1. CREATINE BY: ANTHONY HENRY/ KAPLAN UNIVERSITY/ HW499: UNIT 4 ASSIGNMENT

2. What is Creatine?  Creatine is a chemical that is present inside the body, usually found in the muscles.  It is naturally made by the body, but can also be found in foods.  Creatine is also formulated in laboratories and sold as a nutritional supplement.  Creatine is most associated with improving athletic performance and increasing lean muscle mass.  Research shows that creatine can be effectively used by youths and young adults, but is not as effective for older adults (" Creatine: MedlinePlus Supplements," n.d. ).

3. Useful Information on creatine: Examine.com Examine.com is a website ran independently with the goal of provided unbiased information on nutritional supplementation. This is done through the thorough inspection of research information. Creatine is one of the most researched supplements out. This website holds a plethora of information on the supplement. ("Independent Analysis on Supplements & Nutrition | Examine.com," n.d.) NCCIH The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health is a federal agency which provides essential information and research on products that designed for health and wellness. (" Creatine: MedlinePlus Supplements," n.d.) Safety Research As mentioned previously, there is great deal of research available on creatine. Of particular interest is the safety of the product. There are many peer reviewed journals providing such information. These can be generally found in an literary database. The link above is one such example of a peer reviewed journal. ("BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth | Full text | Creatine supplementation during pregnancy: summary of experimental studies suggesting a treatment to improve fetal and neonatal morbidity and reduce mortality in high-risk human pregnancy," n.d.)

4. Other Educational Resources  There are other resources available to become more educated on creatine supplementation.  Online lectures can be found, such as the one below.  Creatine lecture (" Creatine," n.d.) Creatine lecture  There are also online learning modules such as the one located here: Creatine Information (" Creatine Supplementation for Sports and Performance CEU Module â �� EAS Academy," n.d.)Creatine Information  (Image credited to examine.com)

5. Recommended Dosage  For the purpose of athletic performance, the recommended dosage is as follows:  20 grams for 5 days (known as loading phase), followed by 2 grams a day for maintenance  Water intake during creatine supplementation should be 64 ounces per day. *It should be noted that creatine has other purposes other than just athletic performance. Some of these other purposes are to prevent heart failure, to help Parkinson’s disease, for gyrate atrophy, for muscular dystrophies, and for McArdle’s disease. All of these uses require different dosage recommendations* ("Creatine: MedlinePlus Supplements," n.d.)

6. Additional Recommendations (possible recommendations)  It is also recommended, by some, that creatine use is cycled.  The reason for this is based of the idea of “diminished returns”.  This basically means that when first used creatine will have a robust affect within the human body. As time goes on, the affect will be less and less robust as the body adjusts to the supplement.  In order to prevent this, one should cycle off of the creatine supplement every 6 weeks or so.  However, creatine is naturally made by the body so there is not a necessity to cycle. It could be beneficial, but the research is lacking (" Do You Need To Cycle Creatine? - Supplement-Geek.com," n.d.).

7. Creatine precautions?  Creatine is generally accepted as being a safe product for use. However, there are a few precautions to be aware of:  Before taking creatine, be sure to check ingredients to be sure you are not allergic  Be sure to tell your doctor of previous illnesses before taking. Of particular concern is kidney disease, liver disease, and diabetes  Some forms of the supplement may contain sugars. If diabetic, you may want to avoid these forms of the supplementation.  Side effects for this product are rare, however, the following is possible:  Muscle cramps, reduced ability to tolerate heat, symptoms of dehydration, fast heartbeat/dizziness (" Creatine Monohydrate Oral Precautions and Side Effects - Diet & Exercise," n.d.).

8. References  References  BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth | Full text | Creatine supplementation during pregnancy: summary of experimental studies suggesting a treatment to improve fetal and neonatal morbidity and reduce mortality in high-risk human pregnancy. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2393/14/150 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-  Creatine Monohydrate Oral Precautions and Side Effects - Diet & Exercise. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.healthcentral.com/diet-exercise/r/medications/creatine-monohydrate-oral- 20897/side-effects http://www.healthcentral.com/diet-  Creatine Supplementation for Sports and Performance CEU Module â �� EAS Academy. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://easacademy.org/trainer-resources/article/creatine-interactive- learning-modulehttp://easacademy.org/trainer-  Creatine. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTzILG7zIr4  Creatine: MedlinePlus Supplements. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/natural/873.html http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/natural/873.html  Do You Need To Cycle Creatine? - Supplement-Geek.com. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://supplement-geek.com/do-you-need-to-cycle-creatine/  Independent Analysis on Supplements & Nutrition | Examine.com. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://examine.com/