Diet, Nutrition and SupplementationPost here for supplement reviews or nutritional advice. If you're trying to get "ripped abz" THIS is where you should be.
Do you think it's a bad idea? For anyone that knows what it means, my serum creatinine is about 1.1 mg/dL. That's just about the upper limit for normal in adult males. The doctors have never had a problem with it, and I have been working out for a couple years after stopping from playing sports my entire life.
Some background info is that I once was hospitalized for bradycardia, but they did all kinds of tests for infectious disease and many other things, all to find nothing. I was eventually released as my HR went back up a little bit where it now rests at mid 40s, and diagnosed with an "athletic heart." I will never know what caused it too drop as low as it did and end with me in the hospital, but I think part of it (or all of it) may have been that I overworked, underate, and lose weight too soon. I was eating what would certainly be considered a "high protein" diet during those times before that. It is therefore possible that my kidneys were working hard and caused the elevated level, but I have no other issues and again, I will never know if that was the cause.
Anyway, I'm going to ask my doctor before I start, but I wanted some other opinions on here. Plus, everyone knows that most MD's don't know too much about nutrition anyway. Would love for Alan Aragon or Leigh Peele to comment if possible
I might be able to comment here, but first, I just need to clarify what you're asking:
1) Are you wondering why you have high creatinine levels? Possibly the high protein diet?
2) Would you like to take a creatine supplement?
3) Are you taking a creatine supplement and wondering if this is causing your high creatinine levels?
4) Something else I'm just not reading correctly?
High protein diets can increase serum and urine creatinine levels, but these are not an issue to health unless there are other markers of kidney dysfunction.
Creatine supplementation also has the potential to elevate serum creatinine concentrations.
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Fitness and Nutrition Scientist Blog:
I think every question you asked is answered in what I wrote.
I said that I will ask my doctor before I take it, so no, I'm not taking it yet, which obviously means it can't have anything to do with my high creatinine level. And I said the high protein may have caused the high creatinine, but there's no way to tell.
I just was looking for clarity because I wasn't sure.
All I can tell you is that from my experience in clinic and the lab (and what you'll find in the literature), is that elevated creatinine often follows a high protein diet. You're only at the upper limit - not extremely elevated, hence, why your doctor is not concerned.
Here is something for you:
The effect of creatine intake on renal function.
Pline KA, Smith CL.
College of Pharmacy, Ferris State University, Big Rapids, MI, USA.
OBJECTIVE: To examine the effect of creatine supplementation on renal function and estimates of creatinine clearance. DATA SOURCES: A MEDLINE search was conducted (1966-September 2004) using the key terms creatine, creatinine, kidney function tests, drug toxicity, and exercise. Relevant articles were cross-referenced to screen for additional information. DATA SYNTHESIS: Supplementation with creatine, an unregulated dietary substance, is increasingly common in young athletes. To date, few studies have evaluated the impact of creatine on renal function and estimates of creatinine clearance. Because creatine is converted to creatinine in the body, supplementation with large doses of creatine may falsely elevate creatinine concentrations. Five studies have reported measures of renal function after acute creatine ingestion and 4 after chronic ingestion. All of these studies were completed in young healthy populations.Following acute ingestion (4-5 days) of large amounts of creatine, creatinine concentrations increased slightly, but not to a clinically significant concentration. Creatinine is also only minimally affected by longer creatine supplementation (up to 5.6 y). CONCLUSIONS: Creatine supplementation minimally impacts creatinine concentrations and renal function in young healthy adults. Although creatinine concentrations may increase after long periods of creatine supplementation, the increase is extremely limited and unlikely to affect estimates of creatinine clearance and subsequent dosage adjustments. Further studies are required in the elderly and patients with renal insufficiency.
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Fitness and Nutrition Scientist Blog:
Also, if your doctor is willing, and you're curious about your kidney function, have your GFR tested in your next blood draw, and have an albumin level checked in a 24-hr urine sample.
Finally, as in the paper above, if blood creatinine is falsely elevated by protein or creatiine, it's not a clinically pathological issue.
This is also a great paper written by Lonnie Lowery on protein and kidney function:
Also, if your doctor is willing, and you're curious about your kidney function, have your GFR tested in your next blood draw, and have an albumin level checked in a 24-hr urine sample.
Finally, as in the paper above, if blood creatinine is falsely elevated by protein or creatiine, it's not a clinically pathological issue.
This is also a great paper written by Lonnie Lowery on protein and kidney function:
Creatine with elevated Creatinine levels
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