How Much Do You Know About Creatine?

Creatine is among the most popular dietary supplements used by weight lifters and sportsmen who want to display a muscular body and increase their performance, but there has always been a debate on whether it is beneficial or adverse to our bodies.

The creatine is a nutrient of animal origin, so it is not considered to be an illegal substance by the sports authorities; this might be the reason why there is so much confusion in how to take it, when and in which quantity, because although top athletes have used it with improvements in their performances, there are no studies that can prove adverse reactions when creatine is taken by non-athletes.

The main reason many people take creatine is to improve their strength. Muscles are constituted by two different types of fibers which are type one or slow, and type two or fast. Slow muscle fibers provide endurance, while fast fibers provide strength. Type two fibers are known as anaerobic because they aren't fueled by oxygen so their growth is stimulated by anaerobic exercise such as weight lifting and sprints. Creatine on its own won't increase your strength, but it is used by your body as anaerobic fuel. Your muscles will feed on the creatine giving you better performance than can be traduced in an increase of strength.

Another reason to take creatine is muscle growth. Some trainers say that much of the muscular growth achieved by the creatine comes from liquid retention more than from actual muscular growth. But there are also studies pointing out that the correct combination of creatine with a good weight lifting training increases muscle size more than using the weight lifting training alone. Either way the ingestion of creatine must always be hand in hand with the correct workout.

Creatine is also believed to increase endurance. The truth is that some studies have shown an increase in some endurance tests. The reason is that creatine reduces lactic acid in the muscular cells which is what creates pain, but these studies were performed in anaerobic exercises lasting less than one minute. Endurance is not increase in longer aerobic exercises.

There is a debate on whether creatine is safe to use or not. Creatine companies always say that creatine use is safe, but some people don't share their enthusiasm. There are independent investigators that think industrial creatine has toxic elements that could lead to disease and even cancer in the long run; however, no serious scientific studies have been conducted in this area.

Creatine itself is no dangerous, but it has some short term side effects. The greater short term risk of ingesting creatine is dehydration, so while using it; it is recommended to drink from two to three liters of water per day. Other less common symptoms include minor digestive discomfort. Like everything, its use should not be abused to prevent problems.