Tudo o que você deve saber sobre creatina

Aprender inglês fica muito mais fácil quando você usa conteúdos que fazem parte da sua vida. Aqui você entende, em inglês simples, como a creatina funciona, como é produzida e por que ela realmente funciona, enquanto melhora seu vocabulário de forma prática.

Everything You Should Know About Creatine

Creatine is a popular supplement. People use it to get stronger and build muscle.

Your body makes creatine. You can also get it from meat and fish. Most creatine stays in your muscles.

Creatine is also made in factories. A very curious fact is that it can start from natural gas, a fossil fuel from petroleum. This gas is transformed into simple chemicals, and these chemicals are changed step by step until they become creatine. China produces most of the world’s creatine because it has large factories and low cost.

After production, the creatine is cleaned and filtered to remove impurities. High-quality creatine is very pure. The most common type is creatine monohydrate. This means creatine with one water molecule. “Normal” creatine and creatine monohydrate are basically the same in use, but monohydrate is more stable, more tested, and more trusted. It can reach close to 100% purity.

Creatine helps your body make energy. Your muscles use energy called ATP. Creatine helps make ATP faster, which improves short and strong exercises like lifting weights.

Research shows clear benefits. Creatine improves strength and muscle mass (Kreider, 2017). It also increases power output (Rawson and Volek, 2003) and improves performance in high-intensity exercise (Branch, 2003).

People usually take 3 to 5 grams per day.

Creatine is safe for healthy people when used correctly, with no harmful effects on kidney function (Poortmans and Francaux, 2000).

Creatine is simple, clean, and effective. So, will you take it?

Transformation

General

CH₄ → HCN → NH₂CN → NH₂C(=NH)NH₂ → creatine

A multi-step pathway where methane is transformed into nitrogen compounds that are finally assembled into creatine.

Step 1

CH₄ + NH₃ + 3/2 O₂ → HCN + 3 H₂O

Methane reacts with ammonia and oxygen to form hydrogen cyanide.

Step 2

HCN + NH₃ → NH₂CN

Hydrogen cyanide reacts with ammonia to form cyanamide.

Step 3

NH₂CN + NH₃ → NH₂C(=NH)NH₂

Cyanamide reacts with ammonia to produce guanidine.

Step 4

CH₃NH₂ + ClCH₂COOH → CH₃NHCH₂COOH

Methylamine reacts with chloroacetic acid to form sarcosine.

Step 5

NH₂C(=NH)NH₂ + CH₃NHCH₂COOH → C₄H₉N₃O₂

Guanidine reacts with sarcosine to form creatine.

Reference

Avgerinos, K. I., Spyrou, N., Bougioukas, K. I., and Kapogiannis, D. (2018). Effects of creatine supplementation on cognitive function of healthy individuals: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials.

Branch, J. D. (2003). Effect of creatine supplementation on body composition and performance: a meta-analysis.

Kreider, R. B., Kalman, D. S., Antonio, J., Ziegenfuss, T. N., Wildman, R., Collins, R., Candow, D. G., Kleiner, S. M., Almada, A. L., and Lopez, H. L. (2017). International Society of Sports Nutrition position stand: safety and efficacy of creatine supplementation in exercise, sport, and medicine.

Poortmans, J. R., and Francaux, M. (2000). Long-term oral creatine supplementation does not impair renal function in healthy athletes.

Rawson, E. S., and Volek, J. S. (2003). Effects of creatine supplementation and resistance training on muscle strength and weightlifting performance.