Creatine Supplementation for Vegan Athletes and Exercisers
Aaron Jahn
Personal Trainer | Kettlebell Specialist | Minimal Equipment Programs | Fat Loss & Performance Training
Creatine supplementation for vegan athletes and exercisers is a topic that not many other blogs have touched upon, but it is one that could be a game-changer for those of us who have adopted a vegan diet.
Creatine is among the most popular ergogenic aids for athletes and exercisers regardless of diet. Research has consistently demonstrated that creatine supplementation increases intramuscular creatine concentrations, promotes improvements in exercise performance, and enhances training adaptations. In addition, studies have shown that creatine supplementation might boost recovery from exercise, prevent injuries, and enhance thermorgulation, rehabilitation and concussion neuroprotection.
Adenosine triphosphate (ATP)?is a molecule that carries energy within cells and drives several processes such as muscle contraction. The adenosine triphosphate phosphocreatine (ATP-PC) system is our body's most dominant energy pathway during short explosive exercise bouts. It has the highest rate of ATP production out of all of our energy systems, and has the greatest power potential as it utilises the energy obtained through intramuscular stores of ATP and phosphocreatine (PCr). The amount of energy that can be acquired via this energy system is limited, and it is typically the dominant energy system for roughly the first 6-7 seconds of all-out work.
When our PCr stores begin to deplete during high intensity exercise, we are no longer able to resynthesise ATP at the rapid rate at which our bodies require it, and our exercise performance is reduced. The key factor in the replenishment of ATP during and after exercise is the levels of stored PCr in the muscle. Therefore, increasing the amount of intramuscular PCr is critical if we are to delay PCr depletion, hold off fatigue, and perform at a higher intensity for longer. Creatine supplementation may be an effective way to achieve this aim.
It is important to remember that, although the ATP-PC system makes a large contribution to high intensity efforts, it is also constantly involved in providing energy for lower intensity tasks too, albeit to a lesser extent. In this article, we make the case for creatine supplementation for vegans, and lay out some of the potential benefits of this powerful nutritional supplement.
Creatine Supplementation for Vegans
Creatine is a naturally occurring amino acid compound which is primarily found in food sources such as red meat, seafood and poultry. It's not surprising, then, that adopting a vegan or vegetarian diet?decreases muscle creatine stores and vegans and vegetarians therefore typically have lower levels of creatine in their blood and muscle tissue.?
The research also highlights the potential benefit of creatine supplementation for vegans due to our low pre-existing muscle creatine stores. In this study, the researchers found that supplemental creatine increased previously low creatine stores in vegetarians, who demonstrated greater improvements in fat-free body mass, maximal strength and type II muscle fibre area compared to omnivores.
Therefore, creatine supplementation may be a beneficial ergogenic aid for vegan athletes and exercisers, and may compensate for decreased levels of muscle creatine stores that result from the nature of our lifestyle choice.
Supplementation Protocols
The majority of our stored creatine is found in skeletal muscle (~95%) with modest amounts found in the brain and testes (~5%). Roughly 1-2% of our intramuscular creatine is degraded into creatinine?(a metabolic by-product) and excreted in the urine, which is why some authors suggest that we replenish our stores with 1-3 g of creatine per day to maintain an adequate supply. Omnivorous obtain roughly half of this daily requirement from diet alone (one pound of uncooked salmon or beef contains approximately 1-2 g of creatine).
In an omnivorous diet that contains 1-2 g/day of creatine, creatine stores are generally around 60-80% saturated. Accordingly, dietary creatine supplementation should serve to increase muscle creatine and phosphocreatine by 20-40%. A dosage of 5 g of creatine monohydrate or 0.3 g/kg body weight four times daily for 5-7 days has been shown to be the most effective method of increasing muscle creatine stores in omnivores.
