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Effect of creatine supplementation on body composition and performance: a meta-analysis
1Department of Exercise Science, Physical Education, and Recreation at Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA 23529-0196, USA.
International Journal of Sport Nutrition and Exercise Metabolism
|August 30, 2003
Summary
Creatine supplementation enhances body composition and improves performance in short, intense exercise, particularly upper-body and repetitive activities. Its effectiveness varies by exercise type and duration, with no significant impact on running or swimming performance.
Area of Science:
- Exercise Physiology
- Sports Nutrition
- Biochemistry
Background:
- Creatine supplementation (CS) is known to increase body mass and improve performance in high-intensity, short-duration exercise.
- Existing research since 1994 has been reviewed qualitatively, but a comprehensive meta-analysis with a limited scope exists.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare the effects of creatine supplementation (CS) on body composition (BC) and exercise performance.
- To analyze the influence of exercise duration and intensity (ATP-PCr, glycolysis, oxidative phosphorylation), exercise type (single, repetitive, lab, field, upper/lower body), CS duration (loading, maintenance), and subject characteristics (gender, training status) on effect size (ES).
Main Methods:
- A systematic literature search was conducted using MEDLINE and SPORTDiscus for studies on "creatine supplementation" published in English.
- Included were 96 peer-reviewed papers (100 studies) with randomized group formation, placebo control, and blinded human subjects.
- Effect size (ES) was calculated for all body composition and performance variables.
Main Results:
- Significant positive effect sizes (ES) were found for body composition (BC), ATP-PCr, glycolysis, and oxidative phosphorylation-dependent exercise.
- ES for BC was higher with loading-only CS compared to maintenance, and greater for repetitive-bout exercise than single-bout.
- Upper-body exercise showed a significantly larger ES than lower-body or total-body exercise. Laboratory-based tasks yielded greater ES than field-based tasks. No differences were observed based on gender or training status.
Conclusions:
- Creatine supplementation (CS) demonstrates greater effect sizes (ES) for lean body mass changes, short-duration (< or = 30 s) repetitive-bout laboratory exercises, and upper-body activities.
- CS is not effective for improving running and swimming performance.
- No evidence suggests gender or training status influences the ES of creatine supplementation.