Creatine supplementation alters homocysteine level in resistance trained men.

AIM: This study was conducted to investigate the effects of creatine loading and resistance training on the homocysteine and lipid profiles of young males. METHOD: Sixty male University students (22.34 ± 2.19 years, 1.79 ± 0.08 m, 77.18 ± 12.57 kg, 15.48 ± 4.57% body fat) were randomly divided in to three groups; control (CG=20), creatine supplement (CEG=20) and placebo (PEG=20). Both CEG and PEG participated in a same resistance-training regimen and either taking a creatine supplement (25 g/d for the first 5 days followed 5 g/d thereafter) or the same amount of placebo for 8 weeks. Participants in CG did not take any creatine supplementation and not engage any exercise program. After the body composition were assessed, the homocysteine (Hcy) concentrations, blood lipids, folic acid and vitamin B12 levels of all the participants were measured at the beginning and end of the eight weeks of resistance training. RESULTS: The analysis of the data indicated that the Hcy levels of the CEG after resistance training and receiving the creatine supplement (9.33 ± 4.60) was significantly lower than that of baseline (12.66 ± 5.89) measurements, F(1,18)=12.28, P=0.00. No significant differences were seen in the Hcy levels of the PEG (15.01 ± 10.87) after 8 weeks of training and receiving a placebo (12.46 ± 12.50), F(1,16)=4.65, P=0.05. Furthermore, there were no significant differences among groups in terms of Hcy levels, F(2,52)=1.72, P=0.19. CONCLUSION: The present study suggests that as well as strength gain; creatine supplementation with resistance training may afford some protection against emerging cardiovascular risk factors.

Risk of hepatitis B infections in Olympic wrestling.

OBJECTIVE: First, to investigate the prevalence of the hepatitis B virus (HBV) and occult HBV infection (OC-HBV) in Turkish Olympic wrestlers. Second, to examine the relationship between HBV DNA values in sweat and blood. METHODS: A total of 70 male Olympic wrestlers were recruited as the study sample. RESULTS: As a result of the standard monoclonal antibody based hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) detection, none of the Olympic wrestlers carried HBsAg in this study. On the other hand, according to real time PCR for serum HBV DNA detection in this study, 9 (13%) of the wrestlers had OC-HBV infection. Eight (11%) of the participants had HBV DNA in their sweat. In addition, there was a significant relationship between HBV DNA values in the blood and sweat of the wrestlers (r = 0.52, p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: In addition to bleeding wounds and mucous membranes, sweating may be another way of transmitting HBV infections in contact sports. An HBV test should be done and each wrestler should be vaccinated at the start of his career.