ProMera Health
What parents should know about the creatine industry.
CON-CRET sponsored the 2009 USAPL National High School Powerlifting Championships in Killeen Texas on April 3-5. The event had over 350 boys and girls from across the country.
Over the three days, the common question raised by coaches and parents was; is creatine a steroid, is it safe and is it legal?
It is not surprising that these questions are in the minds of parents and coaches today.
With the lack of regulation in the dietary industry-anything goes and that leads to confusion, as one corporate insider said, " When it comes to dietary supplements, it is like the wild west and the bad guys know they don't have to take the sheriff seriously."
It is soley up to the individual companies to decide how they intend to promote their product and present it to the buying public. Disclosure of all the ingredients on the label is not mandatory, and that means you can find anything in the product unknowingly, like stimulants, additives, binders, fillers, excipients and extenders.
Some ingredients can be considered banned or illegal often hidden behind "patent pending" or "proprietary" claims. Other ingredients can cause allergic or adverse reactions, but when you don't know what is in a product than you can be at serious risk.
Companies create their own science, often with little back up or none at all and some efficacy statements are layered with creative language that can confuse any scientist. Hype marketing consume the individual in advertisements convincing people using their product wil produce explosive results-some too good to be true-some to the point of "pulp fiction".
Can it get outrageous, the answer is yes, an associate from a vitamin store said, " some companies in the US get away with everything. In Canada there are strict laws regulating supplements. The same product sold in this store may not be allowed on the shelf in Canada due to compliance. Everything must be listed on the label, and often that presents itself as a problem. Some ingredients are banned or unproven and companies fail to get approval."
The General Accounting Office recently completed a report on dietary supplement recommendations to the FDA. One conclusion, the FDA needs more resources and also needs to address reporting adverse reactions, product safety and availability of reliable information.
Up to now, reporting a death was about all that was required, everything was voluntary bya company-"it just doesn't make sense" exclaimed a parent at the powerlifting meet.
What if an illegal or banned substance is found in a supplement? Confusion as to who is at fault-especially if the athlete is tested and fails. Governing organiztions, like the NCAA and other amatuer and professional organizations do not test products-they test athletes. Companies can opt to have an outside firm test their products and also randomly pull their products off the store shelf to test for contamination. Still, the individual is at risk, and the question remains, who do you trust? It happens every year, an Olympic athlete, professional athlete or college athlete is found to be "test positive". Even when the item was an over the counter supplement purchased at a vitamin store and found to be contaminated with a banned or illegal ingredient not listed on the label. Finger pointing resulting in legal challenges and countersuits, in the meantime the athlete is suspended-often in jeopardy of their scholarship pending appeals which can consume one's college career.
Most parents I spoke with at the USAPL event rely on coaches to lend them advice and what they can gather on the internet. They will also ask other parents if their child is taking supplements. In the end they realize that one thing is for certain, if their child intends to compete and pursue playing sports beyond high school, they will eventually take something.
Today's strength coaches, athletic trainers and conditioning coaches are more informed through professional member associations and trade journals. Sports nutrition is a very important issue and concern with everyone.
Athletes don't always eat right or rest enough. They are often under-recovered and not over-trained. Athletes also fall into the area of asking their bodies to perform more than they are capable of producing or naturally born to do.
Creatine, which is what this article is about is often misunderstood. Creatine is an essential nutrient to energize muscle cells and that includes the heart and brain. It is naturally found in foods we eat like meat and seafood and is sythesized by the liver, kidney and pancreas.
Creatine is a normal part of daily life, firing ATP billions of time a day to create muscle activity. You need it to survive. Unfortunately, Mother Nature expends in an average athlete only 2-3 grams per day. less in females. The amount of grams is typically calculated by body type, density and mass. It is not calculated by how hard you workout or how often you compete. That is where supplementation becomes a factor. As you burn creatine, you eventually will fatigue, but your body will restore creatine levels when you rest, not realistic when you need it now.
You need some combination of meat, seafood, onions and garlic which are rich in methionine in your diet. Methionine is one of the key amino acids that form creatine along with arginine and glycine. Your renal system can synthesize arginine and glycine, but it needs you to eat from the food sources high in methionine to make creatine-so diets and what you eat are very critical and essentail-eat properly and will make it effortlessly for your body to sythesize creatine.
Creatine supplementation when done correctly will provide proper ATP levels.
A recent study completed by the University of Nebraska's Medical Center looked at creatine supplementation. A group of individuals were given plain ,monohydrate, top selling creatine blends and the CON-CRET molecule. Subjects had blood plasma samples taken from their muscles every 20 minutes for two hours, The blood samples would reveal if creatine made it to the muscle and to what extent.
The conclusion of the study showed that CON-CRET has better oral absorption compared to other forms of creatine and CON-CRET is the most readily absorbed creatine form avaialble providing superior uptake to the muslce. In essence, if creatine can't disolve (be soluble) than it can't make its way into the bloodsteam.
Another significant benefit to muscle saturation and absorption is dosing. CON-CRET is the only creatine product on the market that you dose specifcally on your body weight and can adjust based on your workout intensity.
No two individuals are alike in size, body mass, density, metabolism and everyone works out uniquely-shouldn't the creatine supplement you take adjust for that-Mother Nature does.
For more information on creatine, browse the con-cret website as there is valuable information, news and articles that will assist you.
