The use of the controversial food supplement creatine is significantly higher in senior Irish rugby compared to senior Gaelic games and soccer, according to a new UCD study presented in Belfield last night.

Details of the research project, which was carried out in the Medical Faculty and the Department of Psychology in UCD, has indicated that around 62 per cent of adult rugby players in Ireland are either present or past users of creatine.

The figure in senior Gaelic games is much lower at 42 per cent, and lower still at 35 in soccer - supporting the assumption that creatine use remains highest among rugby players.

A total of 24 successful squads from the three main contact sports in Ireland were used in the study - with 12 each from adult and schoolboy levels, and then broken into four squads from each of the three sports.

That created a participation figure of 460 people, but, of those, 98 people had no knowledge or awareness of creatine.

The overall use of creatine across all sports at adult and schoolboy level was 28 per cent, but that disguises the fact the adult use was far higher at roughly 45 per cent compared to 12 per cent for schoolboys.

From the adult sample, 62 per cent of rugby players of All-Ireland League standard who responded to the survey were either users or past users of creatine.

The numbers at schoolboy level were significantly lower and more evenly spread in that 12 per cent of both soccer and Gaelic games players and a slightly higher 14 per cent of rugby players either use or have used creatine.

Dr Noel McCaffrey, lecturer in sports medicine at UCD and a member of the research team, outlined some of the new points of interest surrounding the use of creatine in Irish sport.

"One of the big surprises is that use at schoolboy level in rugby is not much higher than the other sports," he said.

Among the other main points of interest was that about 75 per cent of those creatine users had stopped taking it. The main reason was deemed to be lack of benefit (cited by 30 per cent of users), then expense, but also because of side-effects ranging from minor stomach upset to an increase in injury or aggression.

Although creatine is a perfectly natural and therefore perfectly legal substance, there were some contradictions in how its use was perceived. Only seven per cent of those surveyed felt it was a form of cheating, and yet 12 per cent felt it should be banned.

Recently a form of creatine serum has become available, promising faster benefits and fewer side-effects, and that is likely to change further the profile of creatine use in Ireland.