Quote[/b] ]Date: 4/16/2003
A study presented at the 2003 Experimental Biology Meeting today in San Diego, California comparing the effect of creatine monohydrate powder to “creatine serum” marketed by M***** M******** USA, in side-by-side, placebo controlled tests show that while creatine monohydrate supplementation increases creatine levels in muscles by about 30 percent, the M***** M******** USA creatine serum product is totally ineffective, equivalent in performance to the placebos.
Consumers should not be misled by the claim stated on MM***'s creatine serum labels that it contains creatine equivalent to 2.5 g of creatine monohydrate. Accepted analyses by many reputed scientists show that MM***’s product does not contain any significant amounts of creatine but a degradation product, creatinine, instead [1]. Another earlier study showed that creatine serum had no effect on plasma creatine levels [2].
Muscle biopsies on subjects taking creatine serum according to the instructions on the "creatine serum" label (1 serving a day for 5 days) showed no effect on muscle creatine. Even a higher dose of creatine serum intake (8 servings a day purportedly providing 20 grams/day of creatine monohydrate equivalent for 5 days – supplementing more than one complete bottle (1 1/3 bottles)) resulted in no significant effect on muscle creatine or ATP levels. This study was designed and supervised by a leading and widely-respected authority in the field, Prof. Richard B. Kreider, of the Exercise & Sport Nutrition Lab at Baylor University, in collaboration with Dr. Darryn Willoughby at Texas Christian University and Dr. Mark Tarnopolsky at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada [3]. According to Dr. Kreider. “The best way to determine the potential efficacy of a creatine product is to measure the effect the supplement has on increasing muscle creatine stores. Creatine monohydrate supplementation resulted in a significant increase in muscle Creatine. In contrast, this study clearly indicates that low and high dose ATP Advantage™ Creatine Serum has no effect on muscle creatine or ATP levels, hence Creatine Serum is ineffective in enhancing performance.”
Any claims that creatine serum produces the desired effects of creatine monohydrate are unfounded. No peer-review articles show that creatine serum in fact increases creatine levels in the blood or muscle. The scientific literature shows the opposite to be true [2,3].
[1] A.K. Dash, A. Sawhney. A simple LC method with UV detection for the analysis of creatine and creatinine and its application to several creatine formulations. J Pharm Biomed Anal 2002, 29, 939-945.
[2] A. Almada, R. C. Harris, D. B. Harris. Ingestion of creatine serum has no effect on plasma creatine. FASEB J 15:LB61, 2001.
[3] R Kreider , D Willoughby, M Greenwood, E Payne, G Parise, M Tarnopolsky. Creatine Serum supplementation has no effect on muscle ATP or creatine levels. Federation of American Societies of Experimental Biology Annual Meeting. April 15, 2003. San Diego, CA.
