Muscles A dietary supplement popularized by weightlifters shows promise as a treatment for neuromuscular diseases. Researchers report this month in Neurology that creatine supplements significantly boosted strength in people with muscular dystrophy and other muscle-wasting diseases. Creatine is a natural compound, synthesized in the liver and also found in meat, that restores energy to a cellular organelle called the mitochondrion.
Weightlifters take creatine supplements in hopes of bolstering their power and muscle endurance.
How much creatine really helps these athletes is a matter of debate, but neurologist Mark Tarnopolsky and kinesiologist Joan Martin at McMaster University Medical Center in Hamilton, Ontario, wondered if it might benefit people with neuromuscular diseases like muscular dystrophy, muscle inflammatory diseases, and mitochondrial disorders. To find out, the researchers gave 10 grams of creatine daily to 81 people with neuromuscular diseases for 5 days, then reduced the dose to 5 grams per day for 5 more days. The researchers tested the participants' hand, foot, and leg strength at the beginning of the study, and then again at the end. When the researchers repeated the experiment as a blind trial with 21 patients, they found essentially the same improvement. Neurologist Flint Beal at Cornell University Medical College in New York City agrees that creatine shows great promise.