Creatine Found to Help Liver Health

by | Sep 22, 2011 | 2011, Creatine, Liver Health

Written by Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS. In a small rat study, subjects on a high fat diet had 49% lower liver fat levels, 19% lower blood sugar levels, and 18% lower insulin levels than those not receiving creatine.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), also known as alcohol steatohepatitis, affects 2 to 5% of Americans, while another 20% are at risk. NAFLD resembles alcoholic liver disease (fat in the liver along with inflammation and liver damage) but occurs in people who drink little or no alcohol. It is regarded as a “silent” liver disease in that most people feel well and are not aware that they have a liver problem. If untreated, NAFLD can lead to cirrhosis, leaving the liver permanently damaged, scarred and no longer able to function (1). A new study in mice (3) has found that creatine, known to help with fatigue (4) and blood sugar health (5), may also help with liver health.

In the study, 18 rats were fed 1 of 3 different diets for 3 weeks:

  • A control liquid diet (C) – 35% of calories from fat, 18% from protein and 47% from
    carbohydrates
  • A high-fat liquid diet (HF) – 71% of calories from fat, 71% of energy derived from fat, 18% from protein, and 11% from carbohydrates
  • A high-fat liquid diet (HFC) supplemented with 1% creatine added by weight

Before and after the study, the researchers obtained blood and liver samples to assess for several markers of liver health. By the end of the 3 weeks, those in the high-fat creatine group had:

  • 49% lower liver fat levels (52.4 mg/g) than the High-Fat group (102) and 21% lower levels than the control group (66.1)
  • 19% lower blood sugar levels (7.8 mmol/L) than the HF group (9.6) and 8% higher than the control group (7.2)
  • 18% lower insulin levels (79.4 pmol/L) than the HF group (97.4) and 4% lower than the control group (82.8)
  • 20% higher levels of SAM (66.4 nmol/g) an amino that decreases with fatty liver (6), than the high-fat group (55.2) and 1% lower than the control group (67.2)
  • 14% lower levels of oxidative stress in the form of TBARS (134 nmol/g) (7) than the high-fat group (155) and nearly identical with the control group (136).

The researchers attributed some of the benefits to creatine’s ability to lower an inflammatory protein called homocysteine by a process called methylation (8).  They went on to conclude that, “creatine supplementation prevented the fatty liver induced by feeding rats a HF diet for 3 weeks” (in the test group studied).

Source: Deminice, Rafael, et al. “Creatine supplementation prevents the accumulation of fat in the livers of rats fed a high-fat diet.” The Journal of nutrition 141.10 (2011): 1799-1804.

© 2011 American Society for Nutrition

Posted September 22, 2011.

References:

  1. “Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis” – Posted on the National Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse.
  2. Oya J. Intake of n -3 polyunsaturated fatty acids and non-alc oholic fatty liver disease: a cross-sectional study in Japanese men and women. Eur J Clin Nutr 2010; 1-7.
  3. Deminice R. Creatine Supplementation Prevents the Accumulation of Fat in the Livers of Rats Fed a High-Fat Diet. J. Nutr. doi: 10.3945/jn.111.144857.
  4. Rawson ES, et al., Low-dose creatine supplementation enhances fatigue resistance in the absence of weight gain, Nutrition (2010), doi:10.1016/j.nut.2010.0 4.0 01.
  5. Gualano B. Creatine in Type 2 Diabetes: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-controlled Trial Med Sci Sport Ex 2011. DOI: 10.1249/MSS.0b013e3181fcee7d.
  6. Kim SK, Kim YC. Effects of betaine supplementation on hepatic metabolism of sulfur-containing amino acids in mice. J Hepatol. 2005;42:907–13.
  7. Kim SK, Choi KH, Kim YC. Effect of acute betaine administration on hepatic metabolism of S-amino acids in rats and mice. Biochem Pharmacol. 2003;65:1565–74.
  8. Deminice R, Portari GV, Vannucchi H, Jordao AA. Effects of creatine supplementation on homocysteine levels and lipid peroxidation in rats. Br J Nutr. 2009;102:110–6.