Creatine is a naturally occurring compound found in muscles that provides energy for contraction.
95% of your body's creatine goes to the skeletal muscles. There it is converted into a compound of
creatine and phosphoric acid called phosphocreatine or creatine phosphate. It provides an extra phosphate
to the used ATP– now ADP– to rephosphorylate it back to ATP. The extra ATP is then used as an energy
source for the muscles. After use, the waste product, creatinine, is removed from the blood via the kidneys.
Creatine is produced naturally and consumed by your body daily in a dose of about 5g per day. It is found
in foods such as red meat, sea food, and animal milk. Production of creatine occurs in the liver, kidneys, and pancreas.
When taking a 5g supplement of creatine each day, studies have shown there is a benefit to short term memory, response inhibition, reasoning/mathematical processing, world list recall, IQ score, long term memory, and muscle growth/recovery. There did not appear to be an effect on Executive function and attention in the various studies conducted along with other tested abilities.
Although taking creatine supplements has a large list of benefits, it can lead to weight gain (due to water retention in muscles), dizziness, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and excessive sweating. However, few people have reported these side effects and they are not permanent.
This paper does not have enough information to make an informed conclusion at this time.
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