What’s really in your creatine?

What I am about to tell you is not going to make me a very popular person with many supplement manufacturers. In fact, some of them are going to be down right pissed off at me. On the other hand, some of them are going to be happy someone spilled the beans and told the truth. Finally, some of them will be totally unaware of this information and will be shocked when they read it. Basically, I fully expect this article to cause a sh*% storm that will reverberate throughout the supplement industry.

The only people who I know are going to be happy about this article is the consumer, but I am getting ahead of myself. As we all know, creatine is one of the best bodybuilding supplements ever discovered. It increases strength, lean body mass, and, to a lesser extent, endurance. If that were not enough, it’s relatively cheap to boot! What more could we ask for from a supplement? When creatine was first introduced it was sort of pricey, but no one really cared because it worked so well. As time went on and more companies began selling creatine, the inevitable price war began and prices came down. At that point creatine was only being produced by a few companies, so creatine was basically creatine and the price was the only real consideration. As is typical of the market place, once creatine became big business, several new manufacturers popped up and it became no longer a price war as much as a quality war. The expression “creatine is creatine” no longer holds true. More on that shortly. At this time there are probably four-five companies large enough to mass produce creatine for the sports nutrition market. These companies in turn sell their product in huge bulk amounts to various distributors around the world. As far as the mass producers are concerned, there is a large German company, two companies out of China, and two in the United States. Though there are various other companies, for this article we will basically concern ourselves with these five major producers which probably comprise 80-90% of the creatine production market.

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Creatine, How To Use (part 1)

Despite being the most researched and proven sports supplement ever, most people don’t have all of the facts straight about creatine. The main questions I get asked are how and when to take it, is it safe? should I cycle? what should I take it with? What shouldn’t I take it with? and about the different forms of creatine. In the following two-part article I’ll address all of these questions and more, so that you can make the best choices around your creatine use and that means that you’ll be able to get the best possible results from your efforts in the gym!

First off, let’s go over the basics. There is no reason for me to bang on about the benefits of creatine. It is so effective at building strength and muscle (if used properly), that even the extremely restrictive UK advertising authorities have allowed companies to make these kinds of claims about it. More impressive is the fact that there are over 3,000 studies on creatine and exercise! So creatine is without question the real deal.

Next, let’s get the safety issue out of the way. As long ago as 2000, a roundtable of 12 of the world’s foremost creatine experts found “no definitive evidence” that creatine has any side effects whatsoever and the results were published by the American College of Sports Medicine. One study even found creatine to be safe when subjects took it for up to five years and as much as 80 grams per day! Actually, in some studies, the “placebo” group (that didn’t get creatine) reported more negative effects than the creatine group.

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Creatine, How To Use (part 2)

In the last instalment, I discussed the massive scientific support for using creatine monohydrate, addressed some very common myths about it and talked about how and when to take it and whether you should cycle on and off it. Now I’ll address the different kinds of creatine and what you should be taking with this proven muscle-builder to ensure you get the absolute maximum results from your gruelling sessions in the gym.

What Type of Creatine Should You Use?
This has to be the most controversial creatine topic because there are a few companies who are selling millions of dollars worth of fancy new creatine products that may not be any better than plain old creatine monohydrate. Here’s one important fact that everyone should know about creatine – regular creatine monohydrate is absorbed virtually 100 percent from the digestive tract. This has been known for over 90 years and anyone who says otherwise is NOT an expert on creatine. So if you see a creatine product claiming that it is ‘absorbed’ better than regular creatine monohydrate, you should be sceptical to say the least. Because creatine is fully absorbed from the gut, the trick is to increase the ‘uptake’ of creatine from the blood into the muscle and that can only be done through increasing the levels of certain hormones and cellular transporters in the body (more on this later).

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