Buying Creatine in the good ole days was a snap. It was just simply one form as a bucket of powder. Over the years they have now added all these different creatine forms, delivery systems, or extra ingredients. It can be very confusing on what creatine creatine form is the most effective and what are the side effects for all of them.

Luckily this article will give you an overview of them all. Basically one must understand that all creatine forms do the same thing at it’s core: That is to build up your creatine levels in your muscles in order to increase strength and long term muscle gains.

Creatine Monohydrate:

Creatine Monohydrate is the original Creatine. It is the one that all the scientific studies were done on. You want to buy it from brands that have the Creapure trademark on it, which means it is high quality creatine powder from Germany. Without it, it probably will have been made in China and low quality.

The problems with Creatine Monohydrate is that it has very low solubility, may cause stomach upset, and visible bloat. Creatine “non-responders” is also common with this form, which is not surprising since it only has a 1% absorption rate.

Liquid (serum) creatine:

This creatine is a scam. Read more about it in a previous article: Does liquid creatine work?

Tri and Di Creatine Malate:

Creatine malate is formed by creatine monohydrate and malic acid. Malic acid is involved directly in the krebs cycle, the main energy cycle of the cell. Users report more muscular energy and endurance over regular creatine monohydrate, as a result. Creatine malate also is more water soluble  and absorbs in the body at a higher rate, than regular creatine monohydrate.  Creatine Malate also requires no loading phase.

Creatine Ethyl Ester (CEE):

CEE has been hyped as having higher solubility and stability against stomach acidity compared to creatine monohydrate. Despite all the hype the last few years there has never been a study to prove it and recently a study even contradicts those claims.

Source of study: Department of Life Sciences, Kingston University, Penrhyn Rd, Kingston-upon-Thames, United Kingdom. 2University of Northumbria, Sport Sciences, Northumbria University, Northumberland Building, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom

What they did in the study was take 3 commercial CEE products on the market and compare them to regular creatine monohydrate, when mixed in a acid solution (to mimic the stomach). The results after 30 minutes showed the CEE had degraded to 60-70% of it’s original creatine levels into creatinine. After 2 hours the CEE had degraded much further. The study showed that the claims by the supplement companies for CEE is false. Although, these studies
show that CEE has a high degradation in water, it does not mean it’s total junk. Remember, Creatine Monohydrate is also unstable in liquid like CEE.

Effervescent Creatine:

Creatine combined with sodium and sugar. Not really any different then creatine monohydrate except unneccessary ingredients combined. It also is highly priced.

Micronized Creatine:

Micronized creatine is micronized creatine monohydrate. This increases the surface area of it and results in a much better absorption into the body. This creatine will be more effective then creatine monohydrate and also have less side effects. Still requires a loading phase.

Creatine Citrate:

Creatine bonded to a citrate molecule. Even though it has better absorption then regular creatine the dosage has to be twice as much.

Creatine Kre-Alkalyn:

Creatine bonded to Kre-Alkalyn. Higher absorption so doesn’t require loading. Less bloating and stomach problems. No studies have been done on the health side effects of this creatine either.

Creatine Orate:

Creatine bonded to the Orate molecule which is derived from oratic acid. The orate has special energy properties because of it being a pre-cursor to nucleic acids which are needed to build ATP (the universal energy currency in the muscle cells). Another creatine that has no current studies on the side effects of the orate molecule. Unfortunately, creatine orate is also very expensive.

The best creatine form:

There are many good forms of creatine, but Creatine Malate is probably the best creatine form, due to it’s high absorption and unique energy effects from the Malate. If you don’t experience side effects and respond to it well, Creatine monohydrate is still fine. Many people continue to use the original Creatine monohydrate and have great results. Creatine monohydrate is backed by years of research, proven to be safe, and has the best price.