Creatine Mahimrita

Creatine administration was shown to significantly improve performance in cognitive and memory tests in vegetarian individuals involved in double-blind, placebo-controlled cross-over trials. Vegetarian supplementation with creatine seems to be especially beneficial as they appear to have lower average body stores, since meat is a primary source of dietary creatine.

- Creatine Supplements: Mental Performance, Wikipedia

In humans, approximately half of stored creatine originates from food (mainly from fresh meat). Since vegetables do not contain creatine, vegetarians show lower levels of muscle creatine which, upon creatine supplementation, rise to a level higher than in meat-eaters.

- Creatine: Sources, Wikipedia

Both quotes have sources cited in the relevant wikipedia article.

Now I have to say that taking creatine and hitting the mat I do feel like I just killed and ate some small animal, or maybe like I need to kill and eat a small animal. If the tag line for Bodyquick is "Got Kill Speed?" and the supplement gives you kill speed (it boosts reaction time by up to 35%), then Creatine gives you "extra killing power".

I'm taking Kre-Alkalyn, a relative new form of creatine supplement. It is "pH-corrected", weighing in at a whopping pH of 12 - extremely alkaline.A pH of 7 is neutral, less than 7 acidic, more than 7 alkaline - up to a maximum of 14 - pure alkaline. The human body operates optimally at around 7.36, on the alkaline side of 7.

Exactly how creatine increases your killing power is still up in the air. This very informative and only slightly technical article describes three current hypotheses.

Apparently (this is according to the Kre-Alkalyn website, which by the way has a horrible 90's design using frames - go here to get the navigation menu), non-base pH Creatine supplements break down in liquid (like in your stomach) into creatinine [wikipedia], which is the exhaust produced when creatine does its thing in your muscles. Creatinine is filtered from your system by the kidneys.

I've been using Creatine for a whole three days now, and I've read a number of testimonials on the internets, and I've got my own story already.

Lots of people are asking questions like: "I'm going on a cruise in a couple of weeks. Can I take creatine and look buff?"

The answer to this is: only if you use the additional creatine in your system to go harder in your exercise program.

Some people report no benefit to their long distance and endurance running.

Some people report "bulking up" and looking "fuller", but losing muscle definition due to water retention.

Some people report sore joints as a result of taking a creatine supplement.

According to the makers of Kre-Alkalyn (who bill it as "the benefits of creatine without the side effects" and "the results without the bloat"), these side effects are due to the deterioration of the creatine supplement to the bio-waste product creatinine when it encounters a liquid.

I have another theory. If the other creatine supplements are non-base pH, and Kre-Alkalyn claims to have a patent covering all creatine supplements with a pH in the range of 7 -14 which implies that they are, then all creatine supplements, with the exception of Kre-Alklyn, are acidic.

If you put something acidic into your muscles then your body will respond to that by diluting the acid to bring it back to your bio-optimum. It will do this by pumping water into the muscle cells. This is why you have to drink a lot of water when you take creatine supplements, and why you immediately bulk up and lose definition.

I haven't noticed any water retention (bloat) with Kre-Alkalyn. What I have noticed is increased strength and muscle recovery. Available creatine in the body enables the production of ATP [wikipedia]. This means more energy at the cellular level. One article I read explained it like this: "you won't go from bench pressing 200 lbs to 250 lbs, but you will go from 5 reps to 7 reps."

In other words, Creatine supplementation doesn't increase your strength per se, it increases the ability of your muscles to recover. This allows you to push yourself more, and this will increase your strength. This is not going to be much good if you're doing long distance and endurance events, which don't have an exertion / recovery cycle. However, it's perfect for Bikram Yoga with the 20 second shivasana (corpse pose) between reps.

Especially for a weedy little vegetarian like me, creatine supplementation seems to be working well. The main thing is that I am able to play faster mrdanga beats for a longer time, and also sing while I'm doing it. I'm getting to test this each morning at mangal-arati and measure the results. And that's ultimately what it's all about. This body is simply an engine for Sri Krishna sankirtan.

Addendum: I cast a wider net, and found other sources of Creatine: juniper berries, apparently, and also this NZ bee pollen. The other day Hari Sauri prabhu mentioned bee pollen as a source of Vitamin B12 as well, so while I'm in NZ I might see if I can get some of this.