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Top 5 Essential Creatine Powders
Treat your physique to muscle growth & recovery support with creatine.
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Creatine Powder Benefits
- Promotes Muscle Synthesis
- Encourages Endurance
- Aids Post-Workout Recovery
- Supports Cognition
- Supports Lean Muscle Mass
- Promotes Cellular Energy
Creatine Powder Buying Guide
Creatine is a fitness staple for serious athletes. Its popularity began in the 90's as a safe, legal way for professional football players and bodybuilders to bulk up. In recent years, creatine has gone mainstream for anyone looking to support noticeable muscle growth, strength, and power.
This powerful compound has been extensively studied, and many experts agree that its benefits towards resistance training are undeniable. This seemingly simple compound plays a huge role in energy production during exercise.
How Does Creatine Work?
Your muscles store creatine, which encourages the rapid regeneration of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), a vital energy source. It then releases it during high-intensity, short-duration exercises like weight lifting, sprinting, and HIIT.
These powerful energy bursts help give you the push you need to perform more reps and longer sprints for maximized strength and endurance.
What is the Best Way to Get Creatine?
Certain foods like red meat and fish contain small amounts of creatine, however, you need large amounts of creatine to get all the performance-enhancing benefits, making supplementation your best option.
But not just any supplement will do.
Creatine monohydrate is the most-researched form of creatine used in supplements. It consists of a creatine molecule bonded to a water molecule, making it easier to travel throughout your body and more absorbable than other types of creatine.
Your muscles then store it, quickly regenerating and releasing ATP when you need more energy.
In addition to using creatine monohydrate, the highest quality products are micronized, which produces a finer powder that's more easily dissolved and absorbed by the body.
What to Look for & Avoid in a Creatine Powder
- Look For
- Micronized Creatine Monohydrate - Micronized creatine monohydrate dissolves quickly and easily into liquids, avoiding clumping. This form is also highly bioavailable — which means it’s easy for your body to absorb.
- Powder Formula - There are different ways to take creatine, from pressed pills to liquid formulas. Pills can be harder to break down in the body and liquid formulas are less stable. Creatine powder has been shown to be the most absorbable and effective.
- 5 Gram Serving Size - 5 grams is the ideal daily dosage. This amount is scientifically recognized to help effectively saturate your muscles with creatine over time, which can help improve exercise performance, increase strength, and support muscle recovery.
- Avoid
- Creatine Ethyl Ester -
Creatine ethyl ester is less stable than creatine monohydrate, and it may convert to creatinine (a waste product) more rapidly in the body, potentially reducing its effectiveness.
Despite claims of better absorption, studies have suggested that creatine ethyl ester may not be absorbed as efficiently as creatine monohydrate.
- Buffered Creatine -
Buffered creatine is marketed as having a higher pH, which claims to reduce the conversion of creatine to creatinine. However, limited scientific evidence supports the superiority of buffered creatine.
Additionally, buffered creatine supplements are often more expensive than creatine monohydrate without clear evidence of added benefits.
What Else to Consider Before Purchasing
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Products that undergo 3rd party testing are vetted for quality and effectiveness by independent researchers. This is a great way to promote transparency between the brand and the consumer.
Positive And Authentic Reviews
Make sure to check with the ShopOwl algorithm before purchasing a product, so you can educate yourself on what other customers liked and didn't like about it. This will help you make a more informed purchase.
Micronized Creatine Monohydrate
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Quality Rank A
97/100
After our algorithm searched over 5,000 data points and analyzed 52 variables, Creatine received a high score for its quality.
Review Rank A
100/100
Although there are not many reviews yet, our algorithm determined that a majority of the reviews for this product are accurate.
Value Rank A
95/100
Considering these different variables, we determined that this product has a good purchase value.
Marketplace Rating:
Adjusted Rating:
Creatine
Close Full Analysis
Quality Rank A
93/100
After our algorithm searched over 5,000 data points and analyzed 52 variables, Creatine by Naked received a high score for its quality.
Review Rank A
100/100
Our algorithm determined that roughly 100% of reviews were genuine.
Value Rank A-
90/100
We've determined that this product has an A- value rank due to the slightly higher price point.
Marketplace Rating:
Adjusted Rating:
03
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Creatine Monohydrate
Sold by: Bulk Supplements
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Close Full Analysis
Quality Rank B+
85/100
After our algorithm searched over 5,000 data points and analyzed 52 variables, Creatine Monohydrate by Bulk Supplements received a B grade for its quality.
Review Rank A
100/100
Our algorithm marked 100% of the reviews as genuine.
Value Rank A-
91/100
Considering the above average quality rank and the strong review rank, our algorithm has determined that this product has a A- value rank.
Marketplace Rating:
Adjusted Rating:
04
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Micronized Creatine
Sold by: Optimum Nutrition
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Close Full Analysis
Quality Rank B
83/100
After our algorithm searched over 5,000 data points and analyzed 52 variables, Optimum Nutrition received an average grade of B for its quality.
Review Rank B+
88.6/100
Our algorithm marked 11.4% of the reviews as potentially fraudulent.
Value Rank B
85/100
Considering the average quality rank and review rank, our algorithm has determined that this product has a B value rank.
Marketplace Rating:
Adjusted Rating:
Close Full Analysis
Quality Rank A
95/100
After our algorithm searched over 5,000 data points and analyzed 52 variables, Creatine by Thorne received a high score for its quality.
Review Rank C-
71.7/100
Nearly 29% of the reviews on this product were flagged as being potentially fraudulent.
Value Rank C+
78/100
Considering the high quality rank yet higher than average proportion of fraudulent reviews, our algorithm determined that this product's value score is a C+.
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Citations
- Wax, Benjamin, et al. Nutrients, vol. 13, no. 6, 2 June 2021, p. 1915, https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13061915.examine.com/supplements/shilajit/
- Cooper, Robert, et al. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, vol. 9, no. 1, 20 July 2012, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3407788/, https://doi.org/10.1186/1550-2783-9-33.
- Kreider, Richard B., et al. Nutrients, vol. 14, no. 5, 28 Feb. 2022, p. 1035, https://doi.org/10.3390/nu14051035.
- Antonio, Jose, et al. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, vol. 18, no. 1, 8 Feb. 2021, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7871530/, https://doi.org/10.1186/s12970-021-00412-w.
- Spillane, Mike, et al. Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, vol. 6, no. 1, 2009, p. 6, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2649889/, https://doi.org/10.1186/1550-2783-6-6. Accessed 29 Mar. 2019.
- Shil, Aparna, and Havovi Chichger. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, vol. 22, no. 10, 1 Jan. 2021, p. 5228, www.mdpi.com/1422-0067/22/10/5228/htm, https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms22105228.