Ok, time for Mark to say, “I told you so”.
Please DO NOT ignore this article, it may just provide you with much better muscle gains and more money in your wallet!
Every few months a supplement company comes out with new product that’s “better than creatine”.
Everyone knows that creatine works, which explains why it had such a huge impact on the bodybuilding industry. A claim that a new product is better than creatine is just what the doctor ordered to boost sales.
Hyped-up nonsense and a gullible market are a perfect match it seems. Step up Creatine Ethyl Esther and kre-Alkalyn.
Many times I have been asked about what the best creatine is. I have always replied that creatine monohydrate is the only one with any science behind it. I warned that one should be cautious before buying into a company’s claims that other forms of creatine are superior to creatine monohydrate.
It now seems that my caution was well-advised. Two new studies [1] [2] have shown conclusively that both ethyl esther and kre-alkalyn are actually massively inferior to creatine monohydrate.
Monohydrate has now been tested in over 2000 published trials and consistently proves its effectiveness and safety. How many peer-reviewed studies have proven the claims about CEE and KA? None!
Monohydrate Is The Best Creatine – Fact
First let’s deal with Kre-Alkalyn (KA). The claim here is that KA is stable in stomach acid and does not convert to creatinine. They also state that in contrast, monohydrate (CM) will convert to creatinine at the rate of 90% in stomach acid! Not good, better dump that CM, right? Let’s look at the evidence, the following is from the study…
“In contrast to the claims of All American Pharmaceutical and Natural Foods Corp., the rate of creatinine formation from CM was found to be less than 1% of the initial dose, demonstrating that CM is extremely stable under acidic conditions that replicate those of the stomach. This study also showed that KA supplementation actually resulted in 35% greater conversion of creatine to creatinine than CM. In conclusion the conversion of creatine to creatinine is not a limitation in the delivery of creatine from CM and KA is less stable than CM in the acid conditions of the stomach.”
KA has a 35% greater conversion rate to creatinine than CM; the finest creatine in town? Not on your life!
Now let’s take a look at Creatine Ethyl Esther (CEE). Similarly the claim here is that it doesn’t convert to creatinine as much as CM and has a better absorption rate. This study looked at 2 CEE products. One product called CE2 from Medical Research Institute (MRI) and the other called CM2 Alpha from SAN Corporation. Here are the results after being placed in conditions simulating stomach acid at 5, 30 and 120 minutes….
“After 30 minutes incubation only 73% of the initial CEE present was available from CE2, while the amount of CEE available from San CM2 Alpha was even lower at only 62%. In contrast, more than 99% of the creatine remained available from the CM product. These reductions in CEE availability were accompanied by substantial creatinine formation, without the appearance of free creatine. After 120minutes incubation 72% of the CEE was available from CE2 with only 11% available from San CM2 Alpha, while more than 99% of the creatine remained available from CM.“
So, it seems that the addition of the ethyl group to your creatine actually reduces stability in stomach acid and accelerates its breakdown to creatinine. CEE creatines are inferior to Creatine Monohydrate
How much better could your workouts and gains have been if you hadn’t bought into the bogus claims about CEE and KA?
So if you want the best creatine, stick to monohydrate.
I’m a big believer in Micronized Creatine Monohydrate
Stay Motivated My Friends!
Mark McManus
Study sources:
[1] Kre-alkalyn® supplementation has no beneficial effect on creatine-to-creatinine
conversion rates. Tallon MJ and Child R
[2] Creatine ethyl ester rapidly degrades to creatinine in stomach acid.
Child R1 and Tallon MJ2
explosive! That has settled it for me. I switched back to mono on your advice a few months ago, glad I did 😉
Though not a scientific study, I went all guinea pig on myself and drew the same conclusion about monohydrate. The only thing I have personally found the improves the monohydrate is taking it post workout with fruit juice.
Way to cut through the fog, Mark, and save people (hopefully) from the trial and error.
So Creatine is mostly stable in an acidic environment. Would that be true of citrus products? I’d LIKE to mix creatine with some OJ and vanilla whey powder (after-workout shake), but I’ve heard that creatine monohydrate breaks down in OJ. Is that true?
