Dr. Joey Antonio - The Truth about Creatine #1498

May 12

Written By One Life Radio Show & Podcast

Workout Wednesday

We have a One Life Radio alumni, Dr. Jose “Joey” Antonio on today talking about the benefits and misconceptions around creatine. We love having Dr. Joey on One Life Radio. Listen to find out if creatine is right for you.

Dr. Jose Antonio

ISSN Founder

Dr. Jose Antonio, or “Dr. Joey”, earned his PhD and completed a post-doctoral research fellowship at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. He is an Associate Professor and the Program Director of Exercise and Sport Science at NSU Florida. He is the co-founder and CEO of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, or ISSN.

The Truth about Creatine

The ISSN is the world's leader in providing science-based sports nutrition and supplement information. Our peer-reviewed journal (JISSN), conferences, and attendees are the key influencers and thought-leaders in the sports nutrition and supplement field. Today, we are talking about creatine! Creatine is an organic compound with the nominal formula CNCH₂CO₂H. This species exists in various modifications in solution. Creatine is found in vertebrates where it facilitates recycling of adenosine triphosphate, the energy currency of the cell, primarily in muscle and brain tissue. Creatine is one of the most popular nutritional ergogenic aids for athletes. Studies have consistently shown that creatine supplementation increases intramuscular creatine concentrations which may help explain the observed improvements in high intensity exercise performance leading to greater training adaptations. In addition to athletic and exercise improvement, research has shown that creatine supplementation may enhance post-exercise recovery, injury prevention, thermoregulation, rehabilitation, and concussion and/or spinal cord neuro-protection. Additionally, a number of clinical applications of creatine supplementation have been studied involving neurodegenerative diseases (e.g., muscular dystrophy, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s disease), diabetes, osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia, aging, brain and heart ischemia, adolescent depression, and pregnancy.

Creatine, a member of the guanidine phosphagen family, is a naturally occurring non-protein amino acid compound found primarily in red meat and seafood. The majority of creatine is found in skeletal muscle (~95%) with small amounts also found in the brain and testes (~5%) [5, 6]. About two thirds of intramuscular creatine is phosphocreatine (PCr) with the remaining being free creatine. The total creatine pool in the muscle averages about 120 mmol/kg of dry muscle mass for a 70 kg individual. However, the upper limit of creatine storage appears to be about 160 mmol/kg of dry muscle mass in most individuals. About 1–2% of intramuscular creatine is degraded into creatinine and excreted in the urine. Therefore, the body needs to replenish about 1–3 g of creatine per day to maintain normal creatine stores depending on muscle mass. About half of the daily need for creatine is obtained from the diet. For example, a pound of uncooked beef and salmon provides about 1–2 g of creatine. The remaining amount of creatine is synthesized primarily in the liver and kidneys from arginine and glycine by the AGAT.

If proper precautions and supervision are provided, creatine monohydrate supplementation in children and adolescent athletes is acceptable and may provide a nutritional alternative with a favorable safety profile to potentially dangerous anabolic androgenic drugs. However, we recommend that creatine supplementation only be considered for use by younger athletes who: a.) are involved in serious/competitive supervised training; b.) are consuming a well-balanced and performance enhancing diet; c.) are knowledgeable about appropriate use of creatine; and d.) do not exceed recommended dosages.

ISSN 18th Annual Conference and Expo

When: June 10-12, Thurs (1/2 day), Friday and Saturday, 2021, Where: Hilton St. Petersburg Bayfront, 333 1st Street South, St. Petersburg FL 33701. The Faculty for The ISSN Annual Conference is vast! Kayla Alesi MS, Melanie Boehmer MS RD CISSN, Erik Bustillo MS RD CISSN, Nicolas Clark PhDc, David Church PhD, Guillermo Escalante DSc CISSN, Cassandra Evans CISSN, Arny Ferrando PhD FISSN, Shiloah Fuller PhDc, Patrick Harty PhDc, Katie Hirsch PhD CISSN, Shintaro Ichikawa PhD, Ralf Jager PhD FISSN, Andrew Jagim PhD CISSN, Douglas Kalman PhD RD FISSN, Chad Kerksick PhD FISSN, Richard Kreider PhD FISSN, Hayley Maher, Alyssa Olenick MS, Brandon Roberts PhD, Michael Roberts PhD, Catherine Saenz PhD RD CSCS. Gabe Sanders PhD CISSN, John Eric Smith PhD, Jeff Stout PhD FISSN – Keynote Speaker, Grant Tinsley PhD CISSN, Trisha VanDusseldorp PhD CISSN, and Brandon Willingham PhD RD.