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Kinetics of creatine ingested as a food ingredient

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Abstract

The aim of the present study was to test if the consumption of creatine incorporated in food bars modifies creatine plasma kinetics, erythrocyte retention and loss in urine and in feces when compared with its consumption in the form of an aqueous solution (AS). Seventeen healthy young men ingested 2 g creatine either in the form of AS, or incorporated in a protein (PP)- or in a beta-glucan (BG)-rich food bar. Kinetics of plasma creatine was measured for 8-h duration and urinary excretion for 24 h. Then, the subjects received the same treatment thrice a day for 1 week at the end of which creatine contents were determined in erythrocytes and in feces (n = 4 for feces). The three crossover treatments were interspaced by a 40 ± 1.2-day wash-out. Absorption of creatine was slowed down by 8-fold in the presence of BG (P < 0.001) and by 4-fold with PP (P < 0.001) whereas the velocity rate constant of elimination and the area under the curve were not modified. Urinary loss of creatine in the first 24 h following ingestion was 15 ± 1.9% in AS and 14 ± 2.2% in PP conditions (NS), whereas it was only 8 ± 1.2% with BG (P = 0.004). Increase in creatine concentration in erythrocyte was similar in whatever form the creatine was ingested. Creatine seems to be totally absorbed since no creatine or creatinine was detectable in feces. No side effects were reported. In conclusion, ingestion of creatine combined with BG facilitates its retention by slowing down its absorption rate and reducing its urinary excretion.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are indebted to Francine Loupe-Reding and Vinciane Godaert for their technical assistance, Dominik Grathwohl for his assistance in the statistical treatment of the data and Antoine Audrin, Aylin Harzadin and Jean-Jacques Desjardins for recipes and manufacture of the test bars.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut d’Education physique et de Réadaptation, Faculté de Médecine, Université catholique de Louvain, Place Pierre de Coubertin 1, 1348, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

    Louise Deldicque, Hermann Zbinden Foncea & Marc Francaux

  2. Nestlé Research Center, 1000, Lausanne 26, Switzerland

    Jacques Décombaz & Jacques Vuichoud

  3. Institut des Sciences de la Motricité, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Avenue Paul Héger 28, 1000, Bruxelles, Belgium

    Jacques R. Poortmans

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  1. Louise Deldicque
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  2. Jacques Décombaz
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  3. Hermann Zbinden Foncea
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  4. Jacques Vuichoud
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  5. Jacques R. Poortmans
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  6. Marc Francaux
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Correspondence to Marc Francaux.

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Deldicque, L., Décombaz, J., Zbinden Foncea, H. et al. Kinetics of creatine ingested as a food ingredient. Eur J Appl Physiol 102, 133–143 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-007-0558-9

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