Nutritional Advice El MondoObjectives:
Creatine is the most widely used supplementation to increase performance in strength; however, the most recent meta-analysis focused specifically on supplementation responses in muscles of the lower limbs without regard to upper limbs. Therefore, this review article (meta-analysis) has been conducted.
Does creatine supplementation increase strength performance of upper limb for exercise with a duration of less than 3 minutes?
Study design:
This review article included 53 studies (563 individuals in the creatine supplementation group and 575 individuals in the control group (placebo group)).
Results and conclusions:
The investigators found for creatine group versus control group no significant effect at T0. However, at T1, the effect size (ES) for bench press and chest press were 0.265 [95% CI = 0.132-0.398, p 0.001] and 0.677 [95% CI = 0.149-1.206, p = 0.012], respectively.
The investigators found for creatine group versus control group overall, pectoral ES was 0.289 [95% CI = 0.160-0.419, p = 0.000] and global upper limb ES was 0.317 [95% CI = 0.185-0.449, p 0.001].
The investigators found meta-analysis of changes between T0 and T1 gave similar results.
The investigators found meta-regression analysis showed no link with characteristics of population or supplementation, demonstrating the efficacy of creatine independently of all listed conditions.
The investigators concluded creatine supplementation is effective in upper limb strength performance for exercise with a duration of less than 3 minutes, independent of population characteristics, training protocols and supplementary doses or duration.
Original title:
Creatine Supplementation and Upper Limb Strength Performance: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis by Lanhers C, Pereira B, […], Dutheil F.
Link:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27328852
Additional information of El Mondo:
Find here more information/studies about sport nutrition and creatine.