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Hue,
I know you have directed the question to Vickie and I apologize for stepping in, but as I enter my 3rd decade of medical practice I have been asked this question a zillion times, so I thought I would give you MY 2 cents and then step out.
Creatine is a dietary supplement used for increasing muscle mass and improving performance in short-duration, high-intensity exercise. It has been popular for about 15 years.
It is not banned by the Olympic Committee or any other sports organizations to my knowledge.
Creatine is made naturally in the liver and stored in your muscles. In your diet it is found in red meat. As a supplement it is usually sold in powder or tablet form.
When muscles contract they burn up a substance called ATP and break it down into ADP (Yes, this is the Krebs cycle from high school biology coming back to haunt you!) Creatine helps turn the ADP back into ATP, thus renewing the energy source for your muscles. This tends to work for short bursts of exercise such as weight lifting, sprinting,football, but has not been shown to be beneficial for endurance type activities such as swimming or cycling.
Creatine increases the amount of water stored in the muscle and increases the muscle volume--yes, you will look great in your golf shirt! You will also gain a little weight (5-10 pounds) in about 6 weeks. It WILL make you bigger, but not more skillful or agile. Of interest, for some reason, creatine does absolutely NOTHING for about 25-30% of the people who take it. No one knows why.
Side effects I have seen are stomach upset and some muscle cramping. If you plan to try it I suggest you keep very well hydrated.
Risks of long-term use of creatine are NOT KNOWN!!! Some articles I have read over the years seem to indicate potential kidney damage, but this is not certain.
My PERSONAL opinion is that you are better off eating a balanced diet(yes, an occasional steak is ok) and getting regular exercise as per all of the excellent suggestions by Vickie in this forum. Sorry again for butting in, but as a team physician for a local high school I have developed a bias against stuff like this. And now, if it has finally stopped raining, I'm going to G.O.L.F. Stay healthy folks---the information in this forum from Vickie is absolutely FIRST CLASS and we are very fortunate to have someone with her credentials sharing her knowledge.
Dr Dave
"That which does not kill me just postpones the inevitable!"
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