Original articles  BODY COMPOSITION, SPORT NUTRITION AND SUPPLEMENTATION 

The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness 2002 September;42(3):330-9

Copyright © 2009 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Effects of creatine supplementation during recovery from rapid body mass reduction on metabolism and muscle performance capacity in well-trained wrestlers

Ööpik V., Pääsuke M., Timpmann S., Medijainen L., Ereline J., Gapejeva J.

From the Institute of Exercise Biology University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia

Back­ground. The aim of the ­study was to ­test the hypoth­e­sis ­that crea­tine sup­ple­men­ta­tion ­with con­com­i­tant car­bo­hy­drate inges­tion dur­ing recov­ery peri­od ­after rap­id ­body ­mass reduc­tion accel­er­ates the res­to­ra­tion of ­body ­mass and phys­i­cal per­for­mance in ­well-­trained wres­tlers.
Meth­ods. A dou­ble-­blind, pla­ce­bo-con­trolled ­cross-­over ­study was con­duct­ed on five ­young ­healthy ­male wres­tlers, who ­reduced ­their ­body ­mass by 4.5-5.3% in two ­series of inves­ti­ga­tions sep­ar­at­ed by one ­month. Dur­ing 17 hrs recov­ery peri­od ­they con­sumed con­trolled ­diet sup­ple­ment­ed in ran­dom ­order ­with glu­cose (GL ­trial) or ­with glu­cose ­plus crea­tine (GL+CR ­trial). The capac­ity of the sub­jects to per­form sub­max­i­mal and max­i­mal (­Wmax) inten­sity ­work was meas­ured ­using 5 min inter­mit­tent inten­sity ­test exer­cise at the Cyb­ex II ­device ­before (­Test 1) and ­after ­body ­mass ­loss (­Test 2), ­also ­after the recov­ery (­Test 3) on ­both ­trials.
­Results. ­There was no ­effect of treat­ment on the ­extent of ­body ­mass ­regain dur­ing 17 hrs recov­ery. A sig­nif­i­cant ­increase (19.2%) in ­Wmax ­from ­Test 2 to ­Test 3 was ­observed in GL+CR ­trial where­as no ­change was evi­dent ­with GL treat­ment. A ­strong cor­re­la­tion (r=0.92) was estab­lished ­between the ­whole ­body crea­tine reten­tion and the ­extent of ­change in ­Wmax ­from ­Test 2 to ­Test 3.
Con­clu­sions. The ­results sug­gest ­that crea­tine sup­ple­men­ta­tion ­with con­com­i­tant glu­cose inges­tion dur­ing 17 hrs recov­ery ­from rap­id ­body ­mass ­loss ­does not accel­er­ate the res­to­ra­tion of ­body ­mass but ­still stim­u­lates the ­regain of phys­i­cal per­for­mance in max­i­mal inten­sity ­efforts in ­well-­trained wres­tlers.