Discipline of Biochemistry, School of Molecular and Microbial Biosciences G08, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia. c.rae@mmb.usyd.edu.au
Creatine supplementation is in widespread use to enhance sports-fitness performance, and has been trialled successfully in the treatment of neurological, neuromuscular and atherosclerotic disease. Creatine plays a pivotal role in brain energy homeostasis, being a temporal and spatial buffer for cytosolic and mitochondrial pools of the cellular energy currency, adenosine triphosphate and its regulator, adenosine diphosphate. In this work, we tested the hypothesis that oral creatine supplementation (5 g d(-1) for six weeks) would enhance intelligence test scores and working memory performance in 45 young adult, vegetarian subjects in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over design. Creatine supplementation had a significant positive effect (p < 0.0001) on both working memory (backward digit span) and intelligence (Raven’s Advanced Progressive Matrices), both tasks that require speed of processing. These findings underline a dynamic and significant role of brain energy capacity in influencing brain performance.
I’ve also read about this study before. I think it would be interesting to see how it would work on meat eaters. The way I see it, vegetarians aren’t getting nearly enough creatine anyway and any time your body is deprived of something it needs and then suddenly receives it, your body will work better in all sorts of ways. Maybe its time someone tried this with bodybuilders that already eat large amounts of creatine rich foods. See how their brains react to creatine supplementation. On a side note, I’ve also heard it put forth that regular creatine supplementation could help prevent brain and nervous system diseases such as Alzheimers, Parkinsons and Lou Gerhig’s disease. Interesting.
The thing about creatine is, who knows what effects it can have on the heart? I mean the heart is a muscle too, creatine has to effect it in some way. I have heard the study about it helping brain performance, but i think the risks outweigh the rewards.
Just kidding… seriously though, I don’t think there’s any data to support the idea that creatine is bad for your heart. Unless you know something I don’t, which is certainly possible. And why do you think it would be?
[quote]Mego wrote:
The thing about creatine is, who knows what effects it can have on the heart? I mean the heart is a muscle too, creatine has to effect it in some way. I have heard the study about it helping brain performance, but i think the risks outweigh the rewards.[/quote]
Um, yes, that has been studied. Creatine is the most tested and studied supplement in the world. It’s safe. No negative effect on cardiac muscle. The sky is not falling, chicken little.
Lol just because Im 13 doesnt mean i dont do my research. All the studies Ive seen have said that effects on the heart and liver are unknown. Hell even readers digest said that.Im not saying that it is not safe, i just think that there is a good chance it could have negative effects also.
[quote]Mego wrote:
Lol just because Im 13 doesnt mean i dont do my research. All the studies Ive seen have said that effects on the heart and liver are unknown. Hell even readers digest said that.Im not saying that it is not safe, i just think that there is a good chance it could have negative effects also. [/quote]
Just a guess, but Reader’s Digest might not be the best place to catch the latest research on performance-enhancing supplements.
While I prefer to get my information from a wide variety of sources, I definitely pick T-Nation over Reader’s Digest.
There’s plenty of research showing that creatine monohydrate is friendly to cardiac and liver tissue.
Ive seen the info many places, i just wanted to point out that even readers digest knows that creatine can cause problems. Ill see if i can find links to a few credible sites.
