What are the most prominent supplements touted to increase muscle strength and development?
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Sport supplements have evolved into a multibillion dollar industry, yet their evolutionary process really has not been that long. Today there are numerous supplements available to people looking to improve their muscle mass or leanness. While many of them are well known, not all are known to really make a difference. Among the more efficacious supplements are protein (level and timing), creatine, hydroxymethyl butryate (HMB), carnitine and beta-alanine. |
Can creatine supplementation enhance muscle and strength development?
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Creatine is naturally made by the human body and has become one of the most studied sport supplements. As discussed, in muscle and other tissue, ATP is used to transfer energy and a phosphate group to creatine, forming creatine phosphate. This substance then becomes a readily available means of regenerating ATP when it is in demand. For muscle, this would be during the early stage of an exercise. In the brain, it can help to maintain ATP levels during brief periods of poor oxygen supply. The brain relies on aerobic ATP production so periods of decreased oxygen availability are extremely critical. ATP can be regenerated from creatine phosphate in a single chemical reaction, which does not require oxygen. |
Creatine is made in the body using three amino acids (methionine, glycine, and arginine) and two organs (liver and kidneys). Creatine is also found in animal foods, primarily the muscle part of animals. Therefore, meat eaters tend to consume one to two grams of creatine in their diets. The practice of supplementing creatine became extremely popular in the 1990s as several scientific studies showed that muscle creatine levels could be increased with supplementation. This change was often associated with increases in total body mass, lean body mass, strength, and power. Creatine is mostly supplemented as creatine monohydrate, but other forms do exist such as polyethylene glycol (PEG), ethyl ester, fumarate, malate, etc. While these other forms aren’t more effective than monohydrate, they might be able to produce a similar effect at lower levels of creatine. It can be purchased as a powder to dissolve in a drink, or as a concentrated liquid to be administered orally via a dropper.
A few years ago it was more popular for individuals to begin creatine supplementation by way of a “loading” phase. In this phase, roughly 20 to 25 grams of creatine may have been ingested for 5 to 7 days, followed by a longer “maintenance” phase involving about 3 to 5 grams daily. What scientists found was that when young men were provided 20 grams of creatine monohydrate daily for about a week they developed a 20 percent increase in muscle creatine levels. Furthermore, this increased muscle content of creatine could be maintained for thirty days when the loading phase was followed by a maintenance dose of only 2 grams daily. Interestingly, the same researchers also found that you could get to the same level of muscle creatine after four weeks by starting off and maintaining a supplement dose of 3 grams daily, which offers a more economically and practical alternative. At this time creatine supplementation is believed to be generally safe when users follow the recommended levels.
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