Strength Conditioning and Nutrition 101

I’m sure many of you have walked into your local supplement store or online site looking to purchase some creatine. You walk over to the section and see a vast quantity of different forms of creatine. In total and utter confusion, you turn to an employee and ask what creatine you should be taking. Being on commission or having no knowledge at all, they spew out information based on what the supplement companies claim and try to influence you to buy the most expensive one.

This article is meant to help you understand what research has to say on this topic. To help you avoid being scammed by your local supplement stores and the supplement companies propaganda.



Different Forms
The general focus in the academic world has been on assessing the pharmacological grade of creatine monohydrate in powder form or have used oral or intravenous PCr formulation (a more expensive form of creatine. As you all know with the massive popularity of creatine, numerous other forms of creatine are on the market (eg. Creatine candy/bars, liquid creatine, creatine gum, creatine citrate, and effervescent creatine).
All the supplement companies claim:

• That these forms are superior to monohydrate
• Increase in creatine uptake 
• You need a smaller dose 
• And so on 

Truth

• No research! I repeat no research supports the idea that these other forms of creatine increase the uptake more than creatine monohydrate
• In fact liquid creatine has ZERO effect on muscle creatine stores
• Some research has looked at the ergogenic value of several of these types of supplements (creatine candy, creatine gum, and effervescent creatine), as expected some of these worked and improved exercise capacity, but they are not good as or better than creatine monohydrate.
• There is absolutely no evidence that you will need a lower dose to get the same benefits as creatine monohydrate supplementation because of less degradation in the stomach, greater intestinal absorption, faster absorption in the blood, and/or greater muscle uptake. 

Sadly, this is the cost of supplement companies not having to approve their statements through the FDA

Benefits of these other forms
The only benefits associated with these other forms are:

• Convenience 
• Supplement variety
• Taste or preference

Greatest disadvantage 

• The cost! Many of these other forms are substantially more expensive.  So why pay for something that’s not as effective and hurts your wallet....

Creatine Monohydrate
Know that we have covered that monohydrate is the better choice for supplementation. This still leaves you wondering what source is the best (Chinese, German, or United States).

Chinese Creatine
Independent testing has demonstrated that Chinese creatine is of less purity and has the highest amounts of contaminants such as dieyandiamide, dihydrotriazine, and/or creatinine (converted from creatine).

German Creatine 
This is by far the purest source of creatine. Be sure to look for creatine that is CreaPure

United States 
Produces fairly good quality creatine when it is produced as Ferro Pfansteihl. It is only second to German CreaPure

Important Considerations
When selecting a creatine you should take care in only purchasing high quality creatine monohydrate that is produced in inspected facilities that adhere to food and drug administration, good manufacturing practice guideline

Summary

• The multitude of creatine forms are not as effective as creatine monohydrate
• Liquid forms have no effect what so ever 
• Creatine monohydrate is substantially less expensive 
• German Creatine Monohydrate CreaPure is the best quality 
• Be sure to consider the manufacturers guideline practices