Folks, firstly a quick update on the state of another “improved” form of creatine, which when put under real scientific scrutiny, didn’t live up to it’s claims (read hype and pseudo science) as I predicted in a prior article (The Creatine Graveyard). Additional comments with links to the study, can be found here The Creatine Graveyard Update 2012!
Will Brink is the owner of the Brinkzone Blog. Will has over 30 years experience as a respected author, columnist and consultant, to the supplement, fitness, bodybuilding, and weight loss industry and has been extensively published. Will graduated from Harvard University with a concentration in the natural sciences, and is a consultant to major supplement, dairy, and pharmaceutical companies.
His often ground breaking articles can be found in publications such as Lets Live, Muscle Media 2000, MuscleMag International, The Life Extension Magazine, Muscle n Fitness, Inside Karate, Exercise For Men Only, Body International, Power, Oxygen, Penthouse, Women’s World and The Townsend Letter For Doctors.
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Thanks for getting this post up so quickly. Very interesting info! The one claim of buffered creatine that I think mattered the most to me was that it did not upset the stomach. I took 5-7g Creatine Mono for about a year and struggled much of it with stomach cramping, bloating, and #2 problems (sorry!). When I saw the claims of ‘buffered’ creatine, I decided it was worth a try and indeed I have not had those stomach problems since. I am only taking 1.5g or 3g per day (3 on workout days 1.5 on off days) so maybe my stomach problems are minimized because of the lower dosage and not because of the actual buffering process. Of course, if it means that the lower dosage doesn’t work as effective and I now should take 5g or more for the same result as Mono, I guess I’ll see if the stomach problems come back before my current bottle runs out.
My question to you is whether there was any study to the veracity of the claims made about helping with stomach issues with Creatine Mono? In any case, I look forward to seeing the study itself when you post the link- thanks for taking the time to do so!
I can give a simple fix for your stomach issues when using monohydrate. Simply dissolve it in hot liquid. Make sure it’s totally dissolved, and no more then 3-5g per serving, and 99% of the time, stomach issues cured. You’re paying extra for simply monohydrate mixed with simple soda ash as buffer delivering 50% of the dose one actually needs to saturate muscle, which is why this study found, when used at manufacturers recommended dose, it was inferior to CM.
Take Will’s advice. I have been mixing/dissolving my creatine mono in warm water. I throw it in the freezer to cool it down and mix it with dextrose and unsweetened kool-aid.
Thanks Will (and Tony),
I tried that back when I first read BBR and you posted a video showing that. It didn’t work for me at the time- maybe I’ll give it another try as it’s been over a year..
One thing I always wondered if buffered creatine says 750mg, how much of that is ‘soda ash’ and how much is CM? In other words, if this study shows that the buffered doesn’t deliver any more creatine to the muscles, does the equivalent amount (eg, 5g buffered) deliver the same creatine to the muscle as CM? I imagine these questions will be answered with this study- hoping so. I have a big bottle of buffered to go through before I switch back to try CM again, so if I need to get 5g-7g in me, do I need to use 5g of buffered, or do I need even more?
Thanks again!
Thanks for the update Will, another good informative vid.