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Creatine Safety: A Physician’s Prospective by Lynn Myers, MD.
National Wrestling Coaches Association Guest Speaker on Nutrition.
Dr. Lynn Myers is regarded as on of the country’s foremost experts on creatine.
He has been interviewed by CNN Sports, Heard on ESPN’s “One on One Sports”.
Dr. Myers has addressed the National Wrestling Coaches Association as a special
Guest speaker on nutrition. Dr. Myers is a practicing pathologist and Director
of Research and Development for NuCare, an Oklahoma company that makes a creatine
chewing gum and a chewable creatine wafer. Dr. Myers is available for interviews.
There is now little doubt, when you study the scientific literature and talk to
athletes, that creatine improves certain types of athletic performance. This is
especially true in power sports such as football, baseball and wrestling that
require short-term explosive muscle contraction. Creatine increased muscle mass,
strength, explosive power, and stamina. Because of this creatine is our nation’s
most popular sports supplement.
A recent study found that 48% of Division 1 NCAA male athletes take or have taken
creatine. Last year, and estimated that six to eight million pounds were consumed
in the Untied Sates. Although creatine has been widely used in the U.S. since 1992,
and many scientific articles attest to creatine’s safety, some still caution that
creatine has not been used long enough to determine it’s possible long-term side effects.
Others seem opposed to creatine supplementation purely for philosophic reasons.
A typical example of this often-expressed view is a French food safety expert who
recently stated that creatine “is contrary to the rules, spirit and significance of
sport.”
As a pathologist with a lifetime of experience in solving medical puzzles, I have
learned the value of reviewed the scientific literature for myself and ignoring rumors
and half-truths. Background Creatine is a protein made from amino acids. Our body
makes on gram each day from protein. We also eat about one gram of creatine each day
from meats such as beef, chicken or fish. Creatine is not a source of energy in
itself, but stores energy you get from your food. Creatine acts like uncharged
battery. When creatine is charged with energy from food, it becomes the major energy
source for immediate muscle contraction When extra creatine is taken to supplement
the creatine consumed in meats and produce in our body still more energy is available
for muscle contraction. Creatine is a Vital Muscle Nutrient. Just as medical science
learned what vitamins do in the body by studying vitamin deficiencies, we learn about
creatine by studying creatine deficiency disorders. Two examples help us to understand
creatine’s role in the body.
First in animal studies, researches have blocked creatine uptake into the muscle cells
from the blood. The result is a loss of fast-twitch (type 11) muscle fivers. This is
the type of muscle cell that is first called into action in power sports as football,
baseball and wrestling.
Secondly, several naturally occurring creatine deficiencies have seen found in children.
Because of a genetic defect, these children cannot make creatine in their bodies. As
a result they have lower creating levels with muscle loss and weakness. Creatine
supplementations strengthen these children. Both these examples help us understand
that creatine is necessary for healthy, strong muscle.
High Dietary Intake of Creatine. In times past, hunters such as the American Plains
Indians, African Tribes and Eskimos ate huge amounts of meat. Drying the winter
season they sometime consumed an all-meat diet. Since meat contains about one gram
of creatine per each half pound, these hunters easily consumed 3-5 grams of creatine
per day. Remarkably, this creatine dosage is similar to that recommended today by many
scientist. Since mankind began and remained a hunter for thousands of years, it seems
highly unlikely that heavy consumption of meat containing creatine is dangerous.
Creatine Supplement Use Not New. While creatine is “new” to many in the U.S., it
is not “new” to the rest of the world. The Russians and other Eastern Block countries
used creatine as a sport supplement for at least 20 years. Recently I spoke to a
Russian Sports scientist who candidly told me that the Russians never found any
injurious effect while using creatine.
Creatine Use In the United States. In the West, creatine has been manufactured and
sold as sport supplement for about nine years. Creatine was used by successfully in
the west in the 1992 Olympics. As creatine began to be readily available in the United
States many body builders began taking creatine in massive amounts. Thinking that if a
little is good, more must be better they took twenty, forty and even sixty grams of powder
a day, all without injuries effect on their health. If creatine were as dangerous as
some would have you believe these human “guinea pigs” would have clearly demonstrated
serious side effects. This has not been the case.
Physician Using Creatine Have Found No Creatine Toxicity. During the past few years
medical scientists and physicians have begun experiments to learn if creatine can be
used to treat various medical disorders. In these carefully done studies under close
medical supervision, doctors have not reported any injurious creatine effect on the body.
On the contrary, many of these studies show promise that creatine can be helpful in
preventing or slowing certain disorder such as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, Huntington’s
Disease and Parkinson’s Disease.
Creatine Not Found Injurious By Sports Medicine Roundtable. The American College of
Sports Medicine hosted a roundtable discussion by several top scientists interested
in creatine. They reported in their abstract ”there is no definitive evidence that
creatine supplementation causes gastrointestinal, renal, and/or muscle cramping
complication.”1
Summary Despite all the rumor and speculation that we have all heard over the past
few years, I find no credible evidence that creatine supplementation is harmful in
anyway to our health. On the contrary, an ample amount of creatine is absolutely
necessary for health muscle and other cellular function.
Med.Sci. Sports Exerc. 2000 Mar; 32 (3):/706-17