Creatine and Caffeine

Does Caffeine Affect Creatine Absorption

The creatine and caffeine debate has been going on for a few years because of conflicting studies. Scientists have since discovered that creatine has a half-life of at least 4 weeks in the body, which negated a few of the studies that proved caffeine will hinder creatine performance.

Creatine works directly on your phosphocreatine and your ATP systems, plus creatine buffers all exercise induced hydrogen protons (acid). Caffeine has clearly demonstrated a powerful stimulation to release epinephrine. Theoretically, we could take both caffeine and creatine to gain the benefit of both.

As mentioned the study showed they interfere with one another. The problem is that studies have now been done where the volunteers mixed their creatine with their coffee and got good results. The point is that if you have been taking creatine for 4 weeks your maintenance of 5 grams a day is fine.

Studies done on creatine absorption show clearly that a normal, average bodybuilding diet will supply at least 2 grams of creatine. This means that to keep your muscles full loaded with creatine you only need an extra 3 grams a day from supplements.

What we mean here is that after you load up for a week, you may be able to maintain a creatine-loaded state with diet alone. Many of you have heard of "maintenance doses" of creatine that usually consist of around 5 grams per day. Research tell us that red meat diets of 1.5 to 2 lbs per day provide the required 5 grams of creatine.

But the experts tell us that it is sensible to "reload" your creatine every few months as it stores up for four weeks. This can reduce your costs of staying on 5 grams of creatine a day, if you eating correctly. You just need to top up every 8 weeks to make sure.

In conclusion the mixing caffeine and creatine can even be done at the same time, one should use moderation when starting caffeine for the first time. Studies show that despite information on studies showing the exact opposite, caffeine can be mixed with creatine.

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