14 year old wants to take creatine. Should he? [Archive] - WannaBeBig Bodybuilding and Weightlifting Forums

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11-01-2004, 05:38 PM

I was talking to my almost 15 yo cousin last night and he's been lifting since 7th grade (over a year) and he was talking to me about creatine. He said he wanted some to maybe try and that he'd heard it builds the hell outta you.

I told him yes, it does build you up nicely, when taken correctly and with the reccomended dosage, along with drinking about 3 times the water you normally would.

?, he's 14 and I watch out for my family alot, I really don't think he should touch it, at least not until he's at least 18-19, then MAYBE consider it, that's my opinion on it. I have never touched anything of the sort and have limited knowledge of supplements and steroids, but I do know if you're 14 it's not for you. What are your opinions and what do you suggest I tell him. Thanks alot guys.

pusher

11-01-2004, 05:41 PM

At that age money is proly hard to come by, and given your concerns, I would get him excited about a multivitamin or fish oils or more food before creatine. Not that there's anything explicitly dangerous about creatine at a young age, just that there's probly little need for it, or need to be spending more money.

blinktx

11-01-2004, 05:47 PM

Im 16 and I take it, but if your concerned dont let him take it. Your just gonna keep worrying if he ends up taking it.

11-01-2004, 05:50 PM

See he has hormones all over the place and I just don't see how creatine fits in there. He's making good gains, eating plenty (I keep the boy in line lol) and for the most part is responsible. But he's 14.

Anthony

11-01-2004, 06:00 PM

I personally don't believe there would be any health risks. Creatine is just a non essential amino acid. Having said that, with the amount of test flowing through him at his age... he doesn't need creatine yet.

PizDoff

11-01-2004, 06:02 PM

I have never touched anything of the sort and have limited knowledge of supplements and steroids, but I do know if you're 14 it's not for you. What are your opinions and what do you suggest I tell him. Thanks alot guys.

Then please do some research. For at least supplements.
There is nothing wrong with taking it at his age, but then again, there really isn't much of a reason to either.

Do what pusher said. The other stuff will help much more.

11-01-2004, 06:12 PM

Yeah PizDoff, I think my protectiveness of family is kicking in here. I will show him atlargenutrition and show him some fish oils and vitimans. Then I'll explain to him that at his age it's not really necessary. Thanks alot guys :)

waynis

11-01-2004, 06:21 PM

at 14 you have raging hormones and testosterone. There's no need for any supplements but protien.

Intense

11-01-2004, 08:13 PM

I took creatine when I was 14. I believe it worked great for me, helped me build a solid foundation for heavy lifting now. Only problem was it made me sick to my stomach, but that was almost 7 years ago...just make sure its unflavored and its just monohydrate. Anything else isn't worth it. 5 grams, if that, is all he'll need.

11-03-2004, 04:16 PM

Lol UPDATE: He got some creatine from a friend and didn't lift (he didn't even measure how much he took, when I asked him he just shrugged and said he tipped the jar back and took some. Idiot.) and he **** all day yesterday and today lol.

GMCtrk

11-03-2004, 06:05 PM

Creatine is just a non essential amino acid.

no it's not, it's simply a biochemical molecule capable of donating a phosphate group to ADP. It can do this becuase it is able to stabilize the extra electron pair left behind (when the phosphate group leaves) in the P orbitals of it's SP2 carbons and its nitrogens and oxygens.

GMCtrk

11-03-2004, 06:12 PM

Anthony

11-04-2004, 06:05 AM

no it's not, it's simply a biochemical molecule capable of donating a phosphate group to ADP. It can do this becuase it is able to stabilize the extra electron pair left behind (when the phosphate group leaves) in the P orbitals of it's SP2 carbons and its nitrogens and oxygens.

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=creatine
http://www.stanford.edu/group/hopes/sttools/gloss/c.html
http://www.cogsci.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/webwn?stage=1&word=creatine

PowerManDL

11-04-2004, 06:50 AM

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=pwned

galileo

11-04-2004, 09:38 AM

Can't touch this. Stop! Hammer Time!

TBone4Eva

11-04-2004, 01:22 PM

Whoa, I just got a picture of Galileo in some parachute pants dancing side to side. tuttut

I don't see a problem with him taking creatine as long as he does it right, which he obviuosly isn't. Teach him how to take the correct dosage.

SalahG

11-04-2004, 01:47 PM

There's nothing wrong with him taking creatine. If he can afford it, and is using it to assist good diet and training, it will help.

11-04-2004, 04:02 PM

I don't even know a whole lot about it, exept the basics. I think I'll turn him onto vitimans and fish oils and the like on atlarge. Probably.

chris mason

11-04-2004, 06:14 PM

I don't recommend anything other than protein to young teens.

GMCtrk

11-04-2004, 06:22 PM

http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=creatine
http://www.stanford.edu/group/hopes/sttools/gloss/c.html
http://www.cogsci.princeton.edu/cgi-bin/webwn?stage=1&word=creatine

go look up the structure of creatine monophosphate and then tell me if it's an amino acid or not

Anthony

11-04-2004, 07:07 PM

I could be wrong, but this is my understanding. An Amino Acid is a compound that contains an amino group (NH2) and a carboxyl group (COOH).

Since the structure of creatine is NH2-C(NH)-NCH2(COOH)-CH3, I assumed it was a (non essential) amino acid.

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong.

ectx

11-04-2004, 07:46 PM

GMCtrk

11-04-2004, 07:59 PM

Creatine is an amino acid by it's strictest definition...it's chemical name is N-(aminoiminomethyl)-N-methyl glycine. We don't think of it as an amino acid because it is not a protein amino acid (no phosphodiester linkage). Now take a look at its structure:

http://www.pdrhealth.com/drug_info/nmdrugprofiles/nutsupdrugs/images/cre0086.gif

there you see it...carboxy group, amino terminus...amino acid. It's not one of the 20 amino acids that can make up a protein, but it is an amino acid. That's where GMCTruck got confused.

Anthony is correct.

That is not the structure of an amino acid. If it was an amino acid the methyl (glycine side chain) would be on the alpha carbon, not the nitrogen. Not to mention other aspects of that structure do not correlate to an amino acid in it's strictest definition. I guess it could be considered an amino acid derivative.

In addition, what we are talking about here is creatine monophosphate, which is certainly not an amino acid.

There are 20 amino acids. that is all of them. There are no other "non-essential" whatevers. As well you talk about a phosphodiester linkage? That has no role whatsoever in a protein. Creatine monophosphate however has a phosphomonoester bond.

Not trying to be an ass here, but I think it's important to get things straight

ectx

11-04-2004, 08:11 PM

GMC, you're arguing semantics. It is an amino acid. It's not an alpha amino acid, but it's an amino acid. Some text books call non alpha carbon amino acids amino acid derivatives (which usually occurs through an esterfication process). Now if you're talking about monophosphate....you see that carboxy group to the side? It's usually phosphorylated when sold. That's a modification to the compound...one not ulike a dipeptide link.

We can discuss this until we're blue in the face...the truth is that scientist will argue over the definition of a molecule, and I just pulled out 3 textbooks that stated slightly different things. We can get caught up in the minutae, or move on to the real topic of this thread...and that is to say that there should be no problem with a 15 year old taking creatine.

***And edit...I know phosphodiester linkages don't have anything to do with proteins, aside from coding them. I meant to put peptide linkage...oops:p