Creatine
I have updated the creatine section of Vegan Weightlifting: What Does the Science Say?
Some background: Right after I wrote that article for VRG’s Vegetarian Journal in 2003, a study on vegetarians and creatine was released. I obtained a copy of the study, glanced at it, and put it in my pile of nutrition papers to read soon. Things got very busy for me at Vegan Outreach for the next few years and the issue of creatine sat there.
But in the last few weeks, I transferred Vegan Weightlifting: What Does the Science Say? to the VeganHealth.org site (it had previously been only on VRG.org) and started updating the article. Today I finished the creatine section. It turns out that “the lost study” provided some fairly compelling evidence that vegetarian weightlifters can benefit from creatine supplementation.
If you are interested, check it out at veganhealth.org/articles/weightlifting#creatine.
February 20th, 2009 at 6:40 pm
Thanks for this. I once had someone at a party ask me ‘how I got my creatine’, believe it or not!
February 22nd, 2009 at 6:40 am
Are creatine supplements synthetically made, or are they derived from animal sources?
February 22nd, 2009 at 12:49 pm
My understanding is that they are not derived from animal sources. I got that information from this 2002 article:
Larson E. Vegetarian diet for exercise and athletic training and performing: an update. Vegetarian Nutrition. Vegetarian Dietetic Practice Group of the American Dietetic Association.
I have not contacted companies to verify this.
February 23rd, 2009 at 6:22 am
It would be nice if athletes/bodybuilders could just do it without supplementation. There are plenty of vegan, even raw vegan athletes that can build excellent muscle and strength naturally – without the use of these external supplements.
It almost seems fake for someone who performs better using these powders and pills.