Creatine, Facts and Myths Part 1 – Does it Work and is it Safe?

I’m willing to bet that you don’t have all of the facts about creatine. There is just so much misinformation about this supplement and I’m constantly getting questioned on it. Over the next few weeks, I’ll address the myths, and I should point out I've been using creatine for 15 years, and in my 40's I'm as lean and healthy as a 20 year old - Ask 6 time Mr Olympia Dorian Yates!



Let’s dispense with the basics. Most people reading this know that creatine works to add muscle mass and strength, hundreds of studies can’t be wrong, so creatine is without question the real deal. Now let’s get the safety issue out of the way. As long ago as 2000, a roundtable of 12 of the world’s foremost creatine experts found “no definitive evidence” that creatine has any side effects whatsoever and the results were published by the American College of Sports Medicine. One study even found creatine to be safe when subjects took it for up to five years and as much as 80 grams per day! By now, millions have used creatine, with no confirmed reports of serious side effects in healthy users.

What about injuries, cramping, bloating and water retention? The answer is that creatine has no such effects. For example, one study found that sportsmen who used creatine had, “fewer cases of muscle pulls or strain, missed practices due to injury, and cramping” and they didn’t get any bloating. A study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine notes that creatine actually increases athletic performance in hot and humid conditions by helping to regulate temperature, sweat rate and heart rate in exercisers, so despite the “reports” you may have heard, when creatine users are carefully monitored it appears that creatine may actually decrease the health risks of training in the heat!

Finally, creatine may cause some water retention in the muscle (although this has not been fully established) but it doesn’t cause you to hold water under the skin or make you look “soft”. This isn’t just my opinion either, I’ve personally discussed this with two of the world’s most prominent creatine researchers – Dr Paul Greenhaff and Dr Mark Tarnopolsky. These guys have studied creatine for decades and they’ve actually looked at muscle biopsies (real bits of muscle extracted from creatine users) and they’ve established that creatine does not sit between the skin and the muscle causing a “soft look”. So next time you hear that rumour, send your misinformed friend the link to this article!

So most bodybuilders should be on creatine all year round, including contest prep because it makes them look bigger and fuller and prevents muscle and strength loss when dieting. Rumors of creatines’ “side effects” have probably come from a few unscrupulous companies who are selling new fancy types of creatine that they claim don’t have these alleged side effects.

Next week - What is creatine and how to take it? Join the MuscleDiet group and ask me any further questions!