January 24, 2001
PARIS (AP) - French food safety experts have linked the popular training supplement creatine to a potential risk of cancer and, in a report issued Wednesday, urged it be listed as a banned substance.

The use of creatine supplements, "particularly in the long term" constitutes "a potential carcinogenic risk," said a report by France's Food Safety
Agency, or AFSSA, published on the body's official Web site.

The report said that potential risks associated with taking creatine were
"currently insufficiently evaluated," and that the product was of little
benefit to athletes hoping to improve their performance.

Creatine is an amino acid produced naturally by the liver and kidneys and
stored in muscles. Athletes take creatine supplements to gain extra energy,
train longer and harder - and bulk up.
The supplement is popular among pro and college athletes in the United
States, where it is considered a legal alternative to steroids. The U.S. Food
and Drug Administration lists it as a food supplement and allows it to be
sold with no more restrictions than those on vitamins.

Creatine is not listed as a banned substance by the International Olympic
Committee, but its sale is illegal in France.

High-profile athletes who have admitted to using creatine include the French
tennis player Mary Pierce and U.S. baseball star Mark McGwire.

The document urged sports governing bodies to consider listing creatine as a
banned substance.

Its use "involves a risk disproportionate to its effectiveness," Jean-Louis
Berta, a food safety expert at AFSSA, told The Associated Press in a
telephone interview.

"Its harmlessness is far from being ascertained," he said.
Past studies have indicated that creatine helps the body build muscle and
store energy, and could even assist in preventing brain damage after
traumatic head injuries.

But the report by AFSSA's committee of experts on human nutrition found that
the increased muscle bulk resulting from the use of creatine supplements was
largely due to water retention.

The experts also concluded that widespread claims concerning gains in
strength and speed from taking creatine supplements were unfounded. A proven
effect was only noticeable in activities lasting around 15 seconds, the
report found.

I can assure you that creatine has been researched out the ass. Everyone has been looking for a reason to outlaw it because it increases lean body mass by greater percentage than anything else that's legal. People don't want that. Muscle = bad in their little minds. They have tried to no avail to get it off the shelves.

I didn't touch juice for 20 years because I bought all the negative scary propaganda about it too. One thing, though, I'm not so sure it's just because mainstream media are, um, muscle-phobic. I got my negative indoctrination from the Wieder people in Muscle & Fitness (the mag with the pictures of juiced guys next to rants against steroid use.)