What is Creatine?
Most would agree that creatine is the most popular sports supplement available. Creatine occurs naturally in the body and we manufacture it from three amino acids – glycine, arginine and methionine. It is produced in the kidneys, liver, and pancreas. Creatine is used for two main reasons; it increases the activity of satellite cells, which increases muscle hypertrophy – the growth of muscle cells, and it increases anaerobic performance.
Creatine was first discovered by a French scientist in 1835. It is found naturally in meat (particularly red meat). Our bodies use creatine for the resynthesis of ATP – or adenosine triphosphate. When our muscles contract, the molecular bonds in ATP split and become adenosine-diphosphate (or ADP). The energy released in this reaction is used to power the contraction of the muscle. If ATP is depleted within the cell it can no longer contract. Our body therefore uses several methods in order to rebuild ATP stores, the quickest method is through creatine phosphate. Creatine phosphate is split and the phosphate portion of the molecule is bonded to the ADP, which turns it back into ATP. By supplementing creatine, the creatine phosphate stores within our muscles are increased – allowing our body to regenerate more ATP faster.
To summarise, creatine enables our muscles to maintain a higher output of power during brief periods of exercise.
The two most popular forms of creatine currently available are: Creatine Monohydrate and Creatine Ethyl Ester (CEE).The main difference between the two is CEE is creatine monohydrate with an added ester attached. Theoretically, this makes absorption faster however as far as results are concerned it is disputed whether this is in fact true.
