Creatines

What is creatine?

You surely know that creatine supplementation is very popular among athletes and exercisers, mainly to improve performance, and thus also muscle mass and regeneration. Creatine is a naturally occurring non-protein amino acid compound, which in our body is synthesized in the liver, kidneys and pancreas. Endogenous creatine synthesis is a complex process and requires the presence of three main amino acids: glycine, arginine and methionine. Exogenous sources of creatine are food, i.e. meat, fish and seafood.

Training, diet and creatine - the perfect combination?

Even if you are not a physically active person or you are just starting your adventure with the gym, you have surely heard the popular slogan starting with the words chicken, rice and creatine .... This is a big mental shortcut, but it is widely known that if you want to shape your dream figure, you start with properly planned physical activity and a balanced diet.

How Much Creatine Is in Muscles?

About 95% of creatine is stored in the muscles, with the remainder found in other tissues such as the heart, brain and testicles. Of this, approximately 2/3 of the creatine is bound to inorganic phosphate and stored as phosphocreatine, with the remainder stored as free creatine. Depending on the diet we follow, it is worth knowing that vegetarians have muscle creatine and phosphocreatine stores about 20-30% lower than people who consume animal products on a daily basis. Our body breaks down approximately 1-2% of the creatine in the muscles daily into creatinine, which is excreted in the urine. The degradation of creatine to creatinine is greater in people with more muscle mass and people with higher levels of physical activity. Therefore, an average-weight person may need 2–3 g of creatine per day to maintain normal creatine stores, depending on diet, muscle mass, and level of physical activity. So, for example, the average pool of creatine for a person weighing about 70 kg varies between 120-140 g, of which about 2 g is lost in the urine in the form of creatinine. Daily creatine intake and excretion are approximately equal, so the most effective way to increase creatine stores in the body is through dietary supplementation.

How does creatine work? What does creatine do in our body?

Before starting supplementation, it is worth finding out how creatine works. The most important information is that creatine plays an important role in maintaining the availability of energy. The basic metabolic task of creatine is to combine with the phosphoryl group to form phosphocreatine through an appropriate enzymatic reaction. Generally speaking, creatine affects the maintenance of ATP availability, especially during maximum effort. These are complex processes at the cellular level - the cellular creatine/phosphocreatine pool is used to maintain the appropriate adenosine triphosphate (ATP)/adenosine diphosphate (ADP) ratio through ATP resynthesis or buffering. What does this really mean for us? Creatine supplementation is associated with its ergogenic properties.

3 g of creatine - is it a lot or a little?

Just in time! This amount is sufficient for daily supplementation, because creatine has been proven to increase physical performance in the case of successive short, high-intensity physical exercises, and its beneficial effect is obtained when consuming just 3 g of creatine per day. Keep in mind here that this applies to adults doing high-intensity exercise. This completely solves the question of how to use creatine. Older scientific publications describe the scheme of creatine use divided into the loading phase and the maintenance phase. Creatine loading is defined as consuming as much as 20-25g of creatine per day for 5-7 days, often divided into smaller amounts throughout the day (e.g. four to five servings of 5g per day). The loading phase is followed by a daily maintenance phase, often ranging from 3 to 5 g servings per day. However, according to recent data, a common misconception about creatine supplementation is that people need to load it up to increase muscle storage and ergogenic benefits. Strategies for lower daily creatine use (i.e. 3-5g/day) are well established in the scientific literature for increasing muscle creatine stores. In short, a growing body of evidence shows that you don't need to load up on creatine. Lower daily amounts of creatine supplementation (i.e. 3-5 g/day) are sufficient to increase muscle creatine stores, resulting in muscle performance, recovery and growth.

The best creatine? Which form of creatine to choose?

Wondering which creatine to choose? You must know that creatine monohydrate powder is the most widely researched and most widely used form of creatine in dietary supplements since the early 1990s. Creatine in the form of monohydrate was used in the initial studies to assess bioavailability, determine the appropriate portions and evaluate the effect of creatine use on its level in the blood and intramuscular stores. Studies have confirmed that the intake of creatine monohydrate (e.g. 3-5 g/day) increases the amount of creatine in the blood for 3-4 hours after consumption, thus facilitating the uptake of creatine into tissues by diffusion and creatine transporters. The supplementation market offers many different forms of creatine, including their complexes. They differ e.g. the degree of advancement of the technological process, which affects, for example, solubility or bioavailability. The selection of creatine that will suit you best is a completely individual matter, so it is worth trying out its various forms. Pay attention to the amount of creatine per serving - usually manufacturers facilitate our supplementation by providing 3 g of creatine per serving of a given product.

