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Creatine Monohydrate

CREATINE MONOHYDRATE:

CREATINE + PYRUVATE:

  One gram of creatine pyruvate provides 680 mg creatine and 402 mg pyruvic acid.

This unique formula combines the performance enhancing effects of creatine monohydrate and pyruvate to boost energy and endurance. Pyruvate stimulates glucose extraction from blood into muscle during exercise and at rest, priming muscle with a carbohydrate content essential for greater endurance. In clinical studies, pyruvate reduced gain in body fat without reducing muscle protein, an important factor in increasing lean muscle mass. Supplementation with creatine pyruvate provides complementary nutritional support for maximizing muscular performance and endurance in high intensity exercise programs.

THE ERGOGENIC PROPERTIES OF CREATINE MONOHYDRATE.

Creatine monohydrate provides safe nutritional support for athletes seeking peak performance in short-duration, high-intensity efforts. By supporting the body’s natural ability to regenerate the primary energy immediately available to working muscle, creatine monohydrate has the potential to increase optimal work output in activities such as weight-lifting and sprinting.*

THE ROLE OF ATP AND CREATINE PHOSPHATE DURING HIGH-INTENSITY EXERCISE.

The working muscles used during short-term, high intensity exercise demand tremendous, immediate energy. The energy consumed by muscles is primarily adenosine triphosphate (ATP). During high intensity exercise, the demand in working muscles for ATP increases several hundredfold as compared to muscles at rest. ATP is stored only in limited supplies in muscle cells, however; maintaining peak performance requires these levels to be replenished constantly.*

Creatine phosphate acts as the primary resupplier of ATP levels for high intensity efforts lasting up to and around 25 seconds. Up to 95% of the body’s total creatine content is stored in skeletal muscle, 60% of which is stored in the form of creatine phosphate. During muscle contractions ATP is hydrolyzed to adenosine diphosphate (ADP). Creatine phosphate regenerates ATP levels by breaking down and lending the phosphate to the ADP. As the muscle recovers, it is converted back into creatine phosphate.1 Due to the important role creatine plays in recharging ATP levels, researchers and athletes are focusing on how they can raise levels of creatine in the body.*

CREATINE MONOHYDRATE

Neither creatine phosphate nor ATP can be directly supplemented in the diet. Creatine phosphate levels will increase, however, with a rise in total creatine levels. Creatine is manufactured in the body by arginine, glycine and methionine. In the diet it is found in meat, especially red meat, and also in small amounts from plants. A mixed diet supplies an average of 1 gram per day, while a vegetarian diet relies almost exclusively on the body’s ability to manufacture creatine.2 3 Higher levels of creatine can be derived from creatine monohydrate, a supplemental form of creatine which has been shown to raise total plasma levels of creatine.*

A clinical study of 17 subjects demonstrated that creatine monohydrate supplementation increased the total creatine pool in muscle. The subjects were administered 5 g of creatine monohydrate four or six times a day for 2 or more days. Supplementation resulted in a significant increase in the total creatine content of the quadriceps femoris muscle. The average increase in the total creatine levels was from 126.8 to 148.6 mmol/kg and creatine phosphate increased from 84.2 to 90.6 mmol/kg. The increase was the most substantial in subjects with a low initial total creatine content, increasing their levels to the upper level of the normal range.*4

THE EFFECT OF SUPPLEMENTAL CREATINE ON INTENSE EXERCISE.

It has been theorized that a limited supply of ATP is one of the major limiting factors in maintaining peak muscle performance. Clinical studies have demonstrated that increasing total creatine pools through supplementation can increase maximum performance for short-duration, high-impact efforts.*

Twelve subjects performed 5 bouts of 30 voluntary knee extensions with 1 minute recovery periods between each bout. Subjects were tested for peak muscle torque production before and after treatment with either placebo or creatine. The treatment period lasted 5 days and consisted of a placebo 4 times a day or 5 grams of creatine 4 times a day plus 1 gram of glucose a day. Subjects who were administered the placebo demonstrated no difference in performance. In the creatine group, however, peak muscle torque production increased in all subjects during the final 10 contractions of exercise in bout 1, throughout the entirety of exercise in bouts 2, 3 and 4, and during contractions 11-20 of bout 5 after supplementation.

Researchers concluded that creatine supplementation increased the level of peak torque production during repeated bouts of maximal voluntary muscle contraction.*5

In a similar study, researchers divided sixteen subjects into two groups receiving either 20 g per day creatine monohydrate, or placebo (glucose), for a six day treatment period. Before and after the treatment period, subjects performed high-intensity exercise consisting of 10 six-second bouts on a cycle ergometer with a 30 second recovery period In between attempting to maintain a pedaling frequency of 140 revolutions per minute. There was no difference in exercise output between the two groups before the treatment period. After treatment, however, the group supplementing with creatine monohydrate displayed an easier time maintaining the target speed towards the end of each exercise bout than the placebo group.*6

A further study utilizing the same treatment protocol of 20 g creatine monohydrate or placebo for six days confirmed the above results. In this study, subjects performed 5 standardized 6 second bouts of high intensity exercise, and after a 40 second rest were tested for their ability to sustain high power output during a 10 second exercise period. Subjects who had been administered creatine monohydrate demonstrated a significant improvement in exercise output.*7

SIGNIFICANCE FOR ATHLETES

In order to maintain peak performance in short-term, high-intensity exercises such as weight-lifting and sprinting, the body must maintain its stores of ATP, energy immediately available to working muscle. Creatine monohydrate has been shown to increase total levels of creatine in muscle stores, including creatinine phosphate, which recharges the continually rapidly diminishing levels of ATP. This safe nutritional supplement has been shown to increase work outputs during repeated bouts of high-impact exercise. It has the potential to increase the intensity at which athletes regularly train and, therefore, to increase these individuals’ muscle strength and stamina.*

SUGGESTED USE

As a nutritional supplement, in addition to a healthy, well-balanced diet, 5-20 grams per day, in divided servings of 5 grams each.

* These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

1 Hultman E, Bergstrom J, and McLennon-Anderson N. Breakdown and resynthesis of phophorylcreatine and adenosine-triphosphate in connection with muscular work in man. Scan J Clin Lab Invest 1967; 19: 56-66.

2 Hoogwerf BJ, Laine DC, and Greene E. Urine C-peptide and creatinine (Jaffe method) excretion in healthy young adults on varied diets: sustained effects of vared carbohydrate, protein and meat content. Am J Clin Nutr 1986; 43:350-60.

3 Delanghe J, De Slypere J-P, Buyzere M, et al. Normal reference values for creatine, creatinine, and carnitine are lower in vegetarians. Clin Chem 1989; 35:1802-3.

4 Harris RC, Soderlund K, and Hultman E. Elevation of creatine in resting and exercised muscle on normal subjects by creatine supplementation. Clinical Science 1992; 83: 367-74.

5 Greenhaff PL, et al. Influence or oral creatine supplementation. Clinical Science 1993; 84: 565-71.

6 Balson PD, Ekblom G, Soderlund K, et al. Creatine supplementation and dynamic hig h-intensity intermittent exercise. Scan J Med Sci Sports 1993; 3: 143-9.

7 Soderlund K, Balsom PD, Ekblom B. Creatine supplementation and high-intensity exercise: influence on performance and muscle metabolism. Clin Sci 1994; 87