After a 5-7 day loading protocol of 5 g of creatine monohydrate four times daily and with creatine stores fully saturated, creatine stores can be maintained by consuming 3-5 g/day, although larger athletes and exercisers may require up to 5-10 g/day to maintain their creatine stores. Athletes with a?larger body mass who engage in intense training might require 10 g/day of creatine to maintain optimal creatine stores, and 10-30 g/day may be required by clinical populations throughout their lifespan in order to offset creatine synthesis deficiencies and/or produce a therapeutic effect in numerous disease states.
With this information in mind, and since vegan diets have been shown to reduce muscle creatine stores, we may need to consume slightly higher dosages than those administered to omnivores in clinical studies, and supplement with 7-10 g four times daily for 5-7 days (loading phase) and 5-7 g/day for maintenance.
The ingestion of creatine with carbohydrate or carbohydrate and protein has been shown to be more effective in consistently promoting greater creatine retention. Once creatine muscle stores are elevated, it typically takes 4-6 weeks for them to return to baseline.
Finally, there is no evidence to suggest that muscle creatine levels fall below baseline following cessation of creatine supplementation, indicating that long-term suppression of endogenous creatine synthesis does not occur.
Bioavailability
The process of creatine uptake involves the absorption of creatine into the blood followed by uptake by the destined tissue. Blood plasma levels of creatine generally peak at around 60 minutes after orally ingesting creatine monohydrate.
The major reason that creatine is sold in solid form is due to the degradation of creatine into creatinine over time. However, the conversion of creatine into creatinine in our gastrointestinal tract is minimal regardless of transit time; its absorption into the blood is almost 100%.
The most widely studied form of creatine is creatine monohydrate. Various claims have been made by manufacturers regarding the reduced degradation or greater uptake to the muscle of different forms of creatine such as creatine citrate, creatine serum, creatine ethyl ester, buffered versions of creatine, and creatine nitrate. However, there is no clinical evidence to support these claims.
A common question that is asked with regards to creatine supplementation for vegans is, "Is creatine Vegan?". Yes, certain types of creatine are vegan; powdered versions of synthetic creatine are vegan-friendly, while capsulated products may contain bovine gelatine.
Therefore, the most beneficial form of creatine supplementation for vegans in creatine monohydrate.
Ergogenic Value
The results of several studies have shown that creatine supplementation increases muscle availability of creatine and PCr, and improves acute exercise capacity and subsequent training adaptations in a range of populations such as adolescents, younger adults and older individuals. These training adaptations allow us to perform more work during a sequence of sets or sprints which leads to greater increases in strength, muscle mass and/or performance due to enhance training quality.
Following a creatine loading protocol, high intensity training or repetitive exercise performance is typically increased by 10-20% depending on the increase in muscle PCr that has been achieved. Although benefits of creatine supplementation have been reported in both men and women, some studies indicate that women do not gain as much strength or muscle mass during training. However, several other benefits of creatine supplementation for vegans will be described below.
In terms of physical performance measures, the International Society of Sports Nutrition?concluded that creatine monohydrate is the most beneficial ergogenic supplement for athletes who want to increase their high intensity exercise capacity and lean body mass.
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Potential Ergogenic Benefits of Creatine Supplementation
Enhanced Recovery
As well as providing an ergogenic effect, creatine supplementation can help us recover from intense training. For example, research has shown that the addition of creatine loading in a glycogen loading protocol prior to performing exhaustive training promotes greater glycogen replenishment than glycogen loading alone. This is an important finding for athletes and exercisers who deplete large quantities of muscle glycogen during training and/or competition since glycogen restoration is an important factor in promoting recovery and preventing overtraining.
The benefits of creatine supplementation have also been noted in experienced marathon runners who loaded with creatine prior to completing a 30km race. The?study showed that participants who supplemented with creatine experienced a decrease in inflammatory markers and a reduction in muscle soreness compared to controls.
In addition, muscle force recovery and muscle damage have been improved following creatine supplementation. Participants in this study noticed significantly greater concentric and isometric knee extension strength during recovery from exercise-induced muscle damage compared to controls.
Therefore, creatine supplementation for vegans may help optimise glycogen loading, accumulate less inflammation, and tolerate high volumes of training to a greater extent thereby aiding recovery.
