There are six varieties of creatine, a naturally occurring compound similar to an amino acid, and it’s also sold as a dietary supplement. Most scientific evidence favors creatine monohydrate and supports its safety compared with alternative forms.
Creatine ranks among the most extensively researched dietary supplements worldwide.
Your body produces this compound naturally, where it performs several essential roles, notably in energy generation.
In addition, certain foods — especially meat — provide dietary creatine.
Even with these natural sources, taking creatine as a supplement can raise your body’s stores.
Boosting creatine stores can enhance exercise performance and might offer protective effects against some diseases.
With many supplement types on the market, picking the right one can be confusing.
This article summarizes the research on the six most-studied creatine varieties and gives an evidence-based suggestion about which is preferable.
What Is Creatine?
Creatine is a compound structurally similar to amino acids, the components of proteins.
Because meat is a major dietary source, vegetarians generally have lower creatine levels than those who eat meat.
However, even for meat-eaters, supplementation can raise muscle creatine concentrations by as much as 40%.
Creatine’s use as a supplement has been examined extensively for many years and is consumed around the globe.
Reported benefits include enhanced exercise performance and musculoskeletal health, along with possible advantages for brain function.
Summary:Creatine is a molecule present in your cells that plays a key role in producing energy. Supplementing with creatine increases its cellular stores.
How Does It Work?
Creatine, primarily as creatine phosphate, is essential for cellular energy production.
It helps regenerate adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the chief energy currency used by cells.
Strong evidence shows that creatine supplements can boost exercise performance.
Some studies report that supplementation can enhance strength gains from resistance training by roughly 10% on average.
Other analyses estimate strength improvements around 5% for upper-body exercises like the bench press and approximately 8% for lower-body moves such as the squat.
Overall, exercise scientists generally agree that creatine supplementation enhances strength and power output — the amount of force produced in a given time — during exercise.
Some research also suggests benefits for sprinting and swimming, though findings are not entirely consistent across studies.
Additionally, some data indicate creatine may lessen mental fatigue.
These performance and health effects typically occur when cellular creatine phosphate levels rise after supplementation.
However, the market offers several different creatine formulations, which can complicate the selection process.
The rest of this article will clarify which form is most supported by evidence.
Summary:Taking creatine supplements increases cellular creatine levels, supporting energy production and improving exercise performance.
1. Creatine Monohydrate
Creatine monohydrate is the most prevalent supplement form and the one most frequently used in research.
Consequently, the majority of reported benefits — such as enhanced upper- and lower-body exercise performance — have been shown with creatine monohydrate.
This version consists of a creatine molecule bound to a water molecule, but it can be processed further. Removing the water yields creatine anhydrous.
Removing>There are six varieties of creatine, a naturally occurring compound similar to an amino acid, and it’s also sold as a dietary supplement. Most scientific evidence favors creatine monohydrate and supports its safety compared with alternative forms.
Creatine ranks among the most extensively researched dietary supplements worldwide.
Your body produces this compound naturally, where it performs several essential roles, notably in energy generation.
In addition, certain foods — especially meat — provide dietary creatine.
Even with these natural sources, taking creatine as a supplement can raise your body’s stores.
Boosting creatine stores can enhance exercise performance and might offer protective effects against some diseases.
With many supplement types on the market, picking the right one can be confusing.
This article summarizes the research on the six most-studied creatine varieties and gives an evidence-based suggestion about which is preferable.
What Is Creatine?
Creatine is a compound structurally similar to amino acids, the components of proteins.
Because meat is a major dietary source, vegetarians generally have lower creatine levels than those who eat meat.
However, even for meat-eaters, supplementation can raise muscle creatine concentrations by as much as 40%.
Creatine’s use as a supplement has been examined extensively for many years and is consumed around the globe.
Reported benefits include enhanced exercise performance and musculoskeletal health, along with possible advantages for brain function.
Summary:Creatine is a molecule present in your cells that plays a key role in producing energy. Supplementing with creatine increases its cellular stores.
How Does It Work?
Creatine, primarily as creatine phosphate, is essential for cellular energy production.
It helps regenerate adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the chief energy currency used by cells.
Strong evidence shows that creatine supplements can boost exercise performance.
Some studies report that supplementation can enhance strength gains from resistance training by roughly 10% on average.
Other analyses estimate strength improvements around 5% for upper-body exercises like the bench press and approximately 8% for lower-body moves such as the squat.
Overall, exercise scientists generally agree that creatine supplementation enhances strength and power output — the amount of force produced in a given time — during exercise.
Some research also suggests benefits for sprinting and swimming, though findings are not entirely consistent across studies.
Additionally, some data indicate creatine may lessen mental fatigue.
These performance and health effects typically occur when cellular creatine phosphate levels rise after supplementation.
However, the market offers several different creatine formulations, which can complicate the selection process.
The rest of this article will clarify which form is most supported by evidence.
Summary:Taking creatine supplements increases cellular creatine levels, supporting energy production and improving exercise performance.
