BEGINNER | December 18 2009
Is creatine bad for your health? The recent study shows an increase in DHT (dihydrotestosterone) as one of the side effects of creatine and raises some interesting questions about the safety of long-term creatine use.
DHT (dihydrotestosterone) is male hormone formed in the hair follicles, testes, prostate and adrenal glands.
Apart from the benefits, DHT is a contributing factor for male pattern baldness and plays a key role in Benign prostate hypertrophy.
Prostate cancer is strongly linked to male hormones, and recently DHT has been associated (not causative) with prostate cancer.
The study was well designed to minimize biases and errors.
Double Blinded: The study was double blinded and hence the researchers and the subjects did not know if they were getting creatine or placebo.
Cross over design: As shown in the pic, the study used a cross over design so that every subject receives both creatine and placebo, thereby minimizing the errors and the need for a large group of subjects.
Groups: Subjects loaded with creatine (25 g/day creatine with 25 g/day glucose) or placebo (50 g/day glucose) for 7 days followed by 14 days of maintenance (5 g/day creatine)
The major findings of the study were:
DHT: The levels of DHT increased by 56% after 7 days of creatine loading and remained 40% above baseline after 14 days maintenance (significant)
Ratio of DHT to T: The ratio of DHT:T also increased by 36% after 7 days creatine supplementation and remained elevated by 22% after the maintenance dose.
The ratio tells us that the increased DHT levels are not because of a higher testosterone levels but a greater conversion of T to DHT.
Reference 1
Prostate cancer prevention trial
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Jim@TBF | Sun December 20, 2009 at 8:16 pm
Interesting as I am a big CM user and promoter. I was actually part of an EAS beta for their product “Phosphagen” over 10 yrs. ago. The only side I have felt is muscle gain and thankfully at 37 I still have a full head of hair after many yrs. of use.
I will wait and see however.
Jim
Aaron | Thu December 31, 2009 at 2:46 am
One thing that I’m curious about is whether exercise, which has so many proven health benefits, will have enough of a counter-effect on the DHT. Since just about the only people using creatine supplements are working out (hopefully hard), is this taken into consideration as far as the possibility of an increased occurrence of getting prostrate cancer? Does this increase in DHT mean the same to a regular exerciser as it does to someone that does not exercise in regards to prostrate cancer?
I’m already a chrome-dome so as far as male pattern baldness goes that’s no big deal to me.
Anoop | Thu December 31, 2009 at 2:12 pm
Hi Aaron,
That’s a good question.
From what little I have read about exercise & prostrate cancer, exercise seems to reduce the risk of prostrate cancer. But there was a recent study which showed no effect of exercise on prostrate cancer risk. If you think about it, exercise seems to have a favorable effect of anything these days.
And just reminding, I didn’t mean to say that people who take creatine will end up with prostrate cancer. I think the study raises an interesting question which needs further investigation.
robert salyer | Mon March 08, 2010 at 2:53 pm
i developed prostate cancer at the young age of 44..i was a creatine user for 12 years and had always suspected it as it always caused some urinary issues with me from the moment i took it [probably due to creatine inflamation]
This artice of creatine causing increases in dihydrotestosterone reinforces my concern that the creatine contributed to my condition…by the way, i was incurable and stage 4 upon diagnosis..I am so far doing alright at 47..
Anoop | Wed March 10, 2010 at 7:46 pm
Hi Robert
I am sorry to hear about the cancer, but glad that you are doing alright.
I think it is too early to say anything about the creatine and DHT link. There are too many factors that prevent us from pinning your cancer to creatine.
BR | Sat March 20, 2010 at 3:57 pm
Prostrate? Seriously?
BR | Sat March 20, 2010 at 4:06 pm
Hi BR,
Thanks for the correction. Changed it.
Personal Training Melbourne | Fri June 18, 2010 at 5:19 am
Good post and interesting facts, as a creatine user myself will be keeping a close watch!
Sirdon | Fri June 18, 2010 at 6:59 am
Iam really worry,i do take creatine with dextrose and vitamin c and antoxyforte cap,should i discontinue?
Sirdon | Mon June 28, 2010 at 6:25 pm
Iam taking creatine for the last 10 mths,but mine hair is intact…
Diggler | Wed July 07, 2010 at 3:51 pm
I’ll contribute my $.02.
I started taking creatine in the spring of 2006.
By next summer, my wife noticed my hair was thinning at the crown of my head.
By 2009 my hairline had moved back about 1/2 inch.
I had googled Creatine-and-hairloss several times during the course of these 3 years and despite hearing from many ‘experts’ that creatine has no effect on hair loss, I read dozens upon dozens of personal stories who contradicted this.
In fact, one hair-doctor posted a number of emails from people asking if creatine killed hair. This doctor remarked that he got these letters all the time.
Since quitting in 2009 my hairline and thinning on the crown have appeared to stop. In fact, my hair is thicker now than it was a year ago. My barber even started using thinning shears again.
But just to make sure my imagination wasn’t playing a trick on me I went through many photo’s and videos of myself from 2000 until 2006 to see if my hairline was naturally receding.
I showed pictures of myself during that time frame and tried to have my wife guess what year it was from. She never got it right. In fact, in photo’s where I was 33 (before Creatine) she routinely guessed thought I was in my 20’s. My hairline was the exact same for over half-a-decade.
But when I showed her photo’s of my hair from 2007 and 2008 (after a year or more of Creatine) it was night-and-day. She hadn’t realized it because she lived with me. And my friends noticed it too.
And the kicker? Not one male on either side of my family has any hair loss. Both my grandfathers, well into their 80’s, have hair John Stamos would be jealous of.
The same goes for my father, my brothers and uncles and cousins on both sides of the family. We look like a large group of Baldwin’s for crying out loud.
So that’s why I knew genetics weren’t playing a mean trick on me.
I’ve started taking Saw Palmeto and a multi-vitamins (Vitamin B and E) to help lessen the affects that creatine ravaged on my hair but it’s disappointing that I sacrificed a great hairline for more muscle. So while I was making one part of me look better, I hampered my appearance from the neck up.
I’m just happy I caught it before I did major damage. The thinning in my crown isn’t noticeable unless I’m under intense light and my hair is wet. But my hairline took a beating and can’t be ignored by most. It just sucks that I’ll have to live with that the rest of my life.
I hope others read this and don’t fall into the same mistake I did.
Stay away from creatine. It’s not worth it.
It’s a quick fix for extra muscle. But if you do it right (like I am now) by eating healthier and consuming more natural foods filled with protein, not only will you look great, but you’ll be naturally bigger too. Win-win.
Sirdon | Wed July 07, 2010 at 5:06 pm
Buddy iam taking creatine for the last 1 year but mine hair is still intact,no side effects of hair loss.
Sirdon | Thu July 08, 2010 at 7:27 pm
http://www.creatinemonohydrate.net/long-term-creatine-use
Steve | Sun July 11, 2010 at 6:26 pm
So,
1. Creatine is not for everyone.
2. Some people are negatively affected by DHT; some people are not.
Anoop | Thu July 15, 2010 at 12:53 pm
Hi Sirdon,
It is still inconclusive about creatine and DHT. We need more studies and I am sure we will see one soon.
Hi Steve,
Creatine and weight training seems to significantly increase DHT in short term. We do not know this will happen in long term. We do not know if this short term increase in DHT can cause hair loss or prostate cancer.
Thanks for the comments guys.
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