Elevation of creatine in resting and exercised muscle of normal subjects by creatine supplementation

Key finding

Landmark paper establishing that oral creatine supplementation raises muscle creatine concentration — founding the loading-phase protocol.

1. The present study was undertaken to test whether creatine given as a supplement to normal subjects was absorbed, and if continued resulted in an increase in the total creatine pool in muscle. An additional effect of exercise upon uptake into muscle was also investigated. 2. Low doses (1g of creatine monohydrate or less in water) produced only a modest rise in the plasma creatine concentration, whereas 5g resulted in a mean peak after 1h of 795 (SD 104) mumol/l in three subjects weighing 76-87 kg. Repeated dosing with 5g every 2h sustained the plasma concentration at around 1000 mumol/l. A single 5g dose corresponds to the creatine content of 1.1 kg of fresh, uncooked steak. 3. Supplementation with 5g of creatine monohydrate, four or six times a day for 2 or more days resulted in a significant increase in the total creatine content of the quadriceps femoris muscle measured in 17 subjects. This was greatest in subjects with a low initial total creatine content and the effect was to raise the content in these subjects closer to the upper limit of the normal range. In some the increase was as much as 50%. 4. Uptake into muscle was greatest during the first 2 days of supplementation accounting for 32% of the dose administered in three subjects receiving 6 x 5g of creatine monohydrate/day. In these subjects renal excretion was 40, 61 and 68% of the creatine dose over the first 3 days. Approximately 20% or more of the creatine taken up was measured as phosphocreatine. No changes were apparent in the muscle ATP content.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Abstract sourced from PubMed, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Displayed in the authors’ own words for context; our critique is in the sections below.