Creatine Essay, Research Paper

In today’s society, a lot of emphasis is placed on how you look.

Almost everybody wants that “perfect body”. But with all the things

people have to do, not many are willing to put in the time to get it.

So there must be an easy way to get it. Right? Not too long ago people

were experimenting with anabolic

steroids. They injected horse testosterone into their veins to increase

the amount of muscle mass produced from lifting. But after a while, some

professional athletes and high profile people started showing the

side effects that are associated with them. For example, Lyle Alzado, a

popular star in the NFL, developed a brain tumor and died. This scared

a lot of people and the recreational uses of steroids decreased. With

the dangers of steroids well known people started looking for other

substances to give them an edge. Bee pollen, carnitine and chromium

picolinate, were among the things people tried. Of course none of these

worked. But now there is a product on the market that has been proven to

significantly enhance athletic performance in the areas of power, strength,

and muscle mass. This substance is Creatine Phosphate.

ABOUT CREATINE

When you exercise you obviously burn energy. There are many things

involved in this process. The energy that you burn is called Adenosine

Triphosphate, ATP. This molecule has very high energy bonds between the

phosphates and the rest of the molecule. Your body breaks these bonds

releasing the energy for use and changing the molecule to ADP

(di-phosphate). Since the body has a relatively low supply of ATP,

it needs to convert the ADP back into ATP. Creatine helps to speed this

process along. Creatine is an amino acid made in your liver and stored in

your muscles.

In the diet it is found in milk, steak, and some fish. Although

scientists have known about it for about 160 years, studies on it have

have just started to be done.

CREATINE SUPPLEMENTATION

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After the publication of test results in 1990, the area of creatine

supplementation has exploded. Now almost everyone knows what it is and

someone who is using it. As was stated earlier, creatine helps speed up

the process of converting ADP back into ATP. So it is logical that if

you increase the amount of creatine you should increase the conversion

rate. The daily requirement of creatine is about two grams. Most of the

creatine supplement products recommend taking ten times that amount for

the first week or so to saturate your muscles, and five grams a day to

maintain it. In most published studies the logic is correct; if you

increase dietary creatine you increase stored creatine.

DOES IT WORK?

With the increase of stored creatine there should be an increase in

conversion time. In most of the studies that I have seen this is true.

There is also a relationship between the amount of hydration in a muscle

cell and the amount of work it can do. Creatine makes the cell retain

water and therefore should increase the amount of work individual cells

can do. But this is not all that it does. In many studies, along

with increased recovery time, creatine showed to increase muscle mass,

explosive power and strength. In one study groups of athletes put on five

to seven pounds of lean muscle mass in a month. These results were far

better than athletes receiving a placebo in the same study. Some critics

state that the increase in muscle mass is mostly water, but there are

studies that say there is an increase in the size of Type II muscle fibers.

With the increase in mass there should be an increase in power. In the

same study the athletes saw a thirty percent increase in bench-press.

With an increase in strength and recovery time there is an increase in

overall explosive power.

IS IT FOR ME?

Although creatine supplementation has shown results in particular areas,

it doesn’t help everyone. The supplements are pretty expensive and

with the recommended dosage, they go pretty fast. If you are not

serious about training or are a weekend warrior you may see results

but you will pay for them. But if you are seriously into

bodybuilding, creatine will help you see gains. Also, athletes that

perform short burst sprints with little recovery time will benefit

from creatine. Basketball and football players in particular. But if

you are an endurance athlete such as a marathoner or a sprinter

there are studies that show that creatine supplementation may slow you

down. Some think it is from the weight gained. There are also people

who are immune to its effects. They are officially called

“nonresponders”. These people are studied little and it is not known

why they are immune or who these people are.

IS IT SAFE?

Since studies on creatine loading have only been going on for less than a

decade, it is still unknown what long term effects the extra creatine

will have. Some researchers fear that, with the amount of extra creatine

contrived through the diet, the body might stop producing it. The only

way we will find out the negative effects of long term use is time. The

sales of creatine supplements are very strong, so a lot of people are

using it. After a decade goes by we might find out the hard way that it

is dangerous.

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