Is creatine bad for your liver?

[bodybuilder78]

I just wanted some people's insights on the side effects of creatine(if there are any). I was taking creatine for about 1 month or so and decided to get some blood work done. To my amasment, the blood work came back and said that I had high cholesteral(I know not due to creatine) and slight irritation of the liver. Now I've herd a couple of years ago that creatine could cause liver damage. Was just wondering if this was true.

And yes I do drink occasionaly maybe once a week that could cause slight irritation of the liver.

thanks,
mark

[gymBum]

Originally Posted by bodybuilder78

I just wanted some people's insights on the side effects of creatine(if there are any). I was taking creatine for about 1 month or so and decided to get some blood work done. To my amasment, the blood work came back and said that I had high cholesteral(I know not due to creatine) and slight irritation of the liver. Now I've herd a couple of years ago that creatine could cause liver damage. Was just wondering if this was true.

And yes I do drink occasionaly maybe once a week that could cause slight irritation of the liver.

thanks,
mark

Sup Mark
Right now, no studies have shown that creatine has significant adverse side effects. In fact, it has been shown that creatine actually helps to lower cholesterol which is great for your situation (and mine, as I have pretty high cholesterol in my family).

Here is a good article about the studies done on creatine with good resources listed
http://www.thefactsaboutfitness.com/...tinesafety.htm

Most people aren't aware that creatine has protective effects in heart, muscle and neurological diseases. In fact, several months of creatine supplementation in men and women with borderline high cholesterol levels reduces very-low-density lipoprotein levels (the so-called "bad" cholesterol) by almost one-third [1].


Similar findings are reported in the journal Metabolism. Twenty-eight days of creatine supplementation and resistance exercise lowered total cholesterol levels to a greater extent than resistance exercise alone [10].

Some people do not like this view such as in this article:
http://www.nutritionalsupplements.com/creatineR119.html

However, after reading this article and the resources cited - none of the resources cited even come close to saying that creatine has serious side effects. I might be missing something from his point



Hope this helps
John

[bodybuilder78]

Thanks John, that website you pointed me to was very helpful....

mark