Many athletes use creatine to gain strength or build muscle. Although there have been many studies supporting some strength gains and muscle mass increases, there have not been many studies looking at negative effects of creatine use.

One of the reported negative effects is the increase of body fat, or what bodybuilders have experienced as the bye bye six pack effect. From experience many (strength) athletes give the advice to not try to loose weight while you are on creatine because loosing weight on creatine seems to be more difficult. Let’s take a look at a study which tries to investigate this effect.

In this study the influence of creatine supplementation on substrate utilization during rest was investigated using a double-blind crossover design. In other words does your body alter it’s energy use from protein, fat and carbs when you are not lifting weights, training or working out.

Active men participated in 12 wk of weight training and were given creatine and placebo (20 g/day for 4 days, then 2 g/day for 17 days) in two trials separated by a 4-wk washout period. Body composition, substrate utilization, and strength were assessed after weeks 2, 5, 9, and 12.

The results ARE interesting, especially if you want to stay limy…

On a maximal isometric contraction, a 1 repetition maximum (RM), increased their leg press significantly either with or without creatine.
But only the men on the creatine improved their 1-RM bench press: +33 +/- 8 kg.

Since most people don’t train their legs enough I’m not surprised that both groups increased their 1RM. This seems to make a very good case for breaking your records when you are at your top.

Total body mass increased 1.6 kg ( +/- 0.5 kg) after creatine but not after the placebo. In 12 weeks that’s not bad, not great either, but that might have depended on the training program. A significant increase in fat-free mass were found after creatine and placebo supplementation

Creatine 1.9 +/- 0.8 kg
Placebo 2.2 +/- 0.7 kg

OUCH! We do have to note that the placebo group got maltodextrin as a placebo which seem to explain this effect. So you get stronger but you don’t increase your muscle mass that much. Now that is strange.

Fat mass did not change significantly with creatine but decreased after the placebo trial (-2.4 +/- 0.8 kg). These are strong(!) numbers, which explain why some people don’t have a six pack.

Carbohydrate oxidation was increased by creatine (8.9 %, +/- 4.0). So when taking creatine the men reduced their ability to burn fat. The researchers suspect that changes in substrate oxidation may influence the inhibition of fat mass loss associated with creatine after weight training.

So in short:

Supplementing with creatine helped greater gains in 1-RM bench press, 1-RM leg press, and weight gain than those using placebo.

Fat Free Mass was nearly identical in subjects taking creatine or placebo. BUT, when taking creatine you may reduce your ability to LOSE FAT in response to exercise training.

“These conclusions affirm our hypothesis that creatine supplementation would result in a shift in substrate utilization at rest toward greater carbohydrate oxidation and less fat oxidation, indicated by a rise in the RER. Although there are ergogenic benefits from creatine supplementation, athletes participating in wrestling, swimming, gymnastics, and other weight-sensitive sports should first consider the potentially negative side effect of fat retention before choosing creatine supplementation.”

In other words: you will have more fat (and thus weight) when you are on creatine, which is usually not a good thing in performance sports.

Stay Limy, don't use creatine?

PMID: 12391059

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