@ Jamie – glad you switched bro.
@ Benjamin – That’s pretty much my method for everyone too – guinea pig. As far as creatine goes, I don’t think there’s a need anymore after these studies.
@ Andrew. The question being asked is, which form of creatine REMAINS stable in an acidic environment and doesn’t degrade to creatinine – mono easily wins.
hey mark,
is it ok to take both creatine and caffine at the same time? wouldn’t they both undo each other?
Well there is no benefit to taking them together Annie but also, no harm if you did.
I have definitely noticed the creatine you recommended working. I don’t know that I have seen any physique benefits yet but I have seen the increased energy in workout, better pumps and fun dehydration related side effects! This pretty well convinces me that it is working and doing its job. I am sure I will start to see positive physique benefits over the next several weeks.
The SoG
Wow, freaky timing. I haven’t used creatine for years, and only this week decided to have another go. Thanks!!
I’m sure it’s working SoG, remember to drink loads of water.
@ Brett – Glad the article was useful for you
@Mark
From reading your articles, I think you’d really enjoy a few college level biology and anatomy & physiology courses. They’ll bring more light on exactly how things work at a cellular level. They were hard, but by far the most interesting classes I’ve ever taken. For example, I can tell you exactly why, where, and how in the kidneys creatinine is filtered into urine and the specific reasons warming up helps you with strength gains. On the negative side, they may cause you to be more cautious about being a guinea pig… hasn’t stopped me though.
I’ve always just used regular old creatine monohydrate when I’ve used creatine. I’ve heard people mention that CEE has some good properties, but like you mentioned they also seem to much less confident about it when compared to regular monohydrate. And as you mentioned, it’s a whole lot cheaper!
Hey mark. This all sounds great. The problem im having is that when i take Monohydrate Creatine (which worked great btw)for more then 2 weeks i get really bad dahria. Even when i take smaller doses it still continiues untill i stop taking it. With kre-Alkalyn creatine which i started to use about 3 months ago, there are no such side effects and it works about the same for me. Im just woundering if maybe i did something wrong to cause the reaction with the Mono C.? any suggestions?
Question-would it be harmful in any way to mix creatine monohydrate and kre-alkalyn?
I just started to use Creatine Monohydrate for the first time. I am in my 4th day of the loading period and It seems that I am already having more energy and better workouts. Is this in my head that this is working so fast?? If so when should I feel the benifits of creatine?
@Ron. It’s perfectly normal to experience the benefits on creatine mono within a week. Enjoy!
Thanks Mark and thank you for all the advice on your web sight…i cant begin to tell you how much you have helped me…. you the man!!!
hey bro thanks for the article.
i definitely agree with you, better stick with monohydrate. at least i know i works.
I have taken the Creatine Monohydrate from Optimum Nutrition and a few weeks into my usage I started experiencing high BP ( confirmed by doctors ) and chest pains /difficulty taking deep breaths. Once the creatine usage ceased It all went away. Could this be some allergy or just my body didnt take so well to it? I did want to reap the benefits of this supplement but it seems like I just cant. Any advice?
Hey Mark,
Im using a pre-workout product (im in South Africa) called Ganic, here’s a link> https://www.supplementssa.com/products/viewdetails/?ProductID=2hEz0GAYSLLBZACyrlLV6JagBxAQGmqZ/92ZyuOUnLLttzj0MkWUTB4rKO9VLjILG5UOfHNL4YwKr19N6Ug9nXID1idKJEPxqLr6TSbOU/o=
Anyways it contains CEE and I was just wondering whether or not it would be wise to stack Mono on top of that as a post-workout supp.
Thanks in advance
@Strom. No I wouldn’t stack it. Finish off this tub and then invest in mono. The problem with these ‘stacks’ is that when you want some creatine you HAVE to digest the other ingredients as well. These sorts of supps are simply money-makers for supp companies.
Buy your supplements separately i.e. have your protein be protein, and your creatine be creatine.