Creatine is one of the most populardietary supplementson the market.
What is creatine and what does it do?
Creatine is a source of energy for muscles.
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The body converts creatine to creatine phosphate, which it uses to produce adenosine triphosphate (ATP).
ATP is the fuel that allows your muscles to contract during exercise.
Though some creatine is found in the blood and in tissues, muscles store about95 percent of the compound.
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The body makes some creatine by combining three amino acids.
You also get creatine from animal foods such as meat, poultry, seafood, and dietary supplements.
What are the benefits of creatine supplements?
(Be sure to always check the label.)
Is creatine safe to take?
People withdiabetesor kidney disease should also avoid creatine pills and powders.
How much creatine should I take?
You’ll also want to resist the urge to take more creatine for faster or “better” results.
Ask your doctor or pharmacist about how creatine interacts with the medicines you take.
Water retention in the muscles that may cause weight gain is also a potential side effect of creatine supplements.
Long-term use of creatine supplements may trigger muscle cramps, diarrhea, andnausea.
Learn how to fire up your metabolism and lose weight the smart way.
Which creatine supplements should I take?
Intense competition among brands has led some of them to go too far for stand out.
Creatine supplements vary in the amount and quality of creatine they provide.
The best creatine supplements have the fewest extras and make the least claims.
Plus, it’s available in bulk, which drives down the cost per serving.
see to it you drink lots of fluid with the pills to prevent dehydration, though.
Pay attention to portions here, though.
Creatine bound to magnesium may be as effective as creatine monohydrate, without thefluid retention.
Preliminary evidence also suggests magnesium-chelated creatine may reduce recovery time from intense workouts as compared tocreatine monohydrate alone.
Not all supplements are worth you trying out, though.
Here are the ones you’re better off skipping.
You may also want to avoid theartificial flavors and colorsit takes to produce this fruit-punch flavored powder.
To make matters worse, these are tablets, which further adds to the expense of this less-than-useful supplement.
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