From the Guidelines
Creatine monohydrate can help improve exercise performance, particularly during high-intensity, short-duration activities, by increasing phosphocreatine stores and enhancing ATP regeneration, but its use requires careful consideration in individuals with kidney issues, as it may affect creatinine clearance measurements and potentially lead to misclassification of acute kidney injury 1.
Key Benefits and Considerations
- Improves exercise performance, especially in high-intensity, short-duration activities like weightlifting and sprinting
- Increases phosphocreatine stores, enhancing ATP regeneration and allowing for higher intensity during workouts
- Typically recommended dose is 3-5 grams daily, taken consistently, with no need for cycling or loading
- May affect creatinine clearance measurements, potentially leading to misclassification of acute kidney injury in individuals with kidney issues, as observed in a unique situation where creatine supplementation did not alter kidney function in a patient with a solitary kidney, but influenced creatinine clearance measurements 1
Important Safety Considerations
- Generally safe for healthy individuals, but requires careful consideration in those with kidney issues
- Stay well-hydrated while using creatine monohydrate to minimize potential risks
- Consult a healthcare provider if you have kidney issues or concerns about using creatine monohydrate, as nephrotoxic potential has been observed with exposure to several dietary supplements, including creatine monohydrate, which may cause rhabdomyolysis 1
From the Research
Benefits of Creatine Monohydrate
- Increases muscle performance in short-duration, high-intensity resistance exercises 2
- Enhances lean muscle mass and exercise capacity when used with short-duration, high-intensity exercise 3
- Provides additional benefits including enhanced postexercise recovery, injury prevention, rehabilitation, as well as a number of potential neurologic benefits that may be relevant to sports 3
- Exerts positive ergogenic effects on single and multiple bouts of short-duration, high-intensity exercise activities, in addition to potentiating exercise training adaptations 4
- Increases maximal strength, maximal work output, power production, sprint performance, and fat-free mass 4
- May speed up recovery time between bouts of intense exercise by mitigating muscle damage and promoting the faster recovery of lost force-production potential 4
Safety and Tolerance
- Relatively safe supplement with few adverse effects reported 2
- Most common adverse effect is transient water retention in the early stages of supplementation 2
- Short- and long-term supplementation is safe and well tolerated in healthy individuals and in a number of patient populations 3
- No significant effects on different studied indexes of kidney function such as glomerular filtration rate at least in healthy athletes and bodybuilders with no underlying kidney diseases 5
Dosage and Administration
- Effective dosing for creatine supplementation includes loading with 0.3 g·kg·d for 5 to 7 days, followed by maintenance dosing at 0.03 g·kg·d most commonly for 4 to 6 wk 2
- Loading doses are not necessary to increase the intramuscular stores of creatine 2
- Recommended dosages are 3-5 g/day or 0.1 g/kg of body mass/day 6