The basic question which arises, especially in the mind of a fitness enthusiast or a new gym-comer is what “actually” is creatine? Does it promote muscle growth? Is it beneficial for building muscles? Does it increases strength and improves performance? Does it have any side effects? If not, then what is the safe dosage that one should have in his/her everyday life? In this blog post (What is CREATINE ? Usage, Side Effects, Dosage, Health Benefits, Warnings) you will get all the answers – Creatine benefits, effects, dosage. After that, you yourself can judge it properly.
Table of Contents
1. WHAT IS CREATINE ?
Creatine is a natural substance which our own body produces every day. It is naturally present in our body and in our food which we consume daily. Almost 50% of creatine is naturally produced by our own body. Its traces can be found in liver, muscle tissues, pancreas.
Food also contains creatine especially non-veg foods like fish, red meat, eggs, chicken. In the vegetarian food, creatine quantity is very less but still, it contains a small trace of creatine.
Creatine is a nutrient which is very important and its role is scientifically proven to build muscles and to promote muscle nourishment.
2. COMPOSITION OF CREATINE.
Here is the basic scientific composition of creatine for your reference. Creatine is an organic compound with a molecular formula of (H2N)(HN)CN(CH3)CH2CO2H.
To simplify the structure the basic Nitrogen molecule is attached to three main Amino acids that are L-arginine, glycine and L-methionine. It is an amino acid that has a chemical name of methyl guanine-acetic acid.
It is constantly released in our body depending on the individual’s muscle quality, nourishment and muscle mass.
3. CONVERSION PROCESS/BREAKDOWN OF CREATINE.
What is the basic and simplified process of creatine breakdown in our body? How does it change when someone intakes it? Here you will get the complete process flow that how creatine changes and the whole conversion process of creatine takes place.
1.Till now you must have fetched an idea about what is creatine. When someone consumes creatine externally the body starts it natural conversion and breakdown process.
After going inside the body the natural chemical reaction starts to occur and creatine gets converted into creatine phosphate or phosphocreatine. This phosphocreatine gets stored in our muscles and tissues.
2.When an individual go to the gym to begin his/her muscle building training sessions, this stored phosphocreatine which is stored in muscle starts to break down and generates the ATP promotion. ATP means Adenosine Triphosphate which is a molecule that carries energy within the cells. Hence, these molecules are known as the powerhouse for the body.
3.These adenosine molecules has basically three phosphate groups attached to them. When it breaks into a simpler structure the last group gets detached and makes a bi-phosphate group.
The separated single group is the one which is responsible for the energy release and promotes in building the muscle.
4.After ATP conversion and its “providing energy phase” finishes off with your workout session, this creatine molecule ( or precisely phosphocreatine ) further breaks down into creatinine which is basically a waste material and necessarily needs to be excreted out of your body.
5.This creatinine goes in the blood. Then kidney filters it with its regular filtration process. After filtration, finally, these molecules go to the urine bladder and flushes out of the body.
4. WHAT IS THE SAFE DOSAGE OF CREATINE ?
This is the most frequently asked question which every individual has in his/her mind especially the ones who are in the field of the fitness industry.
Excess of anything will definitely harm your body and same is the case with creatine.
Our body itself produces creatine with an average quantity of 0.5 g ( in case of vegetarians ). This amount gets significantly higher with range variation of 0.1 – 0.2 grams if they start in taking vegetarian nutritional foods like kidney beans.
Whereas in the case of non-vegetarian foods, its found that if approximately 500 grams of fish (especially tuna ) or red meat is taken then it can give your body approximately 1.5 to 2 grams of creatine.
So is it sufficient? If you are an individual who does not gets involved in the hardcore gym training, muscle building programs, High-Intensity Trainings (HIT) then you do not actually need external creatine. Yes, it’s true! If you are among those who just live a fit life by opting for morning walk, jogging or running then you actually don’t need creatine externally. If you have a good diet plan that’s sufficient for you.
For the bodybuilders, high-intensity training people, athletes, power trainers the safest dosage of creatine is between 5 grams to 8 grams. Considering the fact that your protein powder, BCAA, pre-workout supplements also has a significant amount of creatine present in them. So, overdosing more than 8 grams – 10 grams is not at all recommended.
5. DOES CREATINE DAMAGES KIDNEY OR DOES IT HAS ANY SIDE EFFECTS ?
This is the question which is very relevant and still many of them has not found a perfect answer for this. So here it is. As you can see the creatine breakdown process which I have mentioned in the article above, tell me about your opinion that, at what stage kidney damage will be related to creatine?
