Creatine Side Effects: Know What To Expect

Creatine Side Effects

I'm sure you've heard of the benefits of creatine supplements, but are there any side effects? Here're some drawbacks regarding creatine intake...

Water Buildup

The first thing you might notice after starting with creatine is that your muscles will look noticeably bigger after the first few weeks. This is, in fact, the extra water that’s building up in your muscle. This is the most common of the creatine side effects!

Since the water is being drawn from the rest of your body, symptoms of dehydration might result along with muscle cramping. To alleviate these symptoms, just make sure you’re drinking enough water. How does this happen?

The water buildup can be explained by how ATP is made. Basically, when sugars are broken down through glycolysis, the electrons from this process (stored in NADH and FADH2) run through the mitochondrion and the electron transport chain. At the end of this series of reactions, oxygen receives the electrons along with a proton, forming a water molecule.

So, because creatine forces the mitochondrion to create more ATP, a noticeable difference would be seen quickly as excess water begins to build around the muscle. Don't be confused - this is water and not muscle tissue or fat!. Once you stop taking creatine, this effect will subside.

The same effect happens after a heavy workout - because your body is making lots of ATP, lots of water is also being formed, which can't be relieved until the muscle stops working. This is how you get that "pump"!

Back to Top

What Happens When You Stop Taking Creatine Supplements?

When people first began using creatine (without the proper information, unfortunately), the fear was that people would stop making their own creatine from scratch. In other words, they’d become dependent on getting creatine supplements, which diminishes the demand for your body to synthesize the nutrient.

Research indicates that once you stop taking creatine supplements, your body then continues to make more creatine as demand increases. This isn’t the case for many supplements, so be careful! As usual, always consult a physician before taking any such product to make sure you’re physically capable of handling the supplement.

Back to Top

What's the Truth Behind Creatine Side Effects?

One of the problems behind creatine supplementation is that there’re so many unknown variables. Some of the side effects of creatine haven't been discovered yet, if there are any. Many proponents of creatine continue to assert that it’s completely safe, yet there hasn’t been a single study that’s followed an individual for longer than 10 years (because it hasn’t been used for that long!). How can we make such assertions without evidence? Does it cause liver or kidney damage?

The answer to this question is...maybe. Taking creatine for long periods of time might result in kidney stones and/or liver damage, especially when taking creatine with little water.

Bottom line? We don’t know the long term effects of creatine supplementation. People are always going to try and persuade you that all the research proves it’s safe. These assertions are completely false. I'm not saying creatine isn't safe, but there's just not enough evidence out there to prove it.

In fact, there’s an equal number of individuals and organizations wanting to ban the substance completely, including the NCAA.

How do you think we got into the smoking predicament? When people first started to smoke, no one knew the long-term side effects. Now, after following the progress of individuals throughout their lives (this is called a cohort study), we’re finding that smoking is correlated to a number of chronic, terminal illnesses including heart disease, cancer and a multitude of other problems.

People wouldn’t have started smoking to begin with if they knew the long term effects right off the bat. Now we've dug ourselves a deep hole in trying to spread the word about the effects of smoking. Will we have to do the same thing about creatine? The same movement might occur in the next generation revolving around creatine - it's just too early to tell what the side effects will actually be, if any at all.

The point I’m trying to make is to use caution when taking creatine supplements. Individuals need to be followed and studied for a lifetime after taking creatine to determine possible long-term side effects. Time just hasn't elapsed far enough to make any definite assertions, predictions or proof regarding creatine side effects.

Back to Top

Return to Muscle Building Supplements

Return to the Smart Strength Training Homepage