What parents should know about the creatine industry.
CON-CRET sponsored the 2009 USAPL National High School Powerlifting Championships in Killeen Texas on April 3-5. The event had over 350 boys and girls from across the country.
Over the three days, the common question raised by coaches and parents was; is creatine a steroid, is it safe and is it legal?
It is not surprising that these questions are in the minds of parents and coaches today.
With the lack of regulation in the dietary industry-anything goes and that leads to confusion, as one corporate insider said, " When it comes to dietary supplements, it is like the wild west and the bad guys know they don't have to take the sheriff seriously."
It is soley up to the individual companies to decide how they intend to promote their product and present it to the buying public. Disclosure of all the ingredients on the label is not mandatory, and that means you can find anything in the product unknowingly, like stimulants, additives, binders, fillers, excipients and extenders.
Some ingredients can be considered banned or illegal often hidden behind "patent pending" or "proprietary" claims. Other ingredients can cause allergic or adverse reactions, but when you don't know what is in a product than you can be at serious risk.
Companies create their own science, often with little back up or none at all and some efficacy statements are layered with creative language that can confuse any scientist. Hype marketing consume the individual in advertisements convincing people using their product wil produce explosive results-some too good to be true-some to the point of "pulp fiction".
Can it get outrageous, the answer is yes, an associate from a vitamin store said, " some companies in the US get away with everything. In Canada there are strict laws regulating supplements. The same product sold in this store may not be allowed on the shelf in Canada due to compliance. Everything must be listed on the label, and often that presents itself as a problem. Some ingredients are banned or unproven and companies fail to get approval."
The General Accounting Office recently completed a report on dietary supplement recommendations to the FDA. One conclusion, the FDA needs more resources and also needs to address reporting adverse reactions, product safety and availability of reliable information.
Up to now, reporting a death was about all that was required, everything was voluntary bya company-"it just doesn't make sense" exclaimed a parent at the powerlifting meet.
What if an illegal or banned substance is found in a supplement? Confusion as to who is at fault-especially if the athlete is tested and fails. Governing organiztions, like the NCAA and other amatuer and professional organizations do not test products-they test athletes. Companies can opt to have an outside firm test their products and also randomly pull their products off the store shelf to test for contamination. Still, the individual is at risk, and the question remains, who do you trust? It happens every year, an Olympic athlete, professional athlete or college athlete is found to be "test positive". Even when the item was an over the counter supplement purchased at a vitamin store and found to be contaminated with a banned or illegal ingredient not listed on the label. Finger pointing resulting in legal challenges and countersuits, in the meantime the athlete is suspended-often in jeopardy of their scholarship pending appeals which can consume one's college career.
Most parents I spoke with at the USAPL event rely on coaches to lend them advice and what they can gather on the internet. They will also ask other parents if their child is taking supplements. In the end they realize that one thing is for certain, if their child intends to compete and pursue playing sports beyond high school, they will eventually take something.
Today's strength coaches, athletic trainers and conditioning coaches are more informed through professional member associations and trade journals. Sports nutrition is a very important issue and concern with everyone.
Athletes don't always eat right or rest enough. They are often under-recovered and not over-trained. Athletes also fall into the area of asking their bodies to perform more than they are capable of producing or naturally born to do.
Creatine, which is what this article is about is often misunderstood. Creatine is an essential nutrient to energize muscle cells and that includes the heart and brain. It is naturally found in foods we eat like meat and seafood and is sythesized by the liver, kidney and pancreas.
Creatine is a normal part of daily life, firing ATP billions of time a day to create muscle activity. You need it to survive. Unfortunately, Mother Nature expends in an average athlete only 2-3 grams per day. less in females. The amount of grams is typically calculated by body type, density and mass. It is not calculated by how hard you workout or how often you compete. That is where supplementation becomes a factor. As you burn creatine, you eventually will fatigue, but your body will restore creatine levels when you rest, not realistic when you need it now.
You need some combination of meat, seafood, onions and garlic which are rich in methionine in your diet. Methionine is one of the key amino acids that form creatine along with arginine and glycine. Your renal system can synthesize arginine and glycine, but it needs you to eat from the food sources high in methionine to make creatine-so diets and what you eat are very critical and essentail-eat properly and will make it effortlessly for your body to sythesize creatine.
Creatine supplementation when done correctly will provide proper ATP levels.
A recent study completed by the University of Nebraska's Medical Center looked at creatine supplementation. A group of individuals were given plain ,monohydrate, top selling creatine blends and the CON-CRET molecule. Subjects had blood plasma samples taken from their muscles every 20 minutes for two hours, The blood samples would reveal if creatine made it to the muscle and to what extent.
The conclusion of the study showed that CON-CRET has better oral absorption compared to other forms of creatine and CON-CRET is the most readily absorbed creatine form avaialble providing superior uptake to the muslce. In essence, if creatine can't disolve (be soluble) than it can't make its way into the bloodsteam.
Another significant benefit to muscle saturation and absorption is dosing. CON-CRET is the only creatine product on the market that you dose specifcally on your body weight and can adjust based on your workout intensity.
No two individuals are alike in size, body mass, density, metabolism and everyone works out uniquely-shouldn't the creatine supplement you take adjust for that-Mother Nature does.
For more information on creatine, browse the con-cret website as there is valuable information, news and articles that will assist you.