Creatine forms

The International Society of Sports Nutrition calls creatine monohydrate the most effective ergogenic supplement available for high-intensity work and lean mass, and the most extensively studied and clinically effective form of creatine. On everything else its 2017 position stand is blunt: claims that other forms are degraded less in the body or reach muscle better are unfounded, and clinical evidence has not shown that citrate, serum, ethyl ester, buffered forms or nitrate improve creatine retention over monohydrate. A follow-up paper adds that most studies show these other forms have less physiological impact, not more. Buffered creatine has its own negative trial, which found no greater change in muscle creatine, body composition or training adaptation than monohydrate. To saturate stores, the stand describes 5g four times daily for five to seven days, then 3 to 5g a day, or 3 to 5g a day from the start reaching the same place in three to four weeks.

Stack Almanac records which creatine form is in each product you log, which is the only way to see what the premium forms in your stack have actually cost you over a year.