Guanidinoacetic acid with creatine compared with creatine alone for tissue creatine content, hyperhomocysteinemia, and exercise performance:A randomized, double-blind superiority trial

Purpose: Co-administration of creatine and guanidinoacetic acid (GAA) has been recently put forward as an advanced dietary strategy to optimize tissue bioenergetics. We hypothesized that creatine-GAA mixture would result in more powerful rise in brain and skeletal muscle creatine, as compared to creatine supplementation alone. Methods: A randomized, double-blinded, crossover superiority trial has been performed at the University of Novi Sad from December 2016 to November 2017. A total of 14 healthy young men were randomized to receive GAA-creatine mixture (1 grams of GAA and 3 grams of creatine per day) or equimolar creatine (4 grams per day) by oral administration for 4 weeks. Results: Creatine-GAA mixture was superior to creatine alone to increase mean creatine levels in skeletal muscle (16.9 ± 20.2 vs. 2.0 ± 6.0%; P = 0.02) and grey matter (5.8 ± 5.3% vs. 1.5 ± 3.2%; P = 0.02), also for bench press performance (6.0% vs. 5.1%; P < 0.01). Compared with creatine administration alone, combined GAA and creatine resulted in less weight gain (1.6 ± 0.2 kg vs. 0.7 ± 0.2 kg; P < 0.01). No inter-group differences were observed in terms of cardiorespiratory endurance, serum biomarkers, or adverse events. Conclusions: Creatine-GAA mixture appeared to be superior to sole creatine for up-swinging tissue creatine content and upper body strength, and resulted toward a lower risk of weight gain in healthy active men. The formulation might be considered as a novel energy-boosting alternative to creatine alone in weight-sensitive setups. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03350282.