Can Taking Creatine Hurt A Person?

Americans consume more than 4 million kg of creatine each year, even though the body makes it naturally, according to MedlinePlus, a website provided by the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Creatine helps boost your athletic performance, builds muscle mass and helps treat certain medical conditions. Despite its many benefits, creatine may damage your health.

Function

Your body turns creatine into phosphoceatine needed by your muscles for energy. Supplemental creatine helps increase the stores of phosphocreatine available to your muscles during exercise. A diet containing sufficient amounts of meat provides your body with enough L-arginine, L-methionine and glycine to produce adequate amounts of creatine to keep your body healthy, explains Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical Schoool.

Health Benefits

MedlinePlus reports that creatine supplements may help improve athletic performance of young, healthy athletes who engage in short bouts of high-intensity exercise, slow the progression of early Parkinson's disease, increase the strength and endurance of people with heart failure or muscular dystrophy, slow the progress of the eye disease known as gyrate atrophy and decrease the symptoms associated with the muscle the muscle disease known as McArdle's disease. However, these effects only occur when using a combination of creatine supplementation and exercise training. Scientific evidence has failed to show sufficient evidence for the use creatine to treat high cholesterol, Hintington's disease, depression, bipolar disorder or the muscles diseases dermatomyositis or polymyositis.

Recommended Dosage

The recommended dosage of creatine varies based on your weight and the goal of treatment. Improvement of athletic performance typically requires a loading does of 0.3 g of creatine per kg of body weight for five days, followed by 0.03 g of creatine per kg of body weight daily. MedlinePlus recommends 20 g per day for 5 to 10 days for heart failure, 10 g per day for Parkinson's disease, 1.5 g per day for gyrate atrophy, 10 g per day for adult muscular dystrophy and 5 g per day for childhood muscular dystrophy. Consult your doctor before starting creatine supplementation to determine an appropriate dose for your needs. Taking two or three smaller doses throughout the day may decrease any side effects. Taking too much may cause serious and irreversible side effects, warns Patricia Pierce, of Exercise and Rehabilitative Sciences at Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania.

Harmful Effects

Due to the limited amount of scientific research on the safety of creatine, only take supplementation under the supervision of a doctor. Common side effects include diarrrhea, loss of appetite, nausea and stomach discomfort. Other dangerous side effects of creatine include muscle cramps, muscle breakdown, weight gain, heat intolerance, dehydration, electrolyte imbalances, fever, reduced blood volume, kidney damage, changes in blood glucose levels, headaches, irritability, sleepiness, abnormal heart rhythm, blood cloods in the leg, swollen legs, aggression, nervousness and compartment syndrome -- a condition that requires emergency surgery to correct inflammation and ischemia to the lower leg, reports MayoClinic.com. Creatine may also cause dangerous interactions when taken with other medications that can harm the kidneys, like caffeine and ephedra. Eating carbohydrates at the same time as you take creatine may increase creatine levels in your muscles beyond the safe zone.