Creatine

There's the question as to whether creatine is beneficial, and then there's the question as to whether creatine supplements are beneficial, and those are two completely different questions.

Research as to the benefits of creatine are biased by the fact that they actually study creatine, meanwhile, many, many creatine supplements have been found to contain substantial contamination, some of those contaminants harmless, some not, such as low dose steroids, which would definitely make a supplement seem like it's working well.

There happens to be a shortage of creatine supply right now, just like a lot of supply chains at the moment, so the chances of contamination are much higher as unethical manufacturers are more likely to produce substitute products, especially out of China, which is where most creatine is made. Since these products are unregulated and not tested, who knows what you could get.

So yeah, if you can be sure that your specific brand and batch of creatine are uncontaminated and contain what they claim to contain (not sure how you would actually do this), then have at it, but be prepared to pay for it.

AlzChem Creapure tends to be good quality, but I believe you can't buy it directly, you can only buy products that contain Creapure as far as I know, but what's to stop an unethical company from claiming that their creatine source is Creapure and not Chinese creatine? I mean, yeah, that would be illegal labeling, but in a industry that's generally unregulated and where laws are minimally enforced, I'm sure it happens.

So yeah, whether creatine is beneficial and whether creatine supplements are beneficial is two very, very different questions.

paints5555 wrote: »

Xellercin wrote: »

Since these products are unregulated and not tested, who knows what you could get.

To say they are unregulated is not really true. FDA requires that a manufacturer of dietary supplements test their finished product for proper levels of what they are declaring on the label. So if a manufacturer says there is X amount of something in a supplement, it needs to be there. Over the years, several companies have been issued warning letters by FDA because they are not establishing specifications and not testing to make sure their products meet those specs.

Effectiveness of a given ingredient is another story - no testing is required for that.

Incorrect. The FDA DOES NOT regulate supplements. That's the DSHEA. And unfortunately no company has to prove how much ingredient is actually in a product (that's why there are "proprietary blends" and non labeling of contaminants that may be in the product.) They can slap on any amount they like because no manufacture/distruibutor HAS to test their product. It just has to be deemed safe to use.


A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Do have a read of the examine.com article - it's a good resource.

Yes, it's effective for many people and well researched, yes it's safe, yes it's inexpensive. Overall worth a try.

But your experience might be disappointing.
My first experiment I simply couldn't discern any difference (good or bad). No weight gain, no training boost. Could have been drinking a spoonful of sand rather than creatine....
Could be I'm a non-responder, that could be because I simply get enough from my normal diet.

Second experiment I got the same lack of results but plus a bit of digestive upset which isn’t uncommon.