If you are relatively new to the bodybuilding world then it can be easy to get confused by all the marketing hype from supplement companies. The truth of the matter is there are very few effective bodybuilding supplements. Creatine monohydrate is one of them.
How safe is creatine? Creatine monohydrate is one of the few bodybuilding supplements that I can recommend if your goal is to gain weight and build muscle is creatine monohydrate. So many supplements hit the shelves without a second spent on scientific research to backup their claims. On the flipside, their is creatine monohydrate, which has proven to be a supplement which lives upto it's claims. It's been around in bodybuilding circles for years and there have been many research studies which highlight that it works and is relatively safe to use.
So in addition to whey protein you have started taking creatine to fuel your workouts and to build muscle. But is it dangerous to take creatine at high doses? In the first couple of days up to 50% of the creatine you ingest will be taken up by the skeletal muscles of your body. This amount decreases over time. Any creatine that is not taken up by muscle is rapidly degraded to the waste product creatinine. This conversion of creatine to creatinine is a nonenzymatic process. This is important because it means that the degradation of creatine is not limited by enzyme concentration.
So, no matter how much creatine you ingest, it is degraded easily by the body. The waste product creatinine is excreted easily by the kidneys. In fact the kidneys are so efficient at excreting creatinine that it is difficult to show an increase in blood creatine or creatinine with supplementation. It is doubtful then that doses, even in the 20-40 gram a day range, would be harmful to the body.
However, since your body stops absorbing creatine after you begin supplementation, there is no point consuming high doses of creatine everyday, you will just be wasting your hard earned cash. Instead, go on a loading phase for 3 days to one week, taking 15-25g per day, then abstane from taking it for the same peroid so that your body doesn't become desyntizaed to absorbing more creatine.
Now you have the knowledge to safely use creatine to fuel your workouts, you also want to make sure that you have a strong appetite if you seriously expect to build muscle mass. If you suffer from appetite loss and can't manage to eat enough whilst weight training, you should consider an appetite stimulant to ensure that your appetite is never lacking. With a strong appetite and effective supplements, you will have no excuses to put on healthy muscle mass!