Re: Thoughts on Creatine

[Guest guest]

I found only this (searching creatine monhydrate and lifespan):

Mahoney, J. a; Parise, Gianni b; Tarnopolsky, Mark A. c Nutritional and exercise-based therapies in the treatment of mitochondrial disease. Current Opinion in Clinical Nutrition & Metabolic Care. 5(6):619-629, November 2002

"Summary: There is no currently recognized treatment for mitochondrial disease. Future clinical trials are needed, as well as research into the potential for in-vitro screening of various compounds within affected cells from patients. Until this time, an accurate diagnosis will facilitate treatment on a case-by-case basis."

Regards

[ ] Thoughts on Creatine

Hi, I'm a newbie post, so I hope my post is in compliance with yourguidelines. Thanks for your patience. :)I'm wondering if Creatine could be used to help anti-aging?Let's consider the mitochondria for a moment -- they are what createsATP for your body in the first place. And we know that the veryrespiration process that they use to make the ATP can also fry the genes floating around in the mitochondria. This gradual self-damage tothe mitochondria is considered to be a significant source of aging.The Reactive Oxidative Species (ROS) produced by the normal operationof your mitochondria gradually damage not only the mitochondriathemselves, but as damage becomes sufficient, the ROS can even leakout into the rest of your cell and damage it too.But suppose you were to regularly take an external supplement of ATP,in the form of Creatine. Then your mitochondria might not have to workso hard to make it. This means less mitochondrial respiration, andthus likely less damage to mitochondrial genes over time.People are used to only thinking of taking Creatine for workouts,track meets, swim meets, sports games, dance class, etc, where suddenbursts of energy demand are required.But what if you were to just take small amounts of Creatine on aregular basis, independent of any workout considerations. Will it helpyou to make your mitochondria last longer?Wouldn't taking Creatine still be consistent with Calorie Restriction,since you're bypassing your whole metabolism to get your ATP directlyfrom external intake? The whole point of Caloric Restriction is todeprive your metabolism of work, since that work causes wear and tearon your cells.We've all heard about the animal studies on CR and their superiorlife-extending results. What if the same tests were to be done underCR but also including the intake of Creatine as a supplement to theregular CR diet?I began thinking about this after my thoughts on Chondroitin/GAGs.After all, if you ingest pre-made complex/energetic molecules throughyour diet, rather than forcing your own metabolic processes togenerate them, then you are creating less work for your metabolism.Less work for your metabolism means less production of ROS. And lessproduction of ROS means less damage to your genome and cellularcomponents.Comments, please?

[Guest guest]

Here's a reference that talks about creatine supplementation

protecting against neurodegeneration. In this experiment, rats were

injected with a neurotoxin and the ones given creatine supplementation

lived longer. I couldn't find anything about lengthening *normal*

lifespan, however.

" Neurochemical correlates of differential neuroprotection by long-term

dietary creatine supplementation. "

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve & db=PubMed & list_uids=1\

6140286 & dopt=Abstract

or

http://tinyurl.com/ztfrx

Diane

>

> Hi, I'm a newbie post, so I hope my post is in compliance with your

> guidelines. Thanks for your patience.

>

> I'm wondering if Creatine could be used to help anti-aging?

>

> Let's consider the mitochondria for a moment -- they are what creates

> ATP for your body in the first place. And we know that the very

> respiration process that they use to make the ATP can also fry the

> genes floating around in the mitochondria. This gradual self-damage to

> the mitochondria is considered to be a significant source of aging.

> The Reactive Oxidative Species (ROS) produced by the normal operation

> of your mitochondria gradually damage not only the mitochondria

> themselves, but as damage becomes sufficient, the ROS can even leak

> out into the rest of your cell and damage it too.

>

> But suppose you were to regularly take an external supplement of ATP,

> in the form of Creatine. Then your mitochondria might not have to work

> so hard to make it. This means less mitochondrial respiration, and

> thus likely less damage to mitochondrial genes over time.

>

> People are used to only thinking of taking Creatine for workouts,

> track meets, swim meets, sports games, dance class, etc, where sudden

> bursts of energy demand are required.

