The Best Creatine Powder

Buying Guide

Building muscle takes time and effort. Just keeping your energy going throughout a long workout is challenging enough, but the weeks and months it takes to build and strengthen muscles can lead to an excruciating wait.

Professional athletes and bodybuilders have an edge over casual exercisers, though. It’s all in what they put into their bodies. In addition to studying what foods they need to eat to maximize results, they also use powders and supplements to boost performance. With the right combination, they can get better results faster, or at the very least they can gain the energy they need to make it through a strenuous workout.

One supplement popular with fitness enthusiasts is creatine. Creatine comes in powder and pill form and, once ingested, is converted by the body into creatine phosphate. Creatine phosphate, in turn, produces a substance that produces the energy necessary for muscle contractions.

Benefits of Creatine

In addition to increasing energy, creatine accelerates recovery in your muscles and even increases muscle mass. How does creatine do these things? It allows your body to endure through longer periods of extreme exercise which helps your muscle grow. It also increases cell signaling that helps with muscle growth and more importantly muscle recovery. Finally, creatine elevates water levels in the cells, which not only helps with the function but also plumps the muscle up.

Taking creatine is shown to significantly reduce the breakdown of proteins that comprise our muscles. It encourages the growth of the muscle by lowering myostatin levels, the protein that can prevent muscle growth. Additional studies have found that the increase of phosphocreatine in the brain enhances function and can prevent neurological malfunctions.

Besides Creatine can have other benefits, too, says Dr. Niket Sonpal, a doctor based in New York City.

“Sleep deprivation has a negative effect on mental performance and mood. This can be caused by a drop in creatine levels in the brain,” he says. “Studies suggest that taking a creatine supplement can help to offset the decline in mental performance that normally happens when you’re short on sleep.”

Importantly, Dr. Sonpal advises talking to your doctor before you begin taking supplements of any kind, including creatine. And keep in mind that if something sounds too good to be true, it likely is.

Before Taking Creatine

“Always check with your physician before adding any supplement to your diet.  Do not expect miracles from any product. A sensible, healthy diet and regular exercise program are the real keys to achieving and maintaining weight loss and overall health,” says Dr. Sonpal.

Before you add creatine to your daily fitness regimen, though, it’s important to pay close attention to some warnings. It can cause stomach upset in some people, including nausea, diarrhea, and cramping. Creatine prompts your muscles to gather water from the rest of your body, so you’ll need to drink extra water to prevent dehydration during your workout. Lastly, you may find the numbers on the scale shoot upward slightly while you’re taking creatine. This is due to your muscles holding water, so don’t be alarmed.

If you opt for a supplement, you probably will find you can get the best deal by going with a powder. Often creatine is sold in containers that will last a while, so you can keep your expense at a minimum. If you choose a powder, consider how you’ll be consuming it. If you’re mixing it with your coffee or favorite cold beverage, you may want to stick with an unflavored version. But you can choose from delicious flavors like sour apple, then mix with water or a protein shake to make your own tasty beverage out of it.

• Supplements aren’t the only source of creatine. You can add it to your diet by eating protein-rich foods like fish and meat.
• The long-term side effects of creatine aren’t 100% clear, so it’s best to limit your intake to short-term use. If you’re trying to bulk up or boost muscle performance during football season, consider pulling back in the offseason and maintaining your muscle growth without the use of supplements.
• For mixing powders in a liquid, you’ll want one that dissolves quickly. A powder that is micronized, which means it’s ground down to the finest of particles, works best.
• Examine the amount of creatine you’re getting per serving. You’ll find many creatine powders provide 5 grams, which should be enough to get the desired results.
• If you’re concerned about chemicals, look for a powder that doesn’t have artificial flavorings or sweeteners.
• To ensure you’re getting exactly what the label says, buy a powder that was manufactured in a facility that’s GMP compliant. GMP stands for “Good Manufacturing Practice,” a set of standards applied to manufacturers.
• When purchasing a powder, you’ll need a scoop to dispense it. If you don’t already have one on hand, make sure your chosen supplement comes with a scoop so you can purchase one separately if necessary.
• Powders come in various shapes and sizes. Pay close attention to the serving size and grams of creatine to make sure you’re getting the biggest bang for your buck.
• Creatine powder is most useful for explosive exercise that requires quite a bit of muscle energy at once, including boxing and powerlifting.
• If purity is important to you, check to ensure the manufacturer has verified its claims somehow, whether it’s through third-party testing or certification from a respected authority.
• One thing that can be confusing as you start thinking about taking creatine is that there are multiple varieties available. Creatine monohydrate was the first type used as a supplement, but since that time, several others have emerged. Creatine monohydrate is tested and proven, but some of these others have their own benefits, while others haven’t been proven to be useful at all. Conduct thorough research on each type before buying to make sure you’ll get the results you’re expecting.
• Another ingredient you may find advertised in a creatine supplement is Beta Alanine-SR, which produces carnosine,  a protein building block that cuts down on lactic acid accumulation when you exercise. This can help boost your performance during workouts and sports.
• If you have food sensitivities, look for a product that promises to be free of those items. You can find creatine powders free of nuts, eggs, fish, soy, gluten and more. If you have serious health repercussions from ingesting those foods, research thoroughly to make sure the claims have been substantiated by a trusted third party.
• Athletes often must go through testing to make sure they’re clear of any performance-enhancing products. Creatine is typically safe for these tests, but one type of creatine known to be cleared in these tests is Creapure. In fact, the name is often seen on lists of substances that will reduce an athlete’s risk of accidentally doping.
• If you’re vegan, you’ll want to be especially vigilant when shopping for creatine. Not all creatine is free of animal products, so you’ll have to search for a powder that advertises that it’s vegan.
• Your creatine product should have creatine listed as the very first ingredient. You should also be aware that some creatine powders can contain sugar or artificial sweeteners and caffeine, among other ingredients.