1. Creatine Monohydrate
Creatine monohydrate is the most prevalent supplement form and the one most frequently used in research.
Consequently, the majority of reported benefits — such as enhanced upper- and lower-body exercise performance — have been shown with creatine monohydrate.
This version consists of a creatine molecule bound to a water molecule, but it can be processed further. Removing the water yields creatine anhydrous.
Removing water increases creatine concentration per dose. Creatine anhydrous is 100% creatine by weight, while the monohydrate form is roughly 90% creatine by weight.
Occasionally, creatine is micronized (mechanically processed) to improve solubility in water. Better solubility could, in theory, enhance absorption.
Despite these processing differences, these variations are likely equally effective when administered at equal creatine doses.
Besides boosting strength, creatine monohydrate increases muscle cell water content, which may promote muscle growth via cell-swelling signals.
Fortunately, extensive research indicates creatine is safe to use, and serious adverse effects have not been reported.
When minor side effects occur, they usually involve stomach upset or cramping. These issues can often be minimized by splitting the daily dose into smaller servings rather than taking one large dose.
Because it’s effective, safe and affordable, creatine monohydrate remains the benchmark supplement form.
New versions should be compared against it before being recommended.
Summary:»Our PicksCreatine Approved by Dietitians, Tested by UsCreatine monohydrate is the most researched and widely used form. A substantial body of evidence shows it is safe and effective, and new variants should be evaluated against it.
2. Creatine Ethyl Ester
Some companies promote creatine ethyl ester as superior to other forms, including monohydrate.
There is limited evidence suggesting it may be absorbed differently than creatine monohydrate.
Because of possible differences in muscle uptake, some proponents believe it could outperform monohydrate.
However, a direct comparison found it to be less effective at raising creatine concentrations in blood and muscle.
For that reason, creatine ethyl ester is not recommended.
Summary:Creatine ethyl ester may have different absorption characteristics, but it appears less effective than monohydrate and is not recommended.
3. Creatine Hydrochloride
Creatine hydrochloride (HCl) has become popular with certain manufacturers and users.
Early enthusiasm was mainly driven by reports of far better solubility.
Because it dissolves more readily, some suggest a smaller dose could be used, potentially lowering common side effects like stomach upset.
However, this idea remains speculative until tested in human trials.
One study showed creatine HCl was substantially more soluble in water than the monohydrate form.
Unfortunately, there are no published human trials directly examining creatine HCl’s efficacy.
Given the extensive evidence supporting creatine monohydrate, HCl cannot be recommended as superior without comparative human studies.
Summary:While creatine HCl’s greater water solubility is promising, more research is needed before recommending it over other forms.
4. Buffered Creatine
Some manufacturers add alkaline substances to creatine to stabilize it in the stomach, creating a buffered form.
The idea is this could increase potency and reduce side effects like bloating and cramping.
However, a study directly comparing buffered creatine with monohydrate found no differences in effectiveness or side effects.
Participants continued regular resistance training for 28 days while taking the supplements.
Bench press strength and cycling power improved similarly regardless of which form was used.
Overall, buffered creatine wasn’t inferior in that study, but it didn’t show any advantages either.
Because there’s no convincing evidence that buffered forms offer distinct benefits, creatine monohydrate remains the preferred option.
Summary:Although limited research suggests buffered forms can be as effective as monohydrate, there isn’t enough evidence to recommend them.
5. Liquid Creatine
Most creatine supplements are powders, but some ready-to-drink products contain the supplement already dissolved in liquid.
Research on liquid forms suggests they are less effective than monohydrate powders.
One study reported a 10% improvement in cycling work with monohydrate powder, but no benefit from a liquid form.
It appears creatine can degrade when left in liquid for several days.
This degradation is not immediate, so mixing a powder with water shortly before consumption is fine.
Most studies use powders mixed just before use, and based on the evidence, that is the recommended approach.
Summary:Liquid creatine appears to break down over time and may be ineffective. Powdered creatine mixed before use is the preferred form.
6. Creatine Magnesium Chelate
Creatine magnesium chelate is a version where creatine is bound to magnesium.
This simply means the creatine molecule is attached to magnesium.
One comparison looked at bench press strength and endurance among groups taking creatine monohydrate, creatine magnesium chelate or a placebo.
Both creatine groups improved performance more than placebo, but there was no difference between the two creatine forms.
Thus, creatine magnesium chelate appears effective but not superior to standard monohydrate.
Summary:Some evidence indicates creatine magnesium chelate works as well as monohydrate, but data are limited and it does not seem to be better.
The Bottom Line
Based on current evidence, creatine monohydrate is the recommended form.
It has the strongest research backing, showing it effectively increases body creatine stores and enhances exercise performance.
Although other forms exist, most lack robust human research on their effectiveness.
Additionally, monohydrate is affordable, effective and widely accessible.
New forms might hold promise, but more scientific comparisons are needed before they can replace creatine monohydrate.
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