Creatine may Reduce Risk of Cardiovascular Disease

Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death, accounting for more than 50% of all causes of death in Western nations. For this reason, your cardiovascular system (blood vessels) is well worth protecting.

Homocysteine

When most people think of cardiovascular disease, they think cholesterol. But this thinking may be “old hat”. Researchers have recently found an even more evil “villain”. It is a toxic amino acid formed within the human body and is named homocysteine. Elevated homocysteine levels have been found to increase the risk of abnormal blood clotting which increases the risk of cardiovascular diseases such as atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries), heart attack and stroke. Lowering elevated homocysteine levels can go a long way to preventing cardiovascular disease.

Homocysteine is unavoidably produced within every human body from the essential amino acid, methionine. In healthy people, this homocysteine is continually recycled back in an endless cycle to methionine and another related “good” compound named S-adenosylmethionine (SAMe). This cycle, while unavoidably producing homocysteine, also keeps its levels below those deemed toxic via a process named methylation. This involves various nutrients supplying methyl groups (one carbon atom and three hydrogen atoms) to modify homocysteine back to methionine. A large number of the body's methyl groups are used up in this process. A lack of availability of methyl groups for this detoxification process are the main cause of high homocysteine levels. This is where creatine comes to the rescue.

Creatine to the Rescue

As mentioned above, the body uses a large proportion of its available methyl groups for the detoxification of cardiovascular disease-causing homocysteine. Methyl groups are also used for other purposes by the body and these alternate uses compete with homocysteine detoxification for methyl groups. One of these competing uses for methyl groups is the endogenous (within the body) production of creatine within the liver. Although creatine is a very popular supplement with athletes, it is also produced naturally in every single one of us. This is where creatine supplements (such as creatine monohydrate) come into the picture. Creatine supplements reduce the body's requirement to produce its own creatine and thereby down-regulate (lower) its natural production of creatine. This saves methyl groups for the all-important purpose of detoxifying homocysteine.

A recent article in the prestigious medical journal, “Medical Hypotheses” suggests that supplemental creatine could be a very practical method for decreasing plasma homocysteine levels. As explained above, lowered homocysteine strongly correlates with reduced risk of cardiovascular disease.

Other Creatine Benefits for Cardiovascular Health

It has long been known that some of the body's creatine concentrates in the heart. Research during the 1990's demonstrated that creatine improves the condition of congestive heart failure patients. Congestive heart failure is a leading cause of hospitalisation and is caused by a relative lack of energy in the heart resulting in an inability of the heart to properly pump blood around the body. This manifests as extreme fatigue and breathlessness.

Even though it has now been proven that homocysteine is a greater cardiovascular risk factor than cholesterol, it is also noteworthy that creatine supplements have been demonstrated to lower elevated cholesterol levels by up to 15% - another valid reason to use creatine supplements if you care about your cardiovascular system.

Homocysteine Initiates other Negative Effects

Homocysteine doesn't just damage the cardiovascular system. It has also been implicated in numerous other ailments, including:

• Accelerated aging.
• Age-related hearing loss.
• Kidney stones.
• Some types of cancer.
• Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS).
• Fibromyalgia.
• Osteoporosis.
• Rheumatoid arthritis.
• Alzheimer's disease and dementia.
• Depression.
• Multiple sclerosis.
• Parkinson's disease.
• Schizophrenia.
• Miscarriage.
• Psoriasis.

Supplemental creatine could therefore be useful for patients with any of these conditions where the underlying cause is elevated homocysteine.

Creatine was once thought to be useful only for athletes and bodybuilders seeking to improve their performance or strength. This recent evidence suggests that creatine is likely to be a worthwhile supplement for everyone - even couch potatoes.