I have always been a fan of the Olympics, particularly the 100-metre sprint to decide “the world’s fastest human.” Like all Canadians, I was elated when Ben Johnson won the event at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, then devastated when we learned that he had cheated by doping with stanozolol, a muscle-building synthetic steroid.
Then in 1992, at the Barcelona Olympics, British sprinter Linford Christie was crowned “the fastest human” and passed his urine test for any banned drugs. But he did admit to using a dietary supplement of creatine, which was then, and is now, allowed in athletic competitions.
Since Christie’s victory, creatine has raced from the track into hockey arenas, swimming pools, football fields and baseball diamonds with athletes looking to it for a quick burst of energy. The white powder has even made it into kitchens where people dissolve it in water and consume it with hopes of improving the results they obtain in the gym from resistance training.
And there is more. Preliminary evidence has surfaced indicating that creatine can not only provide energy to muscles, it can even energize the brain and improve cognition.
My first encounter with creatine was long before it garnered attention after Christie’s win. I had always referred to the compound in my organic chemistry lectures because it was first isolated by French chemist Michel Chevreul, one of the fathers of organic chemistry.
In 1823, Chevreul published a landmark book, Chemical Researches on Fatty Bodies of Animal Origin, in which he described that while investigating the chemistry of soap, long known to be made from animal fats and wood ashes, he discovered that fats were substances that could be split into fatty acids and glycerol. He went on to categorize the different fatty acids and even improved candle-making when he found that stearic acid, which he isolated and named, made for harder, cleaner-burning candles.
In 1832, while working on meat extracts in connection with his studies of fats, Chevreul isolated a crystalline substance from a water extract of animal muscle that he named creatine, from the Greek “kreas,” meaning “flesh” or “meat.” He had no idea that this substance would later turn out to play an essential role in the cell’s production of energy.
Chevreul was also the first to demonstrate that diabetics excrete glucose in the urine, but there is yet another reason why I included this French chemist in my lectures. He was an enemy of charlatanism and took aim at the rising phenomenon of spiritualism.
Chevreul was bothered by mediums claiming that spirits of the dead were able to answer questions through the movements of a “magic pendulum” held by the living. This, Chevreul explained, was an example of the “ideomotor effect,” produced by totally involuntary and subconscious human muscular reactions. He certainly deserves the honour of his name being inscribed on the Eiffel Tower along with those of other noted French scientists.
The effect of taking creatine was solidified in 1993 when a study showed that creatine supplementation could improve actual high-intensity exercise performance, not just raise muscle creatine levels.
Creatine next appeared in the lab of German chemist Justus von Liebig, who was interested in producing an extract of meat that could serve as a “nourishing restorative.” By 1847 he confirmed that creatine was an important constituent of animal muscle and went on to show that the molecule could be broken down into acetic acid and methylguanidine. Creatine’s exact molecular structure was finally determined in 1868 when Adolf Strecker managed to synthesize it from simpler compounds.
The emergence of creatine as more than just as component of muscle traces back to 1927 when its derivative, phosphocreatine, was also found in muscle. The biochemical role of this compound came to light in 1934 when Karl Lohmann, German biochemist and eventual Nobel laureate, demonstrated that phosphocreatine can regenerate ATP (adenosine triphosphate), the primary energy carrier in all living cells, a molecule he had discovered five years earlier.
At this point we need to delve into a bit of biochemistry. The body’s main fuel is glucose, which combines with oxygen to produce carbon dioxide and water. This reaction releases energy that is needed to allow phosphate and adenosine diphosphate (ADP), both already present in the cell, to unite and make ATP. When there is a quick need for energy, this reaction is reversed. ATP breaks down into ADP and phosphate and releases the energy that had been used to make it.
Essentially, ATP stores energy, but at any given time very little ATP is actually present and therefore has to be constantly regenerated. This is where phosphocreatine comes into the picture. It is responsible for donating phosphate to ADP to make ATP. The fact that phosphocreatine in turn comes from creatine raises the possibility that supplementing with creatine can produce energy and aid athletic performance.
The possibility became a reality in 1992 when research showed that creatine levels can be raised in human skeletal muscle by oral supplementation. Although some athletes had experimented with creatine earlier, it was this study that landed it on the front page, especially after Chritie’s Olympic performance.
The effect of taking creatine was solidified in 1993 when a study showed that creatine supplementation could improve actual high-intensity exercise performance, not just raise muscle creatine levels.
Then sales got a major boost in 1998 when Mark McGwire broke Roger Maris’s long-standing home run record and admitted to using creatine. As it turned out, his illegal use of steroids was more likely to account for his feat. Creatine may have been a contributor, since McGwire did a lot of weight training, and each lift requires a quick burst of energy, which is what creatine can provide. This allows for more repetitions and consequently more muscle development.
Creatine is most useful for brief, very intense activity that requires quick ATP recycling. Sprint events on the track or in the pool are ideal for creatine supplementation, and it can also be beneficial in sports that require quick bursts of energy like hockey or football. Endurance events like marathons, iron man competitions or even simple jogging do not require quick ATP recycling and do not benefit from creatine.
As far as dosage goes, 5 grams of creatine monohydrate a day is safe and will achieve saturation of muscle tissue. More is not beneficial.
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How about “ordinary” individuals who do some, but not excessive weight training? Creatine supplements may allow a few more repetitions and a bit better recovery between hard sets. In seniors who do resistance training regularly, creatine may help retard muscle loss. There is no point in taking creatine supplements in the absence of some form of resistance training.
The latest splash about creatine’s benefits was made by some preliminary studies showing some improvement in brain function. This isn’t all that surprising since the brain does use a lot of energy and can be called upon for some quick thinking, but so far, the evidence is intriguing but not compelling.
Creatine differs from the vast majority of dietary supplements in the sense that it comes with a sound biochemical rationale and reproducible evidence. If I were a serious weightlifter, hockey player or Olympic sprinter, I would be taking it.
Joe Schwarcz is director of McGill University’s Office for Science & Society (mcgill.ca/oss). He hosts The Dr. Joe Show on CJAD Radio 800 AM every Sunday from 3 to 4 p.m.
joe.schwarcz@mcgill.ca