Creatine Monohydrate

Creatine or methyl guanidine – acetic acid is a natural energy providing protein which is found in the bodies of vertebrates. Skeletal muscles store around 95% of the body’s creatine while the rest is stored in various other parts. Methionine, Arginine and Glycine combine in the liver to form the metabolite we know as creatine.  Ones diet also acts as a source of creatine. Health freaks, body builders and athletes take creatine as a dietary supplement to gain energy for workouts. The most common creatine for dietary supplement purposes is creatine monohydrate.

Creatine Monohydrate is highly reputed diet supplement which improves athletic performance. Creatine is widely used by athletes and bodybuilders for anaerobic exercises, such as weight training. Creatine increases energy reserves, thus by the virtue of its use more energy becomes available for high intensity exercises and recovery is faster after workouts. Creatine monohydrate affects nitrogen production within the body to delay fatigue. When used in a training program creatine allegedly also facilitates muscle repair, and stimulates muscle strength.

Dosage has been a bone of contention among users. “How much is enough?” – is a frequently asked question. When using it, one should keep in mind that not everyone reacts to creatine in the same way. Users having less creatine in the body, like vegetarians, show a quicker and more perceptible reaction to creatine. Meat eaters, who have presence of creatine in their body in comparatively larger quantities, will have a slower reaction. This should not lead the latter group to take higher dosages of creatine.

Athletes using creatine take a “loading dose” of 20 to 25 grams a day for one week; then begin a “maintenance cycle” of 3 to 5 grams per day. The “loading” and “maintenance” dosage recommendations differ from manufacturer to manufacturer. Usually the “maintenance cycle” is continued for a month after which athletes “cycle off” from creatine for a week or so. This follows a resumption of creatine with the “loading dose”. Cycling creatine dosages help athletes to overcome any immunity which the body builds against creatine and take advantage of the extra water weight and strength which comes from reloading.

Manufacturers have claimed that the consumption of creatine monohydrate has no serious adverse effects. There have been reports from users of upset stomach, cramps, and bloating of the body when starting off on creatine monohydrate, but these side effects become fewer as the body gets used to the supplement. Due to the property of creatine by which lean muscle mass is increased by water retention, some users have experienced obesity and reports of dehydration are also there.

It is also important to note here that not all creatine supplements have obtained the FDA approval. FDA approval to Creatine is termed as “loose” by many industry experts, since though creatine is approved, a lot of marketers add more chemicals to pure creatine to lessen side effects and increase effectiveness. For example, one seller alleges that its product does not get converted to creatinine in the human stomach, a compound which is nullify all expected benefits from ingesting creatine. The company claims that it does this by addition of chemicals to prevent conversion of creatine into creatinine. The effects of such additives on the human body haven’t been studied.

This entry was posted on Saturday, October 11th, 2008 at 6:16 am and is filed under Creatine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.