Creatine and the Insulin debate

A number of studies have taken place in the past to try and ascertain the manner in which best to promote the absorption of creatine by skeletal muscle. These studies have postulated that insulin greatly assists in the uptake of creatine into skeletal muscle.

Insulin is released from the pancreas when blood sugar levels rise, this is commonly after food. Insulin will act as an enabler for the cells of our body to take up insulin, amino acids and other nutrients. As creatine is very closely aligned to amino acids in structure it will also be transported into the cells via the assistance of insulin. In this way insulin acts as a pre-cursor to muscle growth. It puts in place the appropriate means by which the basic substrates are available to create new muscle tissue.

However what the studies also showed was that to invoke a large enough release of insulin the intake of glucose required was large (20 grams for each gram of creatine). In this large amount the glucose is beyond the ability of most to palate. In addition to this the large amount of glucose ingested to ensure this response meant there was a strong possibilityof developing insulin resistance which is how type II diabetes develops.

The drive in recent times by manufacturers has been to try and find agents that would increase the amount of insulin produced or the effects on the cells of insulin. This obviously in-flated the price. However the effectiveness of these agents (chromium, picolinate, alpholic acid, etc) has never been proved to be effective. I am unaware of any scientific studies that either prove or dis-prove these additional agents

But studies have shown that protein greatly increases the ability of glucose to relase insulin into the blood from the pancreas. Further studies have also shown that the combination of creatine, protein and carbohydrate drastically increases the uptake of creatine.

If this has given you a taste to try creatine and / or protein kick start your efforts then be sure to visit a nutritional supplement site to purchase creatine