Creatine has been proven to help gain muscles but just recently certain claims on creatine side effects emerge.What do you think are those creatine side effects?

Before knowing the possible creatine side effects please allow me to inform everybody what creatine is first.

What is Creatine?

One of the most effective and most popular supplement commonly used by bodybuilders is CREATINE. They use creatine to gain muscles and attain much sexy, hot and masculine body. In short, they want to be fit and enjoy amazing benifits.

Creatine is a compound formed from amino acids stored in our muscles. The source of creatine are the foods we eat. Creatine rich foods are foods rich in protein like meat, poultry, eggs and beens.

Creatine is produce in our kidneys and liver. It is then transported to our muscles for usage. Since creatine is abundant in protein foods, we expect vegetarian to have low levels of muscle creatine. Having low levels of muscle creatine may result to shortage for replacement when creatine is used.

Creatine can be found in our muscles in a form of creatine phosphates and differs from one person to another. Creatine phosphate has various major roles in our body metabolism. Creatine phosphate provides power system to regenerate ATP which is the fuel currency of our muscles.

This ‘phosphagen’ power system is the most important fuel source for the performance of all-out sprints of 5-10 second duration. But creatine phosphate may also provide other roles in the generation of power via the anaerobic use of carbohydrate, and aerobic metabolism inside the muscle cell. It is not surprising that an increase in the muscle creatine phosphate level sounds attractive to an athlete.

Benefits of taking Creatine

Before going to negative side effects of creatine, let us proceed first to creatine’s good effects or shall we say the benefits of taking in creatine supplements. Enumerated below are among the benefits one could get from taking creatine.

1. The first benefit that a person who takes creatine would feel is the feeling of having more energy. Yes, creatine is proven to provide additional energy for our muscles.

2. Creatine furthermore helps increase your muscles faster.

3. Buffers lactic acid build up.

4. Creatine is also found to speed up recovery given you have injuries. Why? Because creatine can be found in amino acids and amino acid is the building block of protein and protein help our muscles and bones grow.

5. Creatine aids in fat loss.

6. Creatine increases our strength.

7. Creatine increases our endurance.

Unwanted Creatine Side Effects

1. Dehydration – One of the creatine side effects is dehydration. As creatine dawns into our body, our water level is affected. It is lowered. So, the only solution here is to take as much water as possible after taking creatine supplements.

2. Sudden Muscle Increase – the first seen side effect of creatine is the sudden muscle increase. Studies show that 3kg of body weight is increased approximately under taking creatine for a couple of times.

3. Muscle Cramps - As a result of dehydration, our muscle cramps. If you take strain in doing something while dehydrated then you probably encounter muscle cramps.

4. Upset Stomach

5. Kidney problems - as we all know, all proteins are synthesized in our kidney. So the more we take proteins like creatine, the more we are loading much work for our kidney. In the long run, our kidney might be worn out. Yet there are only few cases reported with this matter according to some report.

There, we know there are good and negative creatine side effects and the only way to stay fit is to balance the intake, eat properly, drink plenty of water and have regular exercise.

Despite the fact that creatine has been a very popular body building product nowadays, we cant still deny the fact that it has minor dangers. Below are some dangers of creatine which you should not take for granted.

Kidney Damage

Among the very popular dangers of creatine or side effects of creatine is kidney damage. People using creatine as supplement tend to increase levels of waste in urine concentrations and an increased level of protein wastes on urine indicates a kidney problem. Having plenty of creatinine, wastes, in urine calls for the importance of drinking more water to dispose extra creatinine.

Nausea and Diarrhea

Even if nausea and diarrhea dont commonly happen, it is very possible to occur. These would be the result if you take much amount of creatine and are not properly dissolved in the stomach. To get rid of this be sure to take the recommended amount of creatine and to drink plenty of water.

Muscle Cramps

As you take creatine it draws water into the muscle cells which requires plenty of fluid especially during the loading phase. Not drinking plenty of water or fluids may lead to a greater tendency of having muscle cramps. However, creatine studies do not show muscle cramping effects on people with enough fluids.

Dehydration

Together with muscle cramping, dehydration has also been reported anecdotally. Despite the fact that studies do not back up the anecdotal evidences, creatine draws water into muscle cells thus requiring us to drink plenty of water upon supplementing.

Conclusion

As a whole, taking creatine as a supplement is safe for healthy individuals provided they take it responsibly. It means not to overload and to always supply body with plenty of water. Buying very cheap creatine powder is not a good idea because there is a tendency of mixing other chemicals which might cause serious effects later. To be always safe, be sure to consult your health care provider or nutritionist first before taking creatine supplements.

To common people, creatine is not a big deal since they dont know what creatine is. However to most body builders or even models and athletes, creatine is one of the most important part of their career, their life.

What really is Creatine?

Creatine is the term which refers to a chemical that is normally found in human body particularly in muscles. However, it can also be found and obtained from fish, meats and other great protein sources.

Since it can improve exercise performance as well as increase muscle mass, creatine is so popular and is commonly used by athletes. It seems to be the common language of professional and amateur athletes when it comes to improved physique and exercise performance.

It is allowed by the International Olympic Committee, NCAA as well as professional sports. On the other hand, NCAA does not allow schools to fund their student athletes for creatine. Instead each student athlete should expense money from their own pocket.

Aside from improved athletic performance, creatine is also used for congestive heart failure, depression, bipolar disorder, Parkinson’s disease and a lot more ailments. Creatine is very useful to help slow the worsening of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, McArdle’s disease as well as any muscular dystrophies.