Essay on Drugs and Human Interactions

Introduction of Creatine supplement

In sports, athletes are intensely interested in physical fitness. They usually use a lot of money in acquiring dietary supplements to increase muscle mass, power, and weight loss. Creatine supplement is a commonly used amino acid performance enhancer in sports nutrition, by the name Methyl guanidine-acetic acid, which is usually converted into phosphocreatine. The use of performance-enhancing drugs is a significant challenge facing the sports industry in today’s world. Creatine endogenously is produced at a volume of around 1 g/synthesis usually takes place in the kidney. The remaining amount is generally gotten through the diet. Adenosine triphosphate is primarily produced by phosphocreatine in muscle cells. (Moret et al., 2018, p.1232). Nutritional supplements have gained huge support in the sporting world. Creatine monohydrate has been the most commonly used supplement so far. Researchers have viewed creatine monohydrate to be safe.

Supplementation using oral creatine leads to increased concentrations of creatine in skeletal muscles in most athletes. This has been shown to promote n body mass when incorporated with intense training to enhance power and strength. The primary purpose of this literature is to discuss the aspect of performance of creatine supplement drug, which is an example of a non-doping drug in sports. This study also discusses how the chemistry influences creatine supplement pharmacology and whether there is a public health concern in using the supplement. Lastly, the study focuses on the challenges that creatine as a supplement presents to scientists.

Creatine chemistry

Animals produce creatine in muscle cells for the storage of energy. It is usually phosphorylated into creatine phosphate, which works as a phosphate donor during the conversion of ADP to ATP, which supplies the required muscle energy for contraction. It is a hydrophilic polar molecule consisting of a carboxyl group that is negatively charged and positively charged. This hydrophilic nature limits creatine bioavailability. The increase its bioavailability, creatine has been designed to reduce hydrophilicity, a product known as creatine ethyl ester (Moret et al., 2018, p.1232). Creatine is derived from glycine attached with methyl and amidino groups in nitrogen. It acts as a neuroprotective agent. In tissues of muscles, creatine usually occurs as a phosphocreatine. In the initial stage of its biosynthesis, the enzyme arginine glycine aminotransferase activates glycine and arginine reaction leading to the formation of guanidinoacetate, methylated using s-adenosyl methionine by guanidinoacetate. N methyltransferase. Creatine cyclic form called creatinine is found at equilibrium (Mosher et al., 2019, p.673)

How chemistry influences Creatine pharmacology

Creatine is an essential non-proteinaceous. After being biosynthesized, creatine is usually transported to skeletal muscles, the brain, the heart, and other body tissues. A large amount of creatine is generally found in tissues inform of creatine phosphate. In muscles, some creatine usually binds into phosphate, leading to the formation of creatine phosphate. This reaction is usually catalyzed by the creatine kinase, which leads to phosphocreatine. The phosphocreatine then binds with the adenosine diphosphate and converts it into adenosine triphosphate, a short-term energy source for athletes. Cerebral stores and intramuscular creatine become elevated when supplemented with creatine. The increase of creatine offers therapeutic benefits through the prevention of ATP depletion (Mosher et al., 2019, p.673)

Public health concern

Creatine supplementation has been reported to have a few renal health disorders. Some studies on creatine supplementation and renal function conclude that even though creatine slightly increases the creatinine level, there are usually no adverse effects on kidney function, especially when there is a proper follow-up of the recommended dosage of creatine. The methylamine and formaldehyde of the urinary have increased when creatine supplementation of 20g/d is given. However, this did not bring any impact on renal function. There has been a recommendation for further research on elderly and adolescent individuals (Ostojic, 2017, p.307). From studies, Creatine supplementation has shown been leading to reduction of the body’s creatine endogenous production. Still, however, this usually goes back to normal after the cessation n of the creatine supplementation. Due to all this, the longtime effect of this supplement is unknown, and therefore there is no guarantee of safety. It has been reported from

A French sanity Agency researched a burn of buying creatine supplements because of lacking proof that the supplement could cause potential mutagenicity (Ostojic, 2017, p.307). Research conducted in 2017 among middle-high school pupils speculated that having creatine supplements could enhance products like anabolic steroids. The safety of creatine for this age group from this study was not established. The supplementation of creatine protocols has been showing to increase the phosphocreatine and brain creatine. Cognitive processing, which can be hindered due to sleep deprivation, dramatically improves due to taking a creatine supplement. Creatine showed a short duration of neuromuscular performance properties (Ostojic, 2017, p.307). It is also observed that there was a decrease in blood lactate accumulation during exercise in lower intensities. Athletes are encouraged to be cautious when taking creatine supplements since their effects on growth and body development are unknown, and long-term usage safety has not yet been established (Ostojic, 2017, p.307).

