Effects of dietary supplementation with creatine on homocysteinemia

and systemic microvascular endothelial function in individuals adhering to vegan diets.

Fundam Clin Pharmacol. 2018 Dec 30

Effects of dietary supplementation with creatine on homocysteinemia and systemic microvascular endothelial function in individuals adhering to vegan diets.

Van Bavel D1, de Moraes R1,2, Tibirica E1.

Author information 1National Institute of Cardiology, Ministry of Health, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.2Research and Productivity Program, Estacio de Sá University, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Abstract The incidence of cardiovascular diseases in vegetarian individuals is lower than that in the general population. Nevertheless, individuals who adhere to vegan diets have a higher prevalence of hyperhomocysteinemia with eventual adverse effects on vascular reactivity. Creatine supplementation (CrS) reduces plasma homocysteine levels and enhances vascular reactivity in the microcirculation. Thus, we investigated the effects of CrS on systemic microcirculation and homocysteine blood levels in strict vegan subjects. Forty-nine strict vegan subjects were allocated to the oral CrS (5 g micronized creatine monohydrate daily for three weeks; n=31) and placebo (n=18) groups. Laser speckle contrast imaging coupled with acetylcholine skin iontophoresis was used to evaluate cutaneous microvascular reactivity, and intra-vital video-microscopy was used to evaluate skin capillary density and reactivity before and after CrS. We demonstrated that CrS reduces the plasma levels of homocysteine and increases those of folic acid. After the CrS period, the homocysteine levels of all of the vegan subjects normalized. CrS also induced increases in baseline skin functional capillary density and endothelium-dependent capillary recruitment in both normo- (N-Hcy) and hyperhomocysteinemic (H-Hcy) individuals. CrS increased endothelium-dependent skin microvascular vasodilation in the H-Hcy vegan subjects but not in the N-Hcy vegan subjects. In conclusion, three weeks of oral CrS was sufficient to increase skin capillary density and recruitment and endothelium-dependent microvascular reactivity. CrS also resulted in plasma increases in folic acid levels and reductions in homocysteine levels among only the H-Hcy individuals. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

KEYWORDS: capillary recruitment; intra-vital video-microscopy; laser speckle contrast imaging; post-occlusive reactive hyperemia view latest selected scientific publications related to “Endothelial Dysfunction”