusable. Createinine is a by-product of creatine breakdown with in the muscle tissue. Createinine will be filtered out by the kidneys and there is little to no re-absorption.

There are about 20% of people who are non responders to creatine supplementation. Why? Well it is not completely known but it would have to be something to do with the mechanisms involved in uptake. It seems responders have have the lowest starting creatine levels, a higher proportion of Type 2 muscle fibres, a larger muscle cross sectional area and a larger amount of LBM. Non-responders had the opposite characteristics.

Amount of benefit? well that is hard to pin point as there are many other intangibles and variables that effect training performance/ability/muscular hypertrophy. You may get an extra ~5% out of your training over time if you are doing EVERYTHING else right.

Final word, Creatine IS NOT a steroid."

 

[MaxBrenner]

No problem NBS.

Now Shrek just has to combine this into the sticky

 

[Shrek]

Any further requests??

 

[MaxBrenner]

Wow, is that how god works

 

[nobullsupplements]

WOW... now I know why they call it a 'sticky' haha.

 

[sari96]

Creatine does not dissolve!

people and instructions say with Creatine that you have to dissolve it, my Creatine is impossible to dissolve, the powder just mixes in and turns the water/juice into a cloudy color, if im drinking it still when its cloudy am i just waisting my time/money???

 

[MaxBrenner]

1. creatine is not a steriod

2. that is exactly how it looks and mixes. Maybe you need to adjust the amount of liquid you are mixing it with though or alternatively mix it in your protein shake.

3. how much are you taking in a serving?

 

[Christian]

Creatine monohydrate does not disolve, it does not become a solution.. It stays in suspension as if you were to put sand in a glass

 

[Bonfield]

Try boiling water then top it up with cold, works for me

 

[Bazza20]

Try boiling water then top it up with cold, works for me

Why??

 

[candyflip]

Try boiling water then top it up with cold, works for me

^^^ this , or warm water first. Do not attempt to get any dissolving with cold water - it won't.

 

[Bonfield]

Why??

Pretty much dissolves instantly

 

[Bazza20]

Pretty much dissolves instantly

Waste of time, just throw some in cold water stir and drink.

 

[Bonfield]

Yeah I know but sometimes it tastes like drinking sandy water, when I was taking it with my protein I could never get it to mix 100% it was always gritty

I'm sure I'm not the only one

 

[Big Mick]

Just get a spoon full and eat it, very easy, especially when washed down with some water or grape juice, no point over complicating things

May be dissolving it in hot water damages the structure of it or makes it useless, who knows

 

[oldcorollas]

i read in a few places that the monohydrate dissolves about 12-14grams/L at 20deg, with neutral pH (ie normal water)..
so maybe just adjust the amount of water to be 10g/L (for C-M)... or just harden up

i might do a few experiments later, see how pH and temp affect the solubility


edit, saw a study that said at 97-125degC (heated in air) the monohydrate will dehydrate, but it doesn't change form drastically until a much higher temp (200-230 or something?) but thats in air, not water

 

[Bonfield]

From what I have read online it's fine, it increases speed of absorption in a liquid and creatine degrades (creatinine) at 300+ degrees celcius

 

[oldcorollas]

Solid-state properties of creatine monohydrate. [J Pharm Sci. 2002] - PubMed - NCBI

J Pharm Sci. 2002 Mar;91(3):708-18.
Solid-state properties of creatine monohydrate.
Dash AK, Mo Y, Pyne A.
SourceDepartment of Pharmacy Sciences, School of Pharmacy and Allied Health Professions, Creighton University, 2500 California Plaza, Omaha, Nebraska 68178, USA. adash@creighton.edu

Abstract
Creatine monohydrate (CM) is a nutritional supplement and an ergogenic aid for athletes. It appears to increase lean body mass, high-intensity power output and strength in healthy humans. The crystal structure of creatine monohydrate has previously been reported. However, little information is available on its solid-state properties. In this investigation, creatine monohydrate was subjected to Thermal Analyses, Karl-Fisccher Titrimetry (KFT), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and Variable Temperature X-ray Powder Diffractometry (VTXRD) to characterize its solid-state properties. The results of this study suggested that commercially available creatine monohydrate dehydrates at about 97-125 degrees C. A phase transition after dehydration was confirmed by X-ray diffraction studies. This dehydrated phase at a temperature above 230 degrees C undergoes intramolecular cyclization with a loss of an additional mole of water to form creatinine. Creatinine finally melts with decomposition at about 290 degrees C. VTXRD, confirmed that the above solid-state thermal transformation was kinetically driven, and occurred within a narrow temperature range. Mass Spectrometric (MS) studies further indicated a possible dimerization of creatinine formed during the solid-state transformation.