According to a recent review performed by researchers from the The Cochrane Collaboration shows that creatine, a nutritional supplement popular amongst athletes may help muscular dystrophy patients increase muscle strength. Researchers reviewed 12 studies that included 266 muscular dystrophy patients (with multiple forms of the disease). The reviews indicates that subjects who took creatine showed an increase in both muscle strength and lean muscle mass over the patients who did not take the supplement.
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Creatine is normally found in the human body because muscle cells use it to produce energy. In fact, checking the levels of “creatine kinase” (also known as “CPK”) is one test that doctors use to distinguish between muscular dystrophy and spinal muscular atrophy when making a diagnosis. Most children with muscular dystrophy have very high CPK levels, where as children with SMA have normal or only slightly elevated CPK levels.
