How is kre-alkalyn better than any other creatine?

Hi Craig,

Kre-Alkalyn is a form of creatine that adds an "alkaline buffer", which is a substance that reduces acidity (raises pH). The manufacturers claim that this makes it more stable and effective than other creatine forms.

Virtually all of the studies showing increased strength, muscle endurance and muscle size from using creatine have been conducted on creatine monohydrate. Creatine monohydrate has a spotless safety record and accusations that is causes cramps, bloating, kidney problems, etc are completely unfounded and are not supported by research (actually some studies show it decreases the incidence of cramps when exercising in hot weather).

Also, creatine monohydrate is absorbed almost 100% from the gut into the bloodstream, so any claims that another type of creatine is more "absorbable" are suspect at best.

The other claim that Kre-Alkalyn makes is that it doesn't convert into creatinine (a useless metabolite of creatine). However, this is of no use to bodybuilders or other creatine users because creatine doesn't break down into creatinine to any important extent unless it is mixed with water...and even then it takes several days in water for a significant amount of creatine to be converted into creatinine. So unless you mix your creatine in liquid and then leave it for like a week, there will be no benefit to this attribute.

There are a few studies on Kre-Alkalyn but to the best of my knowledge, the ones I've seen were done on very small groups of subjects in Bulgaria and have never been published in properly-governed scientific journals and have not been published on PubMed / Medline or any of the other international medical journal databases. So it seems like these studies don't bear scientific scrutiny in some people's opinion or the company don't want to submit them for publication for some reason but I can only speculate. (NOTE: I searched the PubMed / Medline databases using the word "Kre-Alkalyn", "buffered creatine" and other search terms and couldn't find anything. If anyone knows of published studies, I'll certainly read them and give you my honest opinion as someone who has read about 200 creatine studies).

So as you can see from the above, it looks like Kre-Alkalyn is trying to solