Understanding Creatine Side Effects
January 6th, 2009Depending on who you are, and what you are trying to achieve with your nutritional supplements, creatine can have some side effects which can lead to results that are less than satisfactory, and in some cases even counter the athletic training that you are performing.
To understand how these side effects manifest themselves, a quick recap of the main actions of creatine is worthwhile. Creatine is a compound that occurs naturally in the body, largely in the skeletal muscle, and largely a particular form known as PCr.
The role of PCr is to facilitate increased anaerobic energy, and, via a complex sequence of chemical reactions, leads to the athlete having more muscle energy and perform more intense workouts. When PCr becomes depleted, fatigue during exercises can also increase.
In effect, creatine supplements try to increase the amount of available creatine in the body, in an attempt to boost the ability of muscles to work out at higher levels. Creatine will also build muscle mass, thus improving overall strength, perfect for body building, sprinting, and other athletic activities requiring a short burst of high energy muscle reaction.
However, one of the creatine side effects that can be experienced means that for endurance athletes, it may not be such a good choice of supplement. In fact, muscle mess is less important than the possibility to carry on performing over a longer term, and the excess weight will reduce the time that an athlete is able to continue.
Worse than this, roughly a third of all athletes who use creatine supplements do not actually report any change in their athletic prowess at all. This is because their body is unable to process the additional creatine, and the PCr stores in the body do therefore not increase, nor does the body mass. This is not dangerous, and the excess creatine will simply be wasted.
More serious are the creatine side effects that lead to increased cramping and muscle strains, possibly linked to intracellular swelling as a result of excess creatine in skeletal muscle mass. These are rare, but it is worth knowing that there are some small chances of such things occurring so that the athlete can watch out for the symptoms and perhaps remove one possible cause.
Other than these, the only creatine side affects are entirely beneficial to all but the most serious endurance and long distance athletes, who would be better off avoiding any supplements that build muscle mass.
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