<p>Anyone have any information, or opinion about whether a college athlete should or shouldn’t take creatine supplements to increase strength? Does it work? Is it safe? Is it widely used?</p>
<p>About a year ago, my 17 year old son started taking Creatine on the recommendation of his trainer. My mild mannered boy turned into a monster. He was very easily agitated and his whole attitude stunk. We put a stop to it and within 2 weeks he was back to normal. I did some research at the time and found that the NCAA was warning coaches about this substance. What it does is fills the muscles up with water which masks the pain of weight lifting…allowing additional lifting which leads to larger muscles. What scared me was the reminder that the HEART is also a muscle. You have to drink about a gallon of water a day to flush this through your system. My son is back to drinking his whey protein shakes. (down side of this is that his skin breaks out). </p>
<p>Last month he came home with new protein powder and once again his mood took a bad turn. I read the small print and sure enough…7 different kinds of creatine! Sorry son, but you just wasted $40 and out in the trash it went. </p>
<p>Just my opinion</p>
<p>The Iliad, Performance-Enhanced
By Colin McEnroe</p>
<p>And Achilles made fast to strike at the walls of Troy,</p>
<p>But Odysseus cautioned him and said, “The sons of Priam are mighty. Let us first make use of Androstenedione.”</p>
<p>And Peleus’s son Achilles said, “I do not know that name. What goddess, muse or sprite is Androstenedione, that we may pray to her for victory?”</p>
<p>“None of those, but a nutritional supplement that raises the level of Testosterone,” whispered the wily Odysseus.</p>
<p>“Does Testosterone fight as a soldier in the ranks of our flowing-haired Achaeans? How is it that I do not know his name?” asked Peleus’s son.</p>
<p>“Rather is Testosterone an ichor in our veins. It thickens our sinews and inflames our hearts.”</p>
<p>So the Achaeans partook of Androstenedione, and thereafter, wherever they spat, hair would grow up from the earth.</p>
<p>“It does, however, cause mood swings,” Odysseus admitted later,</p>
<p>After Achilles slaughtered the inhabitants of Chryse and smashed the temple of Apollo there because of a disputed restaurant check.</p>
<p>Now the god Apollo was angered by this and appeared to the men of Troy saying,</p>
<p>“You will face the greatest Achaean in battle tomorrow, but not without the aid of Creatine.”</p>
<p>Hector applauded, saying, "I knew Crete would not stay out of this,</p>
<p>And now they have sent their warrior-king Creatine to save us."</p>
<p>But the wise god Apollo said, “Say not that Creatine is a man, for it is instead an amino acid that . . . look, just take it, O.K.?”</p>
<p>“It says on the side of the bottle, ‘Not recommended for use by persons in whom burns the unwearying fire of Pallas Athena’s divine breath,’” vouched Paris. “‘Or by persons allergic to shellfish.’”</p>
<p>“Just take it,” the healer and archer Apollo said again.</p>
<p>“I use a kava kava and shark cartilage supplement already,” said Aeneas. “Is there any danger of a negative interaction?”</p>
<p>“If this continues, I’m going to scream,” said the mighty and ingenious god.</p>
<p>But Zeus went cloaked among the Achaeans and gave them turtle glands marinated in ephedrine and desiccated with brewer’s yeast,</p>
<p>And Hera, seeing this, visited her favored Trojans and fed them spirulina mead infused with equine growth hormone.</p>
<p>And many from each side sacrificed to Anabolis, goddess of steroids,</p>
<p>So that when the day of battle came and the Olympic Committee for the Ilionic Wars conducted the customary tests,</p>
<p>Each warrior’s urine caused the testing cup to burst into flames.</p>
<p>And the bravest and mightiest of each side cast off his therapeutic magnets, and the fight was joined.</p>
<p>Now as a wild boar having fed on ginseng will charge down from the hills did Hector hew among the Achaeans,</p>
<p>And as a mighty bear gorged on protein powder will pounce upon helpless fish, now did Achilles lay waste to the Trojans in his path.</p>
<p>There fell, as a white poplar topples, Amphimachos, son of Aktorian Kteatos, a pioneer in the use of enzymatic hawk liver,</p>
<p>And pierced in the chest by an Achaean spear was Othryoneus, who introduced pollen and lycine tablets to warfare.</p>
<p>When the day ended and the strong-greaved Achaeans withdrew, Achilles had slain two and sixty Trojans, eclipsing the modern record set by Agamemnon.</p>
<p>Then did the press gather around his locker to find Achilles heavy with weeping.</p>
<p>“For all of my glory, I am strangely depressed,” cried the warrior. “Does not one of you have any St. John’s Wort?”</p>
<p>Thank you Kajon. I just didn’t have a good feeling about it from what I have read online.</p>
<p>I don’t think the NCAA allows it, do they? I know the NBA, NFL, and MLB have all banned it.</p>
<p>It is my understanding that NCAA coaches can’t provide it to their athletes, but it isn’t banned. And I didn’t find any info that it is banned by any professional sport either. Still, it does seem like a scary supplement.</p>
<p>University personnel cannot provide creatine to their student-athletes, but it is not banned by the NCAA. There is actually research out there that shows creatine reduces the incidence of heat cramps…</p>
