Abstract
It is well established that creatine supplementation, primarily when combined with resistance training, significantly increases measures of muscle mass and performance (primarily strength). Emerging research also indicates that creatine supplementation may have favorable effects on measures of bone biology. These anabolic adaptations may be related to creatine influencing cellular hydration status, high-energy phosphate metabolism, growth factors, muscle protein kinetics, and the bone remodeling process. Accumulating research also suggests that creatine supplementation has anti-inflammatory and anti-catabolic properties, which may help create a favorable environment for muscle and bone accretion and recovery from exercise. Creatine supplementation has the ability to decrease markers of inflammation and possibly attenuate cancerous tumor growth progression. From a musculoskeletal perspective, there is some evidence to show that creatine supplementation reduces measures of muscle protein catabolism (primarily in males) and bone resorption when combined with resistance training. The purpose of this brief review is to summarize the current body of literature examining the potential anti-inflammatory and anti-catabolic effects of creatine supplementation across various research populations.
Highlights
Since the seminal study by Harris et al in 1992 [1], research investigating the multifactorial effects of creatine supplementation has substantially increased
From an anabolic muscle perspective, creatine supplementation has been shown to increase cellular hydration status, intramuscular creatine stores, myogenic transcription factors and satellite cell activity, insulin-like growth-factor 1, and protein kinases downstream in the mammalian target of rapamycin, which are involved in protein translation (For reviews see [4,7,8])
The effects of creatine supplementation (5 g·day−1; n = 16) during a 12-week resistance training program in older adults did not find any differences in IL-6, IL-10, C-reactive protein (CRP) or monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) compared to placebo (n = 16), but did identify a decrease in MCP-1 following the resistance training program regardless of creatine consumption [47]
Summary
Since the seminal study by Harris et al in 1992 [1], research investigating the multifactorial effects of creatine supplementation has substantially increased. The current body of research indicates that creatine supplementation (typically when combined with resistance training) preferentially increases measures of muscle mass and performance (for meta-analysis reviews [2,3,4,5]) and may be of particular benefit for the elderly to counteract age-related muscle atrophy and sarcopenia [6]. Increased muscle accretion from creatine may act as a pulley and bone as a lever during muscle contractions resulting in osteocyte-induced bone formation [9] In addition to these purported anabolic mechanisms and processes, there is a small body of research suggesting that creatine supplementation has anti-inflammatory and anti-catabolic effects on properties of muscle and bone biology, which may help create a more favorable environment for muscle and bone growth or recovery from exercise over time. The purpose of this brief review is to summarize the current body of research investigating the anti-inflammatory and anti-catabolic effects of creatine supplementation across various research populations
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