The challenge creatine supplement is presenting to scientists.

There is a major challenge on how high is the dosage of creatine can affect other body functions. Most of the researches up to date about creatine has been focusing on its pharmacological properties. Yet, there has not been researched on the pharmacokinetics of creatine. Research has not yet established the pharmacokinetics parameters in the clinical use of creatine, like the distribution volume, bioavailability clearance half-life, and the rate of absorption (Ostajic, 2017, p. 238). Despite having a wider range of advantages, it is recommended that the athletes taking creatine be careful with the dosage, the length, and the frequency of the supplementation (Shao and Hathcock, 2017, p.242). Creatine supplementation can lead to increased muscle cramps; this was confirmed partly by a study curried (Mosher et al., 2019, p.673). Another side effect of creatine was found to be gastrointestinal discomforts by those who were taking the supplement orally. It has been believed that the side effects could be associated with increased osmotic load in the gastrointestinal tract. According to (Pischel et al.,2017, p.291), A high dosage of creatine has been known to lower blood glucose levels and increase blood pressure.

Different people require different amounts of creatine depending on the person’s body weight. Creatine has widely been known as a product that has no immediate side effects. From different researches which haven carried out on this supplement, there is no evidence that this supplementation is harmful. Creatine usually helps in pulling water into muscles due to its chemical nature, and therefore there is an increase in the size of the muscles. It has not been clear whether if this benefit enhances strength. Current researches by different scientists have shown some challenges. Creatinine has been shown to a build-up of lactic acid in the enhancement of protein synthesis. The underlined challenges have not been approved, and more research needs to be carried to determine the validity of the research. Researchers explain some discrepancies in-between concerning creatine supplements, and they are usually hard to explain due to the differences in diet taking and supplementation protocols (Stanojević-Ristić et al., 2017, p.1).

The effect which creatine supplement has on the endurance of the high aerobic intensities is still in debate, and it should be investigated further. Few reports on the adverse effects of the creatine supplement have been published. Which includes gastrointestinal distresses, renal failure, and muscle cramps. Most studies are finding safety in consumption of the creatine supplement during sports, yet there is remaining research on the long-term usage of this supplement. There has variability in different research designs having a smaller sample size being left having many unanswered questions which regard safety and creatine supplementation efficacy. This area is currently active and requires further future research to help in guiding inappropriate usage of creatine in enhancing athletic performance across all ages.

Conclusion

According to research carried out by different authors, we can conclude that creatine plays different roles in the human body. Creatine is usually used to reduce muscle wastage, especially after surgery; this is to improve the heart’s function in people severing from ischemic heart diseases. Creatine is becoming a popular supplement among athletes. Different research has shown that there are other different potential uses of creatine. Short-term use of this drug has been reported to lead to an increment of the total creatine content. Approximately 300 studies evaluate the potential value of creatine supplementation has been carried. Short-term supplementation of this drug is being reported to improve muscles activity, strength, and performance in intensity exercises procedures. Athletes who take this supplementation can only hold 5g per Kg of the muscle, of which these amounts are obtained by eating vast quantities of meat.

References

Moret, S., Prevarin, A. and Tubaro, F., 2018. Levels of creatine, organic contaminants, and heavy metals in dietary creatine supplements. Food Chemistry, 126(3), pp.1232-1238. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodchem.2018.12.028

Mosher, E.P., Wade, H. and Bumpus, N.N., 2019. Naturally Occurring Mutations in Muscle‐Type Creatine Kinase Impact Tenofovir Monophosphate Phosphorylation. The FASEB Journal, 33(S1), pp.673-14.

https://doi.org/10.1096/fasebj.2019.33.1_supplement.673.14

Ostojic, S.M., 2017. Co-administration of creatine and guanidino acetic acid for augmented tissue bioenergetics: A novel approach?. Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy, 91, pp.238. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopha.2017.04.075

Pischel, I. and Gastner, T., 2017. Creatine–it’s chemical synthesis, chemistry, and legal status. Creatine and creatine kinase in health and disease, pp.291-307.

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4020-6486-9_15

Shao, A. and Hathcock, J.N., 2017. Risk assessment for creatine monohydrate. Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology, 45(3), pp.242-251.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yrtph.2017.05.005

Stanojević-Ristić, Z., Stević, S., Rašić, J., Valjarević, D., Dejanović, M. and Valjarević, A., 2017. Influence of pharmacological education on perceptions, attitudes, and use of dietary supplements by medical students. BMC complementary and alternative medicine, 17(1), pp.1-9. https://bmccomplementmedtherapies.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12906-017-2