Creatine

Creatine is a compound that can be made in our bodies or taken as a dietary supplement. The chemical name for Creatine is methyl guanidine-acetic acid. Creatine is made up of three amino acids - Arginine, Glycine and Methionine. Our liver has the ability to combine these three amino acids to make creatine. The other way we get creatine is from our diet. The amount of Creatine in the body varies based on your muscle mass and weight. On average a 160-pound person would have about 120 grams of creatine stored in their body. 95-98% of creatine in your body is in your muscles. The remaining 2-5% is stored in various parts of your body, including the brain, heart and testes. (Williams 1998) Creatine administration is the use of creatine as a dietary supplement. The effect of creatine administration is that it increases creatine and phosphocreatine muscle concentration, allowing for an accelerated rate of ATP synthesis. In thermodynamics terms, creatine stimulates the creatine-creatine kinase-phosphocreatine circuit. Creatine entry into skeletal muscle is initially dependent on the extracellular concentration, but the creatine transport is subsequently downregulated. This means that creatine enhances the possibility to maintain power output during brief periods of high-intensity exercise. (Persky 2001) In spite of uncontrolled daily dosage, and long-term administration, no researches on creatine monohydrate safety in humans have been set up by standardized protocols of clinical pharmacology and toxicology. Documented side effects induced by creatine monohydrate are weight gain, influence on insulin production, feedback inhibition of endogenous creatine synthesis, and long-term damages on renal function. A major point that related to the quality of creatine monohydrate products is the amount of creatine ingested in relation to the amount of contaminants present. During the industrial production of creatine monohydrate from sarcosine and cyanamide, variable amounts of contaminants are generated and, thus, their tolerable concentrations (ppm) must be defined and made known to consumers. Furthermore, because one of these contaminants, sarcosine, could originate from bovine tissues, the risk of contamination with prion of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE or mad-cow disease) can’t be excluded. This is of course a particularly important issue given the recent outbreaks of Mad Cow Disease around the world. (Persky 2001) Creatine, as other nutritional factors, can be used either at supplementary, or therapeutic levels, depending on the dosage it is taken in.