Supplements are purported to help increase strength and athletic performance. Many of these supplements contain amino acids, such as creatine. Creatine powder can be added to drinks and other foods to increase the amount of creatine in your diet. Although creatine does provide some benefits for athletes, talk to your doctor before taking creatine powder or any other sort of supplement.
What Is Creatine?
Creatine is an amino acid which isn't used by your body to make new proteins. Instead it serves as a source of energy for your muscles. Creatine can increase athletic performance for young and healthy people who are doing high-intensity exercises, such as sprinting. Creatine may also be effective at increasing strength and endurance for people with heart failure or muscular dystrophy. Creatine powder may also be useful for slowing the progression of symptoms in Parkinson's disease patients.
Creatine Cellular Effects
The way that creatine can improve athletic performance is by serving as a backup source of energy for your muscles. When you engage in high intensity exercise, your muscles go through a lot of energy in the form of a molecule known as adenosine triphosphate or ATP. Creatine can temporarily serve as a backup energy source by allowing the muscle cells to quickly replenish their ATP levels. The energy provided by creatine only lasts for a few seconds, however, and is only used in the case of high-intensity exercises such as sprinting or weight lifting.
Other Effects
Creatine powder is often used by body builders and it may also play a role in increasing muscle mass. When you consume creatine, your body retains more water. However, some of this extra water goes inside of the muscle cells. This causes the muscle cells to swell. Not only will this make the muscles appear larger, swollen muscle cells are more likely to make new muscle fibers, which will lead to a long-term increase in muscle mass and strength.
Safety
Creatine powder is likely safe when taken in the recommended doses found on the product's packaging. Taking creatine powder can cause diarrhea, stomach pain, nausea and muscle cramping in some users. Taking large amounts of creatine can be dangerous, however, because it can potentially damage your liver, heart and kidneys, though more research needs to be done on the safety of creatine powder. Talk to your doctor before taking creatine or any other supplement.
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