Hey guys/gals this just in. I was flipping through the July/August 2002 issue of ‘Men’s Health’ and I came across this paragraph in their ‘Health Bulletin’ section.
“The Weakest Drink- Don’t drink coffee or Coke if you take creatine supplements; the drinks may negate the benefits you’re after. Creatine has been shown to boost lean body mass and improve athletic performance. But researchers in Belgium who spent 6 months studying a group of men and women taking varying amounts of the fitness supplement and caffeine found that even small amounts of caffeine almost completely block the benefits of creatine. The study’s authors blame the problem on the way both substances affect calcium levels in the body. While creatine makes more calcium available to the muscles- improving their ability to flex, contract, and grow- caffeine appears to have the opposite, and stronger effect of limiting calcium availability”
Now they didn’t list any more details than that, they didn’t even name the ‘Belgium researchers’ or any info on where you could obtain more info on the study. I was wondering if anyone else had ever heard anything like this before. I would try searching around on the net, but me dumb. No, I just wanted to hear you guys’ thoughts on this. I have experienced positive results from creatine, and I consume caffeine daily. So was this just a placebo effect or what?
Check it out, let me know what you guys think. I would hate to have to make a choice between creatine and caffeine. But I also do not want to throw money away on creatine if my daily coffee is just negating the effects.
Well, in addition to those other things the study mentioned, creatine also does pull some water weight into the muscles as well. Caffeine is a diruetic and pushes it back out.
Personally I don’t think caffeine is a very helalthy thing at all. If I had to pick between the two, there would be no question that caffeine would be gone in a hearbeat.
I haven’t had caffeine in years. There are some great supplements out there without caffeine or ephedra in them, if you are looking for an energy boost.
Well in addition to loving coffee and tea, I just bought a whole bunch of MD6, so caffiene is going to remain in my diet for awhile. I agree that it isn’t one of the best stimulants in relation to the negative side effects, but it is pretty common and inexpensive. I am curious to know what sort of stimulants that you prefer, that don’t contain caffiene or ephedra.
just drink more water and take extra calcium. Also high protein diets kick calcium out of the body so you should already be supplementing with extra minerals. I’m actually taking creatine on purpose so as to keep my muscular water levels up as i’m taking MD-6 to shed fat. laters pk
Do you really think the creatine you are taking is making much of a difference? The way they spelled it out in the article, they made it sound like even small amounts of caffiene will totally neutralize the effects of creatine in your body. Let me know what your results are. I just find it weird that even though I consume moderate amounts of caffiene on a daily basis, and still notice an increase in gains and quicker recovery time when I am taking creatine. I wonder if it might be that my body may have addapted to the caffiene so the increase in creatine still has an effect. This article just got me wondering if I am actually getting improvements from creatine, or if I am experienceing the well known ‘placebo effect’. Who knows? Not that I care one way or the other as long as I am seeing results, I am sticking with the methods, it just got me wondering. I also wanted to pass this on to you guys since a lot of you probably use creatine and caffiene at the same time.
First, I cannot provide any specific research articles concerning this; but I believe most exercise and science “experts” claim that the caffeine neutralizes creatine theory is pure myth. Remember that the original creatine experiments were conducted using regular, hot tea and significant treatment effects were found. If you have had success with creatine while ingesting caffeine, I definitely would not even worry about it.