Adulterated Creatine (was Creatine and the heart)

[Guest guest]

We've pretty well established the general safety and efficacy of

creatine. There may be a small population which cramps while using it

and we've got some decent hypothesis as to why.

Now there are these issues:

The first is the one brought up, creatine contaminated or

deliberately laced with banned substances. A very serious issue for

any competing athlete.

The second, brought up by Ed, is also very important. Creatine

contaminated with impurities.

Both of these happen...absolutely no doubt about it. Therefore the

question is, Where can you get unadulterated creatine? Short of paying

a chemist to assay various brands of creatine, how and where does one

find the good stuff? Pure creatine does exist. I used to provide many

Div I colleges with it. They have chemistry depts. that routinely

tested our products. We never received a single complaint. However,

that manufacturer is out of business.

If a reputable, nationally famous company or organization guaranteed

the purity of their creatine, how many here would be interested in

getting some?

W.G.

Ubermensch Sports Consultancy

San Deigo, CA

>

> Nick,

>

> Quite by accident I ran across a pretty well written article the

other day that seemed to be well referenced about the fact that

creatine often has impurities in it depending on the manufacturer and

that these chemicals could well be a health risk. I don't want to

beat this horse to death but essentially here is the meat of the article:

>

> In the December issue of Health and Nutrition Breakthroughs (p12,

1997) Dr. Podell addressed the same concern regarding creatine as I

have when he stated " ...there is the potentially important issue of

product purity. Given the high doses of creatine most people take,

even a minute toxic impurity could have a dangerous effect.

Unfortunately we cannot be sure of a manufacturers' quality controls. "

>

> As we all know, people don't just take 500mg (1/2 a gram) of

creatine, they take 10,000mg (10g), 20,000mg (20g), or even 30,000mg

(30g) of creatine per day, so even a small amount of a contaminant

(such as the dihydrotriazine) can add up quickly. For example, one

creatine product contained as much as 18,000 parts per million (PPM)

of Dicyandiamide. If a person is taking in ten grams per day of

creatine, that's 180 mg of this chemical a day. If you are taking in

30g a day of creatine-as is often the case during the loading

phase-you would be getting a whopping 540mg a day of dicyandiamide!

>

> The Chemicals

>

> Dicyandiamide (DC): DC is actually a derivative of one of the

starting chemicals (cyanamide) used in creatine production. DC is

formed during the production of creatine products, and large amounts

found in a product are considered the result of an incomplete or

inefficient process. A quality creatine product will contain very

small amounts, less than 20-50ppm. At this time, DC does not appear to

be a particularly toxic chemical. Oral studies with animals (rats and

dogs) lasting up to 90 days have not shown serious toxicity or

carcinogenic effects, and acute poisoning also takes very high

amounts. DC appears to have many uses in the chemical industry. Some

of the more interesting is the use of DC in the production of

fertilizers, explosives, fire proofing compounds, cleaning compounds,

soldering compounds, stabilizer in detergents, modifier for starch

products, and a catalyst for epoxy resins

>

> It goes on about what these chemicals are and what they might do but

the idea was that they were not harmful as long as athletes are taking

the 5 gram recommended dose but when they are taking more well you can

look at the math as quoted. Certainly is something to think about and

pretty interesting that in none of the studies we have been discussing

was this a variable taken into account. I still believe this is a

much more complex issue and that the surface has just been scratched

so to speak on what is actually biologically taking place.

>

> Eddie White

> Blue Springs, Mo.

>