Effect of creatine supplementation on Anaerobic Power by Running Anaerobic Sprint Performance Test (RAST) in young football players

Creatine supplementation commonly facilitates lean mass-associated weight gain and concomitantly enhances short-term, high-intensity activity such as repeated sprint ability, but lacks sufficient evidence in athletic youth. This investigation thereby aimed to examine how 28 days of creatine monohydrate supplementation may influence body weight and running anaerobic sprint performance (RAST) time in youth soccer players. Sixteen male youth soccer players were randomized in double-blinded fashion to either 28 days of creatine monohydrate (CRE; 15.9±0.35 y) or dextrose placebo (PLA; 15.5±0.54 y) supplementation. Subject body weight (BW) and RASTs measurements were performed both before (PRE) and following (POST) supplementation, with 10 second rest periods between six maximal 35 m runs. RAST time and power were assessed to determine any PRE-to-POST changes. Body weight significantly increased in the CRE (p<0.001; Cohen’s D=0.409) group and without change in PLA (1.09±0.314 kg vs -0.08±0.259 kg, respectively). Nevertheless, there were no other significant main nor interaction effects for time or power (p>0.05 in all cases). Although these findings do not provide evidence that creatine supplementation enhances RAST-associated sprint time or power indices in youth soccer players, this null result may partly reflect the study’s limited statistical power to detect small-to-moderate effects; nevertheless, these data corroborate previous findings that describe increased body weight. Future investigations should continue to determine the long-term impacts of adolescent athlete creatine supplementation with a standardized training protocol to further eliminate possible extraneous variables.