Short-term use of creatine in healthy individuals is generally considered. Continuous intake of excessively high dosages of creatine may lead to any of several possible side effects. While it has been hypothesized that consistently high doses could lead to hypertension due to increased water retention , studies have not yet been able to demonstrate either long-term or short term creatine supplementation result in adverse health effects. Creatine supplementation utilizing proper cycling and dosages has not been linked with any adverse side effects beyond occasional dehydration due to increased muscular water uptake from the rest of the body.
According to the opinion statement of the European Food Safety Authorities (EFSA) published in 2004 it was concluded that "The safety and bioavailability of the requested source of creatine, creatine monohydrate in foods for particular nutritional uses, is not a matter of concern provided that there is adequate control of the purity of this source of creatine (minimum 99.95%) with respect to dicyandiamide and dihydro-1,3,5-triazine derivatives, as well as heavy metal contamination. The EFSA Panel endorses the previous opinion of the SCF that high loading doses (20 gram / day) of creatine should be avoided. Provided high purity creatine monohydrate is used in foods for particular nutritional uses, the Panel considers that the consumption of doses of up to 3g/day of supplemental creatine, similar to the daily turnover rate of creatine, is unlikely to pose any risk".
This opinion is corroborated by the fact that creatine is a natural component in mothers' milk and that creatine is absolutely necessary for brain development in the human embryo and the baby, as well as for optimal physiological functioning of the adult human body, especially the brain, nervous system, the muscles and other organs and cells of high energy expenditure, where the creatine kinase (CK) system is highly expressed and creatine levels are high.
Creatine is non-toxic and studies have been unable to find any serious negative side effects to its use. None of the studies carried out have shown creatine to be toxic substance. There is a lot of speculation as the whether or not creatine has any known side effects, and to date, there has not been any known, serious side effects (medium and long term) associated with creatine use.
As for kidney disease and creatine use, there hasn’t been one documented study done that suggests there is a negative relationship between the two. A study done by Jaques R. Poortmans and Marc Francaux, entitled “Long-Term Oral Creatine Supplementation Does Not Impair Renal Function In Healthy Athletes” compared kidney health and creatine use in healthy athletes for a period of 10 months to 5 years. According to their conclusions, supplementing with creatine did not have any adverse side effects on the kidneys.
However, in terms of short term use, some individuals may experience slight water retention and a little nausea when taking creatine in doses of 10 grams or more in one sitting. From my own personal use, I usually experience slight nausea when I take more that 10 grams of creatine in one dose. For that reason, I will split up my intake of creatine into 5 grams servings spread throughout the day.
Having said that, a few words of caution. Since there is no documented evidence on any serious long term side effects associated with creatine use, you should use good judgement regarding your creatine use. Too much of anything will be bad for you, so remember, keep your creatine dosage to an acceptable level. |
