Creatine monohydrate 5 g (Creapure)
The most studied supplement in the history of sports nutrition. And not only for muscle.
The short version
What it does It increases strength and muscle mass when it accompanies resistance training. It is the best documented supplement on the site.
What it does not do It does not replace a session: without training, it does nothing. And the two kilos in the first week are water in the muscle, not fat.
What the studies say
The ISSN position stand, which synthesises hundreds of trials, names creatine monohydrate as the most effective and best documented supplement for improving short, intense efforts. Schoenfeld adds the effect on lean mass when combined with resistance training. Data also exists on cognition, particularly under sleep deprivation and in vegetarians, whose muscle stores are lower.
About a third of people are low responders — often those whose stores are already full from eating meat. The weight gained in the first weeks is intramuscular water, not muscle.
It is the supplement with the best evidence-to-price ratio on this entire site. And it does not replace a training session.
How to take it
Relevant as soon as you do resistance training or explosive efforts, and particularly after 40 for preserving muscle. Not very relevant for pure endurance sport.
5 g a day, every day, training or not — it is muscle saturation that counts, not timing. No loading phase needed: it only saturates faster, with more digestive discomfort. With water or in any drink.
Allow three to four weeks for saturation. The sign it is working: one or two more reps at the same load. If your weight goes up 1 to 2 kg in the first week, that is water in the muscle, not fat.
What is inside
Creatine monohydrate. Every other form — HCl, kre-alkalyn, buffered creatine, esters — is more expensive and none has shown superiority over monohydrate.
The Creapure label identifies German production with testing for dicyandiamide and dihydrotriazine, two synthesis impurities. It is the only genuinely verifiable quality criterion in this aisle. A micronised powder dissolves better, without changing the effect.
The exotic forms sold at a premium with no data. Medical advice in pre-existing kidney disease — in a healthy kidney, creatine poses no documented problem despite the legend.
Cautions
- Pre-existing kidney disease: medical advice
The three options
Traceable purity
“Creatine monohydrate (100 %)”
The entire list fits in three words. Creapure® label, the only one that publishes its impurity analyses. 300 g, 355 reviews. The most checkable product in the catalogue.
For whom — Anyone taking creatine every day for years who wants to know what they are swallowing.
Micronised monohydrate
36,437 reviews, the site record
Micronised monohydrate, 634 g. Worth reading if you have allergies: “may contain milk, soya, gluten, eggs, nuts, peanuts” — shared-facility contamination. The creatine itself stays pure.
For whom — Most people: same molecule, better dissolution, contained price.
The kilo at the best price
Two words in the list, and the lowest price
“Creatine, monohydrate”, nothing else. 500 g, 11,116 reviews. Same molecule as the two options above, without the label or the micronisation.
For whom — Anyone who wants the best-proven product on the site at the lowest possible cost.
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