First, let me clear this myth that if a person already has kidney malfunction from before, suffering from any disease or has a bad lifestyle then they can claim that their kidney is damaged but claiming that “creatine damaged his/her kidney” is totally irrelevant.
In the breakdown process its clearly visible that the kidney gets involved with creatine infiltration process until then no reach of creatine is there in the kidney. So if a person is consuming a good quantity of water every day that is 4 litre to 5 litres then he/she has nothing to worry about kidney malfunction.
Blaming creatine is not scientifically right because it’s already proven that creatine has nothing to do with kidney failure or malfunction until and unless you are responsible enough to keep yourself properly hydrated all day long.
A normal individual should consume approximately 2.5 litres to 3 litres of water every day for the proper functioning of the kidney because as the water quantity gets lower in our body the waste material present in our blood gets more concentrated and kidney gets stressed to filter them.
Same is the case when you are having creatine. If you are increasing your water intake quantity from 3 litres to 4 litres there is no need to worry about kidney malfunction.
The main worry arises when you are having less amount of water as compared to the compulsory amount then the creatinine present in you blood gets concentrated and the kidney gets stressed out to filter your blood.
So if you are having a good quantity of water ( precisely 4 litres to 4.5 litres) and stay hydrated then there is nothing to worry about kidney malfunction or any health-related issues.
At the same time if you are having creatine every day and consuming less amount of water there if definitely a very high risk of kidney malfunction, bloodstream related issues, kidney stones, urinal disorders, tract cancer and several high-risk diseases.
6. WHY YOU SHOULD TRAIN PROPERLY AND HAVE A HEALTHY DIET IF YOU ARE HAVING CREATINE ?
Simply having a scoop of creatine won’t help you to build muscle neither will give you the right amount of energy. You have to boost your metabolic process and nourish your body. When you are taking something you have to burn it properly to maximize the result. Hence, you should train properly to utilize the creatine effectively.
Diet is the key factor where everyone fails. If supplements were enough nobody would have opted for a healthy and balanced diet. Supplements are just add on to your diet to improve your performance. So have a nutritious and muscle building diet and train your muscles properly to get the maximum of creatine benefits.
7. DIFFERENT TYPES OF CREATINE.
There are basically three types of creatine. First two are the most famous one.
1.Creatine Monohydrate
Creatine monohydrate is the most famous and popular among all the creatines. It is the most researched creatine product and in almost 3 grams of creatine monohydrate, we get 2.3 to 2.5 grams of creatine. The particles are not that much fine hence this is the reason why an individual has to shake the water rigorously and immediately have it. Otherwise, creatine particles start to settle down.
2.Creatine Micronized
Creatine micronized is the type of creatine which is twenty times processed. These molecules are processed and broken down highly to form finer particles. It is highly water-soluble and has very quick absorption capacity. Since it is very fine in nature hence it costs more than creatine monohydrate.
3.Buffer Creatine
This creatine goes through the molecular buffering process and is very stable in nature. Buffer Creatine has a very less chance to get converted into waste and has almost 97-98% of creatine. It is then utilized by the muscle and gets soluble in bloodstreams, tissues and muscle fibres. It does not causes bloating, stomach issues or loading.
8. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CREATINE MONOHYDRATE, CREATINE MICRONIZED AND BUFFER CREATINE.
It is not necessary that if creatine micronized is more finer than monohydrate, then it will work in an effective manner. Yes definitely the absorption capacity and time duration of micronized creatine will be far better than creatine monohydrate. But no studies has shown relevant proof that micronized will work better than monohydrate.
Comparing Buffer creatine with the other, so the major factor which depends is that purity matters. In issue of safety for such a pure form no manufactures neither any field experts suggests that buffer creatine is the best. In fact its highly costly due to its manufacturing process cost. According to most of the fitness and sports nutritionist creatine monohydrate works fine. You can also opt for creatine micronized if you have a high budget. At last you have to verify that which product contains very less or negligible amount of sugar, fat, carbohydrates, flavors and colors.
For your reference, there is a very famous research article. It is present in “Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition “. A proper study was conducted to test all these types. You can follow it to get more details regarding these comparisons.