Is creatine an anabolic steroid?

Absolutely not! Creatine is found in large amounts in food and therefore its use is not prohibited by any sports organization. Creatine has a completely different chemical structure than anabolic steroids, which are controlled substances and are subject to completely different regulations. Their mechanisms of action are also completely different. So what's the difference? Anabolic steroids are a synthetic version of testosterone, an androgenic hormone that is combined with resistance training to increase muscle mass and strength by increasing muscle protein synthesis. This increase in muscle protein synthesis is a result of testosterone's ability to enter the muscle cell, binding to the intracellular androgen receptor and increasing the expression of various muscle-specific genes. Creatine, on the other hand, is converted to phosphocreatine, regulated by the enzyme creatine kinase in the muscles, and used to generate the intracellular production of adenosine triphosphate (ATP). Creatine supplementation can increase ATP capacity and energy produced during heavy anaerobic exercise, which in turn affects muscle strength, number of repetitions and exercise volume, which contributes to muscle performance during the training period.

Does creatine retain water in the body?

This is an important issue, and you've probably heard a variety of opinions about it. You may come across claims that creatine supplementation increases water in the body, which is probably due to early research that showed that the use of creatine in the amount of 20 g per day for six days was associated with water retention. It seems that the most common adverse effect of creatine supplementation is water retention in the early stages (first few days). There are also studies that have shown that three days of creatine supplementation increased body water, extracellular water, and intracellular water. This concerned the short duration of creatine use, but the opinion that creatine increases water retention in the long term has been widely accepted. So what's the deal with this water and creatine? You have to start with the fact that creatine is an osmotically active substance. Therefore, an increase in creatine content in the body may theoretically result in increased water retention. Creatine is taken up into the muscles from the circulation by the sodium-dependent creatine transporter. Since the transport involves sodium, water will also be drawn into the muscles to help maintain intracellular osmolality. However, due to the activity of the sodium-potassium pumps, creatine supplementation is unlikely to have such an appalling effect on intracellular sodium concentrations.

Is it worth using creatine?

Of course! If you are in a period of intense training - creatine can be a great support!

Creatines from 6PAK Nutrition

If you still don't know which creatine to choose from our offer - here's a short cheat ;)

• Creatine Monohydrate – creatine monohydrate in the form of powder with the addition of taurine. The product is available in flavored or pure versions. One serving contains 4700 mg of monohydrate, including 4136 mg of creatine alone. An excellent choice - monohydrate always works!
• Creatine – creatine monohydrate in the form of tablets. One serving contains 4000 mg of monohydrate, including 35200 mg of creatine alone. Perfect supplementation - simple and comfortable, and handy packaging! This option will be great for everyone who is busy and for those who do not like to carry shakers with them.
• CrM3 PAK – tricreatine malate in the form of powder enriched with the addition of taurine and vitamin B6. Each serving is 3300 mg of creatine alone. The product is available in flavored or pure versions, and you can also choose a larger (500 g) or smaller (250 g) package.
• TCM – tricreatine malate in the form of capsules. One serving contains 4000 mg of malate, including 3000 mg of creatine alone. A great choice if you don't like powdered products. One package provides up to 40 servings!
• Crea PAK – creatine blend in the form of powder, in which you will find as many as 3 forms of creatine: monohydrate, malate and hydrochloride. Each serving is as much as 4750 mg of creatine alone! The product has been additionally enriched with taurine. The perfect option if you want to combine different forms of creatine!

Bibliography:

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7. Rozporządzenie Komisji (UE) NR 432/2012 z dnia 16 maja 2012 r. ustanawiające wykaz dopuszczonych oświadczeń zdrowotnych dotyczących żywności, innych niż oświadczenia odnoszące się do zmniejszenia ryzyka choroby oraz rozwoju i zdrowia dzieci.