Analysis of the efficacy, safety, and regulatory status of novel forms of creatine

Creatine has become one of the most popular dietary supplements in the sports nutrition market. The form of creatine that has been most extensively studied and commonly used in dietary supplements is creatine monohydrate (CM). Studies have consistently indicated that CM supplementation increases muscle creatine and phosphocreatine concentrations by approximately 15–40%, enhances anaerobic exercise capacity, and increases training volume leading to greater gains in strength, power, and muscle mass. A number of potential therapeutic benefits have also been suggested in various clinical populations. Studies have indicated that CM is not degraded during normal digestion and that nearly 99% of orally ingested CM is either taken up by muscle or excreted in urine. Further, no medically significant side effects have been reported in literature. Nevertheless, supplement manufacturers have continually introduced newer forms of creatine into the marketplace. These newer forms have been purported to have better physical and chemical properties, bioavailability, efficacy, and/or safety profiles than CM. However, there is little to no evidence that any of the newer forms of creatine are more effective and/or safer than CM whether ingested alone and/or in combination with other nutrients. In addition, whereas the safety, efficacy, and regulatory status of CM is clearly defined in almost all global markets; the safety, efficacy, and regulatory status of other forms of creatine present in today’s marketplace as a dietary or food supplement is less clear

Urinary excretion of acetylcyanamide in rat and human after oral and dermal application of hydrogen cyanamide (H₂NCN).

The main urinary metabolite of hydrogen cyanamide (syn.: cyanamide) in rat and man is acetylcyanamide (syn.: N-acetylcyanamide). An analytical method was developed to determine acetylcyanamide in the urine with a limit of quantification of <10 μg/l (mean recovery 96.1 % using spikes of 20 μg/l; relative standard deviation <4%). This methodology is based upon ion chromatography using column-switch techniques and UV detection. It could be demonstrated that in rats an average of 45.6% of oral applied cyanamide (10 mg/kg) was excreted in the urine as acetylcyanamide. In male human volunteers a mean of 40% of oral administered cyanamide (mean dose 0.25 mg/kg body weight) was excreted via the urine as acetylcyanamide. The same group of volunteers participated in a skin absorption study with dermal application of the above cyanamide dose onto a skin surface area of 32 cm2. Within an application period of 6 h an average cyanamide quantity of 2.3 mg was available for skin absorption. A mean portion of 7.7% of this quantity was found as acetylcyanamide in the urine of the participants. Findings from literature state that cyanamide is metabolized in vitro to cyanide. According to examinations performed in vivo, however, such a metabolic pathway seems to be irrelevant for man. In comparison with the control values there was no significant increase of both the cyanide concentrations in the blood and the thiocyanate concentrations in the urine of the above volunteers after the described oral cyanamide administration

Progress Toward Sustainable Reversible Deactivation Radical Polymerization

peer reviewedThe recent focus of media and governments on renewability, green chemistry, and circular economy has led to a surge in the synthesis of renewable monomers and polymers. In this review, focussing on renewable monomers for reversible deactivation radical polymerizations (RDRP), it is highlighted that for the majority of the monomers and polymers reported, the claim to renewability is not always accurate. By closely examining the sustainability of synthetic routes and the renewability of starting materials, fully renewable monomers are identified and discussed in terms of sustainability, polymerization behavior, and properties obtained after polymerization. The holistic discussion considering the overall preparation process of polymers, that is, monomer syntheses, origin of starting materials, solvents used, the type of RDRP technique utilized, and the purification method, allows to highlight certain topics which need to be addressed in order to progress toward not only (partially) renewable, but sustainable monomers and polymers using RDRPs