Creatine/ Kre-alkalyn and Teens, Is It Safe?

Summary

Creatine is proven to give outstanding benefits to athletes with minimal side effects. Conversely, it is not substantiated with enough information to conclude that this is safe for teenagers because the people that are used for these experiments are often adults, who aren't growing anymore. Therefore, is it safe for the large amount of teenagers who either want to take it or are taking it to take this supplement.

Overview

More often than not, teenagers are looking for ways to either become stronger or look better. Usually, they start to hit the weight room or go to the gym in order to work out and build more muscle. However, with the vast array of supplements that are available, a percentage of teens will try out these supplements in order to get better and faster results. Is it truly safe for teenagers to experiment with some of these supplements, more specifically creatine, even though their bodies are still growing?

What is Creatine?

Creatine is a protein that can be obtained from eating meat and your body can also produce it. However, you would have to consume a lot of meat seeing as there is approximately 1 gram per half pound of meat and your body produces roughly 1 gram/day. Thus making it easier to take creatine in a supplement form because you don't have to rely on eating large amounts of meat to obtain more creatine.

Some Benefits of Creatine

Many athletes use this supplement because it can improve their performance. It is shown that creatine can allow for an increase in weight due to the body retaining more water in your muscles. Also, it can increase your strength during physical activity because you have more energy (ATP) available. In addition, creatine can reduce recovery time by decreasing the build up of lactic acid. Furthermore, research has suggested that it can help people with Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease and muscular dystrophy.

Teens and Creatine

Most teens stop growing at the ages of 14-18, with extremities continuing to grow until around 20 years old. Therefore, during teenage growth, they grow both internally and externally. Their organs and body systems eventually mature and it becomes safer to do things that adults do. However, before teens stop growing, taking certain supplements, like creatine, could possibly cause damage to the liver or kidneys. This is why it is best to take it when one is either almost done or done growing. But, this is not too common as most users that experience damage to the kidneys/liver already have kidney/liver problems before taking this supplement.

As a result, a gray area forms as to whether or not it is indeed safe to take this as a teenager. However, I feel that taking this in moderation, that includes the dosage and cycling on and off, will not cause significant harm because you are allowing your body to clean itself out after a month of cycling and you are not overloading the amount of creatine that your kidneys have to process. Furthermore, creatine was first produced in 1992. That was 18 years ago (from 2010), so it has been on the market longer than most supplements. And lastly, there is not enough evidence proving that it can cause harm to people; because in fact, all the strongest arguments supporting its use are based on research showing profoundly positive effects.

References-
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/natural/patient-creatine.html
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/creatine/NS_patient-creatine
http://www.bidmc.org/YourHealth/ConditionsAZ.aspx?ChunkID=21706
http://www.bodybuildingforyou.com/creatine/creatine-benefits.htm
http://hdlighthouse.org/see/diet/triad/diet/supplements/creasafe.htm
http://pediatrics.about.com/cs/growthcharts2/l/blboystwo.htm
http://pediatrics.about.com/cs/growthcharts2/l/blgirlstwo.htm
http://www.ehow.com/about_4815048_creatine-for-teens.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creatine_supplements