Creatine Commandments I

There’s no doubt that you have tried creatine at least once in your life. I’ll place my bet that for most of you it was creatine monohydrate— that ‘ancient, prehistoric’ form that we sprang onto the sports-nutrition scene over 16 years ago (thanks to some brilliant European exercise scientists, yours truly and Ed Byrd, in the first months of our previous company called EAS).

Being a student of creatine for two decades— in both university research labs and in the trenches of nutrition stores, bodybuilding and trade shows, and magazines— I have been both excited and forced to restrain explosive vomiting. Trying to control the kooky creatine evangelists is like trying to control religion or herding hummingbirds. For those readers who rely on common sense and critical thinking, I offer two of my several Creatine Commandments:

1. Creatine monohydrate easily survives transit through the stomach and is very well absorbed.

Think about it: if creatine monohydrate did not survive through the ‘treacherous’ environment of the stomach and its bubbling acid, how do you explain:

a) The rapid rise of creatine in the blood after oral dosing (if the amount in the blood increases, it has ‘survived’ the ‘acid cauldron’ of the stomach, intact).

b) The significant amount of creatine (not creatinine) that appears in the urine after daily dosing with tens of grams (if creatine appears in the urine in far greater amounts than before creatine monohydrate supplementation started, then the only place it came from was your supplement, not through a transdermal creatine body wash or from your body making its own creatine).

c) The impressive rise in muscle creatine (not creatinine) content after only a few days of oral creatine monohydrate supplementation.

And, the most obvious one:

d) The dozens of university studies showing oral creatine monohydrate supplementation increases muscular strength and power, muscle fiber size, and even arm muscle thickness in several days to a few weeks.^1-3 That sure as heck isn’t coming from creatinine!

Two studies offer elegant, undeniable proof of creatine monohydrate heroically surviving the apparent hellfire conditions of the stomach, and entering the warm, spa-like luxury of the blood, in humans. In the first study, 5 grams of ‘tagged’ creatine monohydrate (CrM) was given to a 32-year-old resistance-trained male.⁴ The non-radioactive tag enabled the researchers to unambiguously determine the fate of creatine, as seen in the blood and urine.

Ten minutes after the 5-gram dose, the tagged creatine appeared in the blood— as creatine (must be magic). Twenty minutes later, blood creatine spiked up over eight times higher than before the CrM dose. The authors found that only about 10 percent of the tagged CrM was converted to creatinine, and that creatine uptake was 78 percent of the dose. Within about 2 hours after the CrM dose, all of the creatine and creatinine had been excreted in the urine.

In the second study, Herculean doses of ‘normal,’ untagged CrM were given— 20 grams at a single slug.⁵ Uniquely, pure creatinine was also dosed, at a separate time, in an amount that few Cajun-style buffet carnivores have ever encountered— 5 grams. This was one of the very few studies where the perhaps ‘ideal’ liquid delivery system was used to mix in the creatine— hot water.

About 3 hours after a 20-gram dose, blood creatine concentration jumped about 50-fold (for you percent junkies, that is a 5,000 percent increase). And how much did blood creatinine rise by? Get out your calculators: about 0.13-fold, or a leprechaunish 13 percent. How high did the blood creatinine rise after a 5-gram dose of creatinine? About fivefold, or 500 percent. This showed that creatinine is indeed absorbed when taken orally. If creatine formed creatinine in the stomach— in any significant amount— then it would be expected to ‘spike’ blood creatinine.

Do the math. Zero published studies in humans showed otherwise. Case closed. Move on to evidence and off of fairy tales.

2. Creatine drinks could contain creatine… for a certain time.

A few years after we introduced creatine monohydrate to North America and beyond, a friend called me, frothing with excitement, “A guy I know has made a creatine liquid that is stable! He’s done the lab testing and it really is stable!” For several years, this creatine liquid soared to new heights, capturing the emotions (and gullibility) of many— only tens of millions of dollars later to be ‘excused’ from at least one country (for false claims) and to all but evaporate from the U.S. market. Finally, in a study I collaborated on with some ‘creatine gods,’ we showed that this hallowed creatine liquid to raise blood creatine (after oral dosing) to the same degree as… water⁶ (read flatline).

A few years later, an Asian company that had a patented creatine drink contacted me. They claimed that it was ‘stable’ and it tasted just like water. Multiple lab tests using sophisticated equipment, and sampling to a bunch of my friends, proved it to indeed have about 5 grams of creatine monohydrate-equivalent, and taste almost like water. Six months later, we had it analyzed again and… poof! The creatine content had dropped by half, assuming a 50:50 mix with creatinine.

With the next generation of creatine-containing RTDs, the same questions apply: is it ‘shelf stable’ six months after it was made and transported in a hot truck halfway across country, or is it ‘freshness dated’ like a yogurt drink or even some beers? It’s easy to make a creatine RTD stable for a short while. The challenge is making it stable for the long haul. And if such a beverage was proven to be ‘shelf stable’ and to deliver creatine to the blood like CrM powder in water, is it worth the far greater cost?

Anthony L. Almada, MSc is trained as a nutritional/exercise biochemist (UC Berkeley) and is the co-founder of EAS, the company that introduced creatine to North America. He also introduced the terms ‘thermogenic’ and ‘cell volumizing’ into the nutrition industry. Starting in 1975, he has worked within all facets of the nutrition industry. He has been a research co-investigator on over 75 university studies and is the CEO of GENr8.

References:

1. Brosnan JT and Brosnan ME. Ann Rev Nutr, 2007;27:242-61.

2. Branch JD. Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab, 2003;13:198-226.

3. Chilibeck PD, et al. Med Sci Sports Exerc, 2004;36:1781-8.

4. MacNeil L, et al. J Chromatogr B, 2005;827:210-5.

5. Schedel JM, et al. Life Sci, 1999;65:2463-70.

6. Harris RC, et al. J Sports Sci, 2004;22: 851-7.