HINDI TRANSLATION
क्रिएटिन क्या है? उपयोग, साइड इफेक्ट, खुराक, स्वास्थ्य लाभ, चेतावनी।
मूल प्रश्न जो विशेष रूप से एक फिटनेस उत्साही या एक नए जिम-कॉमर के मन में उठता है, वह यह है कि "वास्तव में" क्रिएटिन क्या है? क्या यह मांसपेशियों की वृद्धि को बढ़ावा देता है? क्या यह मांसपेशियों के निर्माण के लिए फायदेमंद है? क्या यह ताकत बढ़ाता है और प्रदर्शन में सुधार करता है? क्या इसका कोई साइड इफेक्ट है? यदि नहीं, तो उसके दैनिक जीवन में सुरक्षित खुराक क्या होनी चाहिए? इस ब्लॉग पोस्ट में (क्रिएटिन क्या है? उपयोग, साइड इफेक्ट्स, खुराक, स्वास्थ्य लाभ, चेतावनी) आपको सभी उत्तर मिलेंगे - क्रिएटिन लाभ, प्रभाव, खुराक। उसके बाद आप खुद इसे ठीक से जज कर सकते हैं।
क्रिएटिन एक प्राकृतिक पदार्थ है जिसे हमारा अपना शरीर हर दिन पैदा करता है। यह हमारे शरीर और हमारे भोजन में स्वाभाविक रूप से मौजूद होता है जिसका हम रोजाना सेवन करते हैं। लगभग 50% क्रिएटिन प्राकृतिक रूप से हमारे अपने शरीर द्वारा निर्मित होता है। इसके निशान यकृत, मांसपेशियों के ऊतकों, अग्न्याशय में पाए जा सकते हैं।
भोजन में क्रिएटिन भी होता है विशेष रूप से मांसाहारी खाद्य पदार्थ जैसे मछली, रेड मीट, अंडे, चिकन। शाकाहारी भोजन में क्रिएटिन की मात्रा बहुत कम होती है लेकिन फिर भी, इसमें क्रिएटिन का एक छोटा सा अंश होता है।
क्रिएटिन एक पोषक तत्व है जो बहुत महत्वपूर्ण है और मांसपेशियों के निर्माण और मांसपेशियों के पोषण को बढ़ावा देने के लिए इसकी भूमिका वैज्ञानिक रूप से सिद्ध है।
हमारे शरीर में क्रिएटिन के टूटने की बुनियादी और सरल प्रक्रिया क्या है? जब कोई इसका सेवन करता है तो यह कैसे बदलता है? यहां आपको संपूर्ण प्रक्रिया प्रवाह मिलेगा कि क्रिएटिन कैसे बदलता है और क्रिएटिन की पूरी रूपांतरण प्रक्रिया होती है।
अब तक आप समझ गए होंगे कि क्रिएटिन क्या है। जब कोई बाहरी रूप से क्रिएटिन का सेवन करता है तो शरीर इसे प्राकृतिक रूपांतरण और टूटने की प्रक्रिया शुरू करता है। शरीर के अंदर जाने के बाद प्राकृतिक रासायनिक प्रतिक्रिया होने लगती है और क्रिएटिन क्रिएटिन फॉस्फेट या फॉस्फोस्रीटाइन में परिवर्तित हो जाता है। यह फॉस्फोस्रीटाइन हमारी मांसपेशियों और ऊतकों में जमा हो जाता है।
सिर्फ क्रिएटिन का एक स्कूप लेने से आपको मांसपेशियों के निर्माण में मदद नहीं मिलेगी और न ही आपको सही मात्रा में ऊर्जा मिलेगी। आपको अपनी चयापचय प्रक्रिया को बढ़ावा देना होगा और अपने शरीर को पोषण देना होगा। जब आप कुछ ले रहे होते हैं तो परिणाम को अधिकतम करने के लिए आपको उसे ठीक से जलाना होता है। इसलिए, आपको क्रिएटिन को प्रभावी ढंग से उपयोग करने के लिए ठीक से प्रशिक्षित करना चाहिए।आहार वह प्रमुख कारक है जहां हर कोई विफल रहता है। यदि पूरक आहार पर्याप्त होते तो कोई भी स्वस्थ और संतुलित आहार का विकल्प नहीं चुनता। आपके प्रदर्शन को बेहतर बनाने के लिए पूरक केवल आपके आहार में शामिल हैं। इसलिए पौष्टिक और मांसपेशियों के निर्माण वाला आहार लें और अधिकतम क्रिएटिन लाभ प्राप्त करने के लिए अपनी मांसपेशियों को ठीक से प्रशिक्षित करें।
Do let us know:
Which workout routine do you follow, your Creatine dosage and brand you are going to opt for?
A Complete Beginner’s guide to gym : http://myfitfreak.com/complete-beginners-guide-to-gym-a-basic-blueprint-for-the-beginners/
Want to know everything about BCAA’s or EAA’s? : http://myfitfreak.com/what-is-bcaa-eaa-complete-overview-of-amino-acids-definition-usage-dosage-benefits/
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