Creatine as an ergogenic nutritional resource: a literature review

• Autor(a) principal: Bicalho de Souza, Elton
• Data de Publicação: 2022
• Outros Autores: Henrique Valin Silva, Márcio
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: https://doi.org/10.29073/jim.v3i1.505
• topic: Creatina; Substâncias para melhoria do desempenho; Exercício Físico; Creatine; Performance-enhancing; Exercise

Creatine is a substance produced naturally by the body and found in foods of animal origin. It’s considered an effective nutritional ergogenic resource to increase performance and gain muscle mass. This study aimed to describe the main mechanisms of action of creatine, presenting the recommended doses of supplementation, time of use, possible side effects and for which types of exercises supplementation is recommended. This is a narrative literature review that was carried out from scientific publications in Portuguese and English from the PubMed®, SciElo® and Google Academic® databases. The selected studies showed that creatine supplementation between 3 to 5 grams per day can provide an increase in water volume in muscle cells, increased protein synthesis, increased gene expression of IGF-1 and increased regulatory myogenic factors, in addition to act in one of the metabolic pathways of energy supply and replacement, enabling increased training performance (especially in those of high intensity and short duration) and increased muscle mass gain. Creatine supplementation proves to be safe for healthy individuals, and it is worth emphasizing the importance of professional monitoring to adjust dosages according to needs.