Saturday Nov 30, 2013 (foodconsumer.org) -- Creatine supplementation helps patients with fibromyalgia, according to a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial recently reported in Arthritis Care and Research.

C. R. Alves from University of Sao Paulo in Sao Paulo, Brazil and colleagues conducted the trial and found creatine supplements increased intramuscular phosphorylcreatine content and improved lower- and upper-body muscle function, which is desired.

For the 16-week, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group trial, patients with fibromyalgia were randomly assigned to receive either creatine monohydrate or placebo. And the participants were all evaluated at baseline and after 16 weeks for a range of physical, mental, physiological and biochemical parameters.

After 16 weeks of creatine supplementation, patients with fibromyalgia increased muscle phosphorylcreatine content, muscle strength in the leg press and chest press exercises, compared with controls.   Isometric strength was also found greater in the creatine supplementation group, compared with the controls.

However, creatine supplementation in fibromyalgia patients did not make any change in "aerobic conditioning, pain, cognitive function, quality of sleep, and quality of life." (David Liu, PHD)