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<p>You may know it, but let’s fact check this one. I am not sure, but I THINK creatine is legal just about everywhere, and I would be surprised to learn it has been banned by the NBA, NFL, and MLB. It is definitely widely used. My boys take that horrible protein powder (don’t think it does anything for/against them) but not creatine. </p>
<p>To answer one of the OP’s questions, it IS widely used.</p>
<p>Widely used by college athletes? </p>
<p>I assume my S learned about it from teammates. I haven’t asked him how many use it, and whether they have any problems with it. Or whether the coaches know. This is all new to me. Just trying to help my S may a good decision.</p>
<p>There is some anecdotal evidence that creatine should be avoided if you are in a sport where there is a chance of becoming very dehydrated. </p>
<p>This is very important and must be understood by anyone who wants to use this stuff.</p>
<p>It’s basically supplementing with giant amounts of what the body produces naturally. Creatine phosphate is an energy carrier used to replenish ATP during bouts of high-intensity exercise (weightlifting, sprinting, etc.) and not so much during aerobic activities, so it basically allows for a higher work rate for short periods of time. It’s shown some improvement in objective studies… mostly increasing the amount of weight/reps on a particular lift.</p>
<p>The side effects are mostly related to the way it shifts fluid between the three compartments in the body- inside cells, outside cells, and inside the arteries/veins. This is how it makes it easier to get dehydrated on it- also why it makes people look more “pumped” when they use it- extra water volume in their muscles. </p>
<p>As far as safety, if you stay hydrated while using it, you should be fine, assuming you don’t have any underlying kidney disease. There is some concern that some supplements are not pure, containing contaminants. The biggest safety concern is that it hasn’t really been around long enough to know for sure how safe it is long-term.</p>
<p>FWIW, I don’t use it. I do eat protein supplements, but at my current level of athletic competition, the cost isn’t worth it (7-9 bucks a day for loading phase lasting a week, then 2-3 bucks a day for maintenence.) If you’re a football player maybe looking to make the step up from scout team or something like that, it might help you out.</p>
<p>NJres, it is, in fact, on the banned substance list of the MLB, NFL, and NBA.</p>
<p>hellojan, It is wonderful that you can state that as a fact, because I cannot find any authoritative evidence to support that creatine is a banned substance by those 3 professional sports leagues. I can’t find any official lists put out by the leagues themselves. I have found some lengthy lists published by sources other than the leagues, but creatine is not on these lists. I have found a prohibition by the NCAA against coaches distributing creatine to athletes (consistent with post #7) (not clear if the NCAA prohibits the athletes themselves from obtaining and using it).</p>
<p>So please humor me. Don’t just state is as fact because you know it to be a fact.</p>
<p>For example, here is a list I found in an ESPN website article. That would be a secondary source - probably trustworthy but not definitive. Also, it is old info, from 2004, so I can’t rule out creatine being added to the list.</p>
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<p>Here is what I found on “Hoopedia” the self proclaimed basketball wiki. I am very reluctant to pass along info from a website like this because I honestly have no idea how accurate their information is. But this is what they say about the NBA drug history, and I can’t find any mention of creatine. </p>
<p>The NBA and the established a landmark program in sports to battle drug abuse in 1983, providing treatment and rehabilitation that also mandated expulsion of repeat offenders and players convicted of using or selling drugs. The league’s drug policies have since continued to set the precedent for other pro sports organizations.</p>
<p>September 28, 1983: The NBA and the Players’ Association established a landmark program in sports to battle drug abuse, providing treatment and rehabilitation that also mandated expulsion of repeat offenders and players convicted of using or selling drugs: Amphetamine and its analogs (including, but not limited to, methamphetamine and MDMA), Cocaine, LSD, Opiates (Heroin, Codeine, Morphine), and Phencyclidine (PCP).</p>
<p>January 7, 1999: The NBA/National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) added Marijuana and its By-Products as well as Steroids (Bolasterone, Boldenone, Clenbuterol, Clostebol, Dehydrochlormethyltestosterone , Dromostanolone , Ethylestrenol, Furazebol, Mesterolone, Methandienone, Methandriol, Methenolone, Mibolerone, Oxymesterone, Trenbolone) were added to the banned substances list.</p>
<p>March 30, 2000:The NBA/National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) Prohibited Substances Committee has added Androstenedione (Andro), Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), Fluoxymesterone, Methyltestosterone, Nandrolone, Oxandrolone, Oxymetholone, Stanozolol, and Testosterone to the list of steroids banned by the NBA/NBPA Anti-Drug Agreement.</p>
<p>Beginning with the 2004-05 NBA season:The following substances will be added to the list of Prohibited Substances: Ephedra (also called Ma Huang, Bishop’s Tea and Chi Powder), Ephedrine, Methylephedrine, Norpseudoephedrine (also called Cathine), Phenylpropanolamine (PPA), Pseudoephedrine.</p>