How safe is creatine and how it can help with workouts and lifestyle/healthy?

After protein powder, creatine is the most widely used performance supplement on the market today.  It is also the most widely researched ergogenic aide with literally hundreds of studies that testify to both its effectiveness and safety.   Before we get into what creatine even is and how it can help your training, let's talk about this nagging lie that is attached to creatine.  It’s safety.Is creatine even safe?Certain studies have gotten out into the mainstream which have been misconstrued to “prove” that creatine can cause harm to your kidneys.  Since the media loves carnage, it has taken these and blown them out of proportion with absolutely no context.Where did this narrative come from?  Mostly individual case studies.  I am not aware of any large scale study which has concluded that creatine causes damage to the kidneys.   We don’t want to ignore those case studies as they do show that, just like anything we ingest, there is a chance of dangers which can gaffect certain populations.  If you already have kidney problems, creatine usage can add stress to which can lead to further problems.  However, if you are healthy, taking creatine in the prescribed protocol will only lead to improvements in your fitness levels.One long-term study (10 months- 5 years) which examined the safety of creatine was conducted by Francaux and Poortsmans (1999) and found no adverse effects.  It is important to note that this study had some people take as much as 80g of creatine daily.  That is 16x the amount normally used and still, no adverse effects.  Kreider, et al (2003) studied the effect of creatine use in 98 Division 1 football players over 21 months and concluded the same thing.  Perfectly safe! And yet another in 2001 performed by Schilling et al (2001) with the same conclusion.  And just to really nail the coffin down on this myth, here is a meta-analysis from 2019 which concluded that creatine use does not cause renal damage.What does creatine even do?Now that we have shown that creatine is more than safe, let’s look at its role physiologically.  One of the most important aspects of creatine, which is not understood by many, is that our bodies use creatine already on a daily.  Naturally, creatine is either consumed through our diets (red meats and certain fish adding the highest amounts) or it can be synthesized in the bodies from the amino acids glycine, arginine, and methionine.Our bodies need creatine as it is the major compound involved in the synthesis of the high-energy phosphate known at ATP (adenosine triphosphate).  ATP is often times called the “molecular currency of energy and is required for every muscle contraction.  What this means is that ATP gives us true energy at the molecular level to perform work.Specifically, creatine is used in the metabolic process that’s known as the “phosphagen” system or ATP-CP.  This system is responsible to provide energy during anaerobic activity of high-intense efforts and short duration (less than 30 seconds) such as weightlifting or sprints.So how can supplementing help?Research has shown that our natural creatine stores generally sit at around 60-80% full.  This is plenty to function and/or perform on, but obviously, there is room for more.  Taking exogenous creatine supplementation can saturate our stores and quite literally “fill up” them up.  This means more energy for more reps and more weight on the bar which leads to gains in strength, mass, and speed.There is a quite a bit in the field of sports science that there is still a debate about.  The effectiveness of creatine is not one of them.  And in case you aren’t familiar with Dr. Kreider, he is perhaps the most revered sports scientist for sports supplementation, especially creatine.  After his personal research of literally 100s of studies, he concluded that there is a 95% chance you will receive some measurable benefit in your “exercise capacity”“The average gain in performance from these studies typically ranges between 10% to 15%. For example, short-term creatine supplementation has been reported to improve maximal power/strength (5%-15%), work performed during sets of maximal-effort muscle contractions (5%-15 %), single effort sprint performance (1 %-5 %), and work performed during repetitive sprint performance (5%_15%).  Long-term creatine supplementation seems to enhance the quality of training generally leading to 5%-15% greater gains in strength and performance”While creatine main usage is mainly connected to anaerobic performance, new research is currently being done on its benefits for:- Endurance- Brain Health and Cognitive Function- Spinal Cord Injury- Muscular Dystrophy…..list goes onHow to take creatineThe most common protocol is to the 4-5 5g servings daily for 5-7 days during a loading protocol to saturate your levels.  Then you will simply take 5g daily thereafter.That’s the scoop on creatineCreatine is a highly effective, safe, and cheap supplement to take but it’s not a wonder drug.  You still need to utilize good nutrition habits and solid training to realize it’s benefits.Come see us at Prepare for Performance to see how we can help you reach your fitness goals with or without creatine!