Supplement Spotlight: Creatine
Creatine is one of the most thoroughly studied and widely used dietary supplements to enhance exercise and sports performance.
What is it?
It is a molecule synthesized in the body by amino acids such a glycine and methionine. While creatine can be produced by the body, it is also found naturally in food equivalents such as meat and fish.
How does creatine work?
95% of creatine is stored in the muscle as phosphocreatine. This is what provides the energy to recharge ATP stores during an intense workout. When you supplement with creatine, you are essentially supplementing the phosphocreatine stores in your muscles from anywhere between 10 and 40%. This allows your body to work at higher intensities for longer periods of time (1).
Benefits of Creatine
Some benefits of creatine include improved sprint performance, maximal strength and power. When it comes to athletes looking to increase high intensity exercise capacity and lean body mass, creatine has been shown to be the most effective and safest nutritional supplement currently available (2).
Who should take creatine?
Athletes and active individuals with explosiveness, power, and strength are primarily relying on their phosphocreatine stores during workouts. Any athlete who consistently trains at high intensities and utilizes weight training can benefit from creatine supplementation.
Vegan and vegetarian athletes may also greatly benefit from supplementing with creatine, as these athletes in particular tend to have lower phosphocreatine stores (1).
How much creatine should I take?
Creatine monohydrate is proven to be the most effective form of supplementation. It’s also the most affordable. Consuming 3-5 grams/day of creatine monohydrate is sufficient. Loading phases –which is when an individual takes a high dose for a period of time followed by a lesser recommended amount - have been shown to be unnecessary (1).
Athletes utilizing creatine supplementation for a longer period of time have been shown to gain on average 2-5 lbs. more lean mass than athletes who are training without creatine (2).
RD recommendations regarding safety and validity of product:
Creatine has been heavily researched and is a safe product. Athletes considering the use of a dietary supplement must realize that there is risk of contamination, which increases the chances of unintentionally taking a banned substance, and risking eligibility. For this reason I always recommend only using third party tested brands of creatine such as NSF certified for sport or informed sport to avoid using a tainted supplement (3)
Reference:
Asche A. Athlete's Guide to Creatine. Eleat Sports Nutrition, LLC. https://www.eleatnutrition.com/blog/creatine. Published December 27, 2019. Accessed August 7, 2020.
Office of Dietary Supplements - Dietary Supplements for Exercise and Athletic Performance. NIH Office of Dietary Supplements. https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/ExerciseAndAthleticPerformance-HealthProfessional/. Accessed August 7, 2020.
CPSDA. Dietary Supplements Fact Sheet. https://www.sportsrd.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Dietary-Supplements-Fact-Sheet.pdf. Accessed August 7, 2020