Journal #13

Annotated Bibliography

Gefland, Jonathan I, ed. “An Overview of Creatine Supplements.” WebMD. N.p., 6 Mar. 2010. Web. 29 Nov. 2010. . Web MD’s article on creatine introduces creatine, and tells the reader what creatine is, its uses in and out of weightlifting, and the groups of people that use it. The article goes further into talking about the potential dangers of it’s use and how doctors don’t know the long term effects on the body. Because of this the article starts to sway towards the con side towards the end of the article. This article will help me introduce creatine in my paper on a basic level and the uses it has. I also plan on using article to go against my opinion of creatine in my paper and disprove using other sources.

Greenhaff, P. L., et al. “Effect of oral creatine supplementation on skeletal muscle phosphocreatine resynthesis.” AJP - Endocrinology and Metabolism (Dec. 1993): E 725-730. Google Scholar. Web. 3 Dec. 2010. . This article published by numerous scientists discusses a scientific study using creatine. In this study they had 8 subjects were first tested for levels of total creatine, which included free creatine and phosphocreatine, adenosine triphosphate (ATP), and lactate. These levels were tested as well as after voluntary contraction, without creatine supplementation. Then the subjects were instructed to take creatine monohydrate in quantities of about 20 grams (four doses of five grams) a day for five days. They were then tested for the same values and the results were then recorded and compared. I plan on using this article (though it is dated 1993) in my paper to prove that creatine in fact does work for people who are sensitive to it’s supplementation. The article is relevant to today’s weightlifters, who use creatine, due to the still booming popularity of creatine monohydrate use.

Lee Lerner, Ed K, and Brenda Wilmoth Lerner. “Creatine Supplementation.” World of Sports Science. Vol. 1. 2007. 120-121. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 3 Dec. 2010. . “Creatine Supplementation” goes into detail of specifically how creatine benefits the user and through what types of exercise. It also discusses it’s history and how it is legal worldwide through the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Later in the text it explains how it is naturally occurring in the body and the effects are different from any other substance so it cannot be compared to anything illegal. Finally, the article interprets the previous studies done and states that creatine is only beneficial for anaerobic (little oxygen) exercise through restoring phosphocreatine, and in turn ATP, levels in the muscle in lack of oxygen (which conquers with “Effect of oral creatine supplementation on skeletal muscle phosphocreatine resynthesis.”). These anaerobic exercises are short explosive exercises, such as weightlifting and therefore creatine is not beneficial for endurance athletes. This article will help my paper to give partial history of creatine and its success. I will use some key facts in this article to better back the point of my paper as well as a second reputable source that had similar results as the studies done in 1993.