The Potential Link
Between
Creatine Supplementation
and
Cancer
By: Susan Lin
Department of English
ENGL 21003: Writing for the Sciences (CCNY)
Dr. Lesile Carpenter
Abstract
The use of creatine supplements has been increasing and is gaining popularity among athletes and fitness enthusiasts to enhance their performance and muscle growth. However, there have been many questions raised on whether or not there are negative health effects to taking creatine. This paper will use existing research from the CCNY database to explain how creatine works (Kazak 2020), and to determine if there is a relationship between creatine supplementation and cancer (Wong 2021). There are existing studies on the effect of creatine on rats and whether it boosts their energy (Gale 1971). As well as exploring other health effects (Candow 2023) and proposing a new experiment to study this further.
Introduction – What is Creatine?
Creatine is a molecule that plays a crucial role in energy metabolism, specifically in tissues with high energy demands like muscle of brain tissue. Due to it being advertised as performance-enhancing, athletes and fitness enthusiasts who seek improved performance and muscle strength are more likely to take creatine. The marketing for Creatine is targeted to these two groups of people. While many studies have shown the benefits of creatine, there have not been enough studies to show the concerns raised regarding the safety of creatine in our bodies.
Creatine VS Cancer
Creatine serves as an immediate energy source when performing high levels of physical activity and is mostly stored in skeletal muscles. The metabolism involves phosphorylation to phosphocreatine which significantly impacts adenosine triphosphate (ATP) regeneration. While creatine can generally be considered “safe”, creatine has the potential to increase intracellular levels of dihydrotestosterone (DHT) and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1). Both of these have been flagged in cancer development (Kazak 2020).
When testing if creatine can speed up the progression of breast cancer in mice, Wong found that mice who were obese had increased concentrations of non-supplied creatine. The exogenously(external) supplied creatine in their diet did not affect the tumor progression suggesting that the cancer cells were not obtained from the intake of creatine, rather it seemed that mice who were obese showed increased expressions of cancer cells like IGF-1 (Wong 2021). They found that obesity induces adipocytes (a cell specialized for the storage of fat) to secrete creatine into the tumor microenvironment, letting it fuel the growth of nearby cancer cells.
Another study was also conducted on mice to see the change of ATP and creatine phosphate storage in the skeletal muscle of rats trained at different sprinting distances, 900 and 7600 ft. The results showed a direct correlation between ATP and creatine phosphate storage. The more creatine phosphate storage was, the more ATP was generated in the mice. Giving them more endurance to run (Gale 1971).
Creatine VS Other Health Effects
There may be positive health effects to using creatine. Creatine supplementation can increase brain creatine storage which can help with memory and cognition, especially in older people. Additionally, creatine has been shown to improve things like depression and anxiety. However, it is unknown whether factors like sex and age would react to the use of creatine. (Candow 2023)
Methods
The purpose and goal of my experiment are to determine whether or not creatine can create cancer-inducing cells in humans. We also want to see if there are external factors or reasons why some research has found that cancer cells can be caused by creatine supplementation. Most importantly, we want to determine the long-term effects of taking creatine supplementation.
It would be unethical for us to give people creatine knowing the risk. Instead, we should do a survey to collect a sample of people, athletes, and the fitness community preferred, who already take creatine. Ideally, the sample will have a control person who has the same physical qualities to make sure we limit the effect of external factors such as weight. After collecting a sample of 20 people who take creatine and 20 people who don’t, we would just observe their cells in the long term. Maybe 1-3 years.
External Factors
In order to study external factors, we should also have a group of people with different qualities. Like weight, the amount of creatine they take, how often they take it, or even the amount of physical activity they do daily. We also have to consider age, gender, and diet in the study.
Results
The results of each study are inconsistent. While some find that creatine can induce and promote cancer-growing cells, others find that there is not a direct link between cancer and the use of creatine supplementation and suggest that there may be external factors to the growth of cancer cells such as obesity or a higher body percentage of fat. The only thing consistently showing up is that creatine does boost energy levels as it increases ATP regeneration. However, there are very few studies that show the effect of creatine on humans. A lot of the evidence on whether there is or is not a link between creatine supplementation and cancer has been based on mice which does not reassemble what happens in humans. I hope to find that there is no direct connection between creatine and cancer, rather that people with certain characteristics and groups should not take creatine.
Conclusion
Overall, to determine if there is a possible link between creatine supplementation and cancer, we would have to conduct further research as the existing research provides us with limited research. While some researchers say that there is no harm in using creatine, others say the opposite and that there is harm in creatine. A lot of articles have contradicting findings in their experiments. Additionally, most of these experiments were tested on animals. Until we have more information on creatine and its link with cancer and even other health risks, individuals taking creatine should consider the potential risks and consult their healthcare providers on the safety of consuming creatine.
Safety Precautions
Although there are concerns about the safety of creatine supplementation, it is safe to consume in small amounts in the short term. However, there is yet to be enough evidence of the potential dangers of having creatine in high doses and long term.
References
Balsom, P.D., Söderlund, K. & Ekblom, B. Creatine in Humans with Special Reference to Creatine Supplementation. Sports Med 18, 268–280 (1994).
Candow, D.G., Forbes, S.C., Ostojic, S.M. et al. “Heads Up” for Creatine Supplementation and its Potential Applications for Brain Health and Function. Sports Med 53 (Suppl 1), 49–65 (2023). https://doi-org.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/10.1007/s40279-023-01870-9
Kazak, L., Cohen, P. Creatine metabolism: energy homeostasis, immunity and cancer biology. Nat Rev Endocrinol 16, 421–436 (2020). https://doi-org.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/10.1038/s41574-020-0365-5
Wei Wong, A cancerous connection for creatine.Sci. Signal.14,eabi7099(2021).DOI:10.1126/scisignal.abi7099
