Is Creatine Safe? – Revealing The Secrets About Creatine Safety
If we were to believe every scary story we are fed, we wouldn’t eat, drink, breath, sleep or have sex. With health, vitamins and supplementation always hot topics for debate, it was inevitable that the issue of creatine safety would soon come up. But, are some of these worrying ‘claims’ warranted, and saving us from physical ruin, or, is creatine safe as the supplement industry, experts and millions of users worldwide attest? In this article, the truth is revealed – and it might surprise you.
We’ll begin by exploring a list of the safety issues creatine has been ‘linked’ with, no matter how tenuously, and in no particular order of graveness:
- Dehydration…
- Dizziness during workout…
- Constipation…
- Diarrhoea…
- Muscle cramps…
- Permanent hormone alteration…
- Permanent changes in kidney function…
- Instant death…
- Epileptic seizures…
Now, before you go sticking your fingers down your throat to regurgitate the creatine dose you’ve just taken, and begin pouring the remainder of your tub of creatine down the toilet for fear it may make you rob a bank – another possible creatine side effect – I urge you to give me a minute to explain some of the more serious, so-called safety ‘concerns’ using rationale.
Rationale starts here:
As my sarcasm has already crept into the article, I feel my cover is blown and I’ll cut straight to the point and dismiss these concerns as nothing more than unfounded hysteria. Creatine has been used by athletes – millions and millions of athletes – since the early 1990’s, and you can be absolutely certain that if there was any serious health risk – no matter how tenuous the link with creatine – it would have been discovered by now. And, as ever, the law, the Olympic committee, and other sporting committees would place creatine on the banned substance list quicker than you can say “I’ll Be Damned”.
During the almost 2 decades it has been available and used as a sports supplement, you can bet there will be plenty of people who have used it for almost that entire duration, almost non-stop. Yet, are there any with serious health issues which can be absolutely linked to such long term creatine usage? I know of none, and, it would seem nobody else does either.
In reality, creatine is probably the most extensively research supplement ever. We are talking thousands of laboratory studies – and not to mention millions of walking, talking real-life studies – which have turned up absolutely nothing untoward.
Of course, the media and those with vested interests in whipping up scare stories just love to link their targeted prey to any ill. “Hey, Benny cheated on his wife, must’ve been the creatine.” Puh.
The truth is, it’s human nature to look for reasons to place blame, so things make sense to us. Creatine, just as McDonalds – and a million other things – just cop unfair blame or suspicion because people either abuse themselves with over-consumption, or, ‘it was the most obvious thing to blame.’
The fact is, so far as serious health risks and creatine go, there is no substantiated evidence to suggest there are any – yet thousands of positive studies and millions of real-life users to attest to its safety.
Seriously now, there are only a few minor legitimate (potential) snags with creatine, and it certainly doesn’t deserve the label of ‘danger’ stamped on it because of them.
I’ll now tell you of these possible issues, and even explain how you can stop some of them.
Potential Symptom: Gastrointestinal discomfort
In laymen’s terms, creatine may cause some people to experience stomach ache, constipation or diarrhoea. It’s quite possible these symptoms may be more prevalent in those with existing gastrointestinal complains such as IBS.
You really won’t know how you will react until you try it.
Sometimes this potential symptom can be avoided by taking a lessened dose of creatine. For instance, a very popular way to take creatine is by adhering to a brief creatine cycle. This often – not always – involves a loading period during which the user takes a greater-than-recommended dose of creatine for a period of 5-7 days to reach saturation faster. Higher doses of anything always carry with them the potential for adverse effects. If you wish to follow the creatine cycle and find an elevated loading dose brings about gastrointestinal symptoms, you should cut down to regular dose and see how that works for you.
In a rare few, creatine of any workable dose can trigger temporary gastrointestinal issues, and in such instances should not be taken.
Potential Symptom: Dehydration (and related dizziness)
Another complaint some lodge is that upon taking creatine before a workout, they suffer from dehydration and dizziness. Well, therein lies the problem: creatine should not be taken before, or during a workout.
As I’ve explained in my article when to take creatine, when taken, creatine causes water to be drained from the system and pumped into the muscles. Such a change before or during a workout is bound to have ill effects. You need to avoid taking creatine before a workout.
Creatine does not cause dehydration; individuals do this by not drinking enough water. Consume enough water throughout the day and during your workout and you’ll be fine.
Potential Symptom: Muscle cramps
Anyone who partakes in strenuous training can experience cramps, it’s part and parcel of making progress. Muscle cramps are known to occur because of dehydration, but also when a muscle has been worked excessively resulting in DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness).
While creatine undoubtedly helps to get more out of the muscles, sensible training should not results in regular bouts of DOMS. There is no difference between overtraining without creatine, or overtraining with creatine. None whatsoever. Therefore, creatine isn’t to blame here.
As I’ve already explained, creatine is also not to blame for dehydration induced cramp.
Conclusion:
I’m sure you’ve already reached your own conclusion by now on creatine safety. Ultimately, everything we do carries small risk. That is, risk which is small percentage wise, but could have grave consequences for that small percentage of people. It may well be that there are some people out there who will become seriously ill by taking creatine at the correct dosage. I am yet to hear of any such case.
In closing, is creatine safe? Yes – as safe as anything, providing it’s not abused.
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