Injury Prevention
Studies that have focused on the effects of creatine supplementation on injury prevention during training and/or competition either report no effect at all, or a reduction in the incidence of musculoskeletal injury, dehydration and/or muscle cramping.
For example, a study involving American Collegiate football players who ingested 16 g/day of creatine for 5 days (loading protocol) and 5-10 g/day for the following 21 months experienced no significant differences in markers of catabolism, electrolytes, and urine volume compared with those who did not use creatine. Conversely, other studies have shown that the incidence of muscle cramping, dehydration/heat illness, muscle tightness, muscle strains, and total injuries can all be reduced with creatine supplementation.
Importantly, there is no evidence that creatine supplementation increases the incidence of musculoskeletal injury, dehydration or muscle cramps, or that the supplementation of creatine promotes any clinically significant side effects in participants who supplement for up to 3 years. In fact, the literature suggests that those who supplement with creatine may see a reduction in injuries compared to those who do not.
Therefore, creatine supplementation for vegans may be effective in preventing a range of injuries, with no adverse health risks.
Brain Function
Although more than 90% of our body's creatine store is found in skeletal muscle, evidence has highlighted the important role of the creatine system in the brain. Higher resting creatine levels have been shown to improve short-term memory and intelligence/reasoning, and enhance performance in a range of cognitive tasks such as recognition memory.
A study performed by researchers in Australia assessed the effects of creatine monohydrate supplementation on the brain performance of vegan and vegetarian University students via a number of cognitive tests. The subjects, thought to have a compromised creatine status due to their low intake of creatine through their diets, ingested a daily dose of either 5 g of creatine monohydrate or a placebo for six weeks in a?double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trial. Then, after a wash-out period of six weeks, the treatments were reversed.
Several cognitive tests that demand high processing speed were conducted by the participants at the beginning of the experiment and after each six-week period. Results showed that creatine ingestion significantly improved performance in these tests, particularly in the Auditory Backward Digit Span test which involves listening to a sequence of numbers and then reciting them backward. This test requires short-term storage and active memory, both of which have high energy demands.
The existing data indicates that creatine supplementation for vegans may provide important cognitive benefits that may offer improved cognitive performance in various athletic and occupational settings.
Creatine Safety
Since creatine monohydrate became popular in the early 1990s, more than 1000 studies have been conducted. Short and long-term studies in both healthy and diseased populations, from infants to elderly, at administered dosages of between 0.3 to 0.8 g/kg/day for periods lasting up to 5 years have consistently demonstrated that creatine supplementation presents no adverse health risks.
A recent?report?on emergency department visits for adverse events related to dietary supplements showed that creatine was seldom mentioned and was not linked with any significant number or any consistent sequence of unfavourable events. In addition, unsupported claims with no rigorous systematic causality assessments have been discredited in several well-controlled scientific studies which demonstrate that creatine supplementation does not increase the occurrence of musculoskeletal injuries, dehydration, muscle cramps, or gastrointestinal disturbance. Moreover, the research refutes claims that creatine supplementation causes renal dysfunction or that it is associated with any long-term damaging effects, and supports its use in decreasing the incidence of many of these unsubstantiated claims.
Studies that have focused on performance-related outcomes in various patient populations including adolescents, younger individuals and older populations have consistently shown numerous ergogenic benefits of creatine supplementation with no significant side effects. The extent and recurrence of these results provide compelling evidence that creatine monohydrate is well-tolerated and?safe to use as a dietary supplement in both healthy untrained and trained individuals of all ages. In fact, some authors have recommended that 3 g/day of creatine should be supplemented throughout the lifespan to support general health.
Finally, although some product labels contain warnings that individuals younger than 18 years of age should not consume creatine, this is simply a legal precaution and there is no scientific evidence to suggest that children or adolescents should not supplement with creatine. Both long and short-term studies indicate that infants, toddlers and adolescents can benefit from consuming creatine, and that creatine supplementation is an acceptable nutritional strategy for younger athletes.
Summary - Creatine Supplementation for Vegans
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