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Saturday, March 14, 1998

For baseball players, other athletes, creatine monhydrate has powerful lure

HOUSTON (AP) -- The diet supplement creatine monoxydrate, used to build up muscle strength, is a popular among athletes. Don't count Astros outfielder Derek Bell among them.

Bell headed to the weight room this winter, after stopping first at the health food store to pick up some creatine. His decision produced a pair of side trips -- two stays in the hospital for treatment of kidney ailments.

Bell told the Houston Chronicle in Friday editions that it was his use -- or misuse -- of creatine monohydrate that landed him in the hospital.

Used correctly, the muscle-building wonder potion of the 1990s lives up to the hype, helping generate energy for explosive, high-intensity activity and endurance for the stress of a 162-game baseball season.

Used incorrectly, as Bell learned this winter, it can put you in the hospital.

"I took the creatine lifting weights, trying to get a little muscle mass, and I guess I didn't drink enough water with it," the outfielder said. "The first time I went into the hospital was for kidney stones, and I thought the problem was I wasn't drinking enough water."

Three days after being released from a week-and-a-half stay in a Tampa, Fla., hospital in early January, Bell went back to the weights and back to the creatine. He got sick and spent another two weeks under observation, suffering from dehydration.

"The doctors started talking about how I wasn't drinking water with it (creatine) and that caused my body to dehydrate," he said.

After his second trip to the hospital, Bell swore off creatine.

"I threw it in the garbage. I told my mother to throw it away when I was in the hospital when I found out what it was. I won't look at it again," he said.

Hundreds of athletes seeking a natural, safer alternative to anabolic steroids, which are banned by most major sports organizations, have turned to this diet supplement.

Creatine is produced naturally by the body, but supplemental doses were popularized in the early 1990s by Olympic sprinter Linford Christie of Great Britain, spreading through the world of Olympic sports.

One Penn State University researcher estimates 80 percent of the athletes at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta used the substance, which can be taken in pill or powder form and ranges in price from $20 to $65 per gram.

The theory behind creatine loading is that it allows muscle to rebuild supplies of adenosine triphospahte, or ATP, which provides energy often used by explosive activities.

Athletes who use creatine have reportedly gained anywhere from 2 to 13 pounds. It is not known whether the gain in weight is a result of more protein or simply from more water being stored.

Isolated reports have linked creatine to problems with the liver and kidneys. The most common side effects are muscle tears, weight gain, dehydration and cramping, but doctors have not been able to directly prove the conditions are a result of creatine.

In major league baseball, Baltimore's Brady Anderson has used creatine for five years, and such All-Stars as Mark McGwire of the St. Louis Cardinals, Gary Sheffield of the Florida Marlins, Ryan Klesko of the Atlanta Braves and Mike Piazza of the Los Angeles Dodgers are supporters.

"I used it pretty religiously from 1996 to 1997, but I didn't get much involved with it this winter," Dodgers first baseman Eric Karros said. "It definitely allows you to put on some weight.

"Some people swear by it. Others say it doesn't do anything. I think it's just like anything. A few years ago it was amino acids or a protein thing, then it was creatine. It will be something different in a year or two."

Dante Bichette of the Colorado Rockies used creatine in his recovery from reconstructive knee surgery last winter. Upon his return from throat cancer last summer, Brett Butler of the Dodgers used creatine to gain strength and add 17 pounds.

The potential for misuse, however, is always present, as Bell learned this winter. Three collegiate wrestlers died during a span of 33 days in late 1997 and early 1998, all while attempting to lose weight quickly to qualify for a specific weight-class competition.

All were suspected of using creatine. Their deaths are being investigated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in association with the Centers for Disease Control and the National Collegiate Athletic Association.