>

> But what if you were to just take small amounts of Creatine on a

> regular basis, independent of any workout considerations. Will it help

> you to make your mitochondria last longer?

>

> Wouldn't taking Creatine still be consistent with Calorie Restriction,

> since you're bypassing your whole metabolism to get your ATP directly

> from external intake? The whole point of Caloric Restriction is to

> deprive your metabolism of work, since that work causes wear and tear

> on your cells.

>

> We've all heard about the animal studies on CR and their superior

> life-extending results. What if the same tests were to be done under

> CR but also including the intake of Creatine as a supplement to the

> regular CR diet?

>

> I began thinking about this after my thoughts on Chondroitin/GAGs.

> After all, if you ingest pre-made complex/energetic molecules through

> your diet, rather than forcing your own metabolic processes to

> generate them, then you are creating less work for your metabolism.

> Less work for your metabolism means less production of ROS. And less

> production of ROS means less damage to your genome and cellular

> components.

>

> Comments, please?

>

[Guest guest]

At 06:35 PM 7/9/2006, you wrote:

>Hi, I'm a newbie post, so I hope my post is in compliance with your

>guidelines. Thanks for your patience.

>

>I'm wondering if Creatine could be used to help anti-aging?

Creatine is marketed as a sports nutrition supplement; creatine

is used as an energy store in muscles, and studies show that taking

several grams of creatine a day can improve the number of sets a person can

lift by about 10% or can increase 1-rep maximum weight by about the same

amount. Creatine causes water retention, which can make muscles look

bigger and also raise blood pressure.

I messed around with creatine a few years ago to see if it helped

my lifting. I didn't like the way I felt when I was taking it, and I

found that I got muscle cramps easily when taking it. I developed

patellofemoral syndrome (PFS) after taking it for two weeks; it may be a

total coincidence, because I was also starting to run more and also doing

more squats, but I don't like the stuff. I've been battling with PFS off

and on for two years and I'm getting a lot less exercise than I was

before. I've got a good management plan now and I think I'm going to get

it fixed in the next six months (and expect to keep doing a special

exercise program for a few more years to keep it from coming back.)

I can't say that creatine caused my PFS, but I'm not taking it

again. I've found that my PFS has to do with a lot of things, like the

activation of my abdominal muscles and hips, the position of my center of

gravity, but a lot has to do with how the muscles in my quadraceps fire --

and cramps don't make it easy for my brain to control what my muscles are

doing.

[Guest guest]

I take creatine pyruvate at a low dose on days I weight train. Never noticed much effect, but, perhaps it's helping a bit.

On 7/13/06, A Houle <ph18@...> wrote:

At 06:35 PM 7/9/2006, you wrote:>Hi, I'm a newbie post, so I hope my post is in compliance with your>guidelines. Thanks for your patience. >>I'm wondering if Creatine could be used to help anti-aging?

Creatine is marketed as a sports nutrition supplement; creatine is used as an energy store in muscles, and studies show that taking several grams of creatine a day can improve the number of sets a person can lift by about 10% or can increase 1-rep maximum weight by about the same amount. Creatine causes water retention, which can make muscles look bigger and also raise blood pressure.I messed around with creatine a few years ago to see if it helped my lifting. I didn't like the way I felt when I was taking it, and I found that I got muscle cramps easily when taking it. I developed patellofemoral syndrome (PFS) after taking it for two weeks; it may be a

total coincidence, because I was also starting to run more and also doing more squats, but I don't like the stuff. I've been battling with PFS off and on for two years and I'm getting a lot less exercise than I was before. I've got a good management plan now and I think I'm going to get it fixed in the next six months (and expect to keep doing a special exercise program for a few more years to keep it from coming back.)

I can't say that creatine caused my PFS, but I'm not taking it again. I've found that my PFS has to do with a lot of things, like the activation of my abdominal muscles and hips, the position of my center of

gravity, but a lot has to do with how the muscles in my quadraceps fire -- and cramps don't make it easy for my brain to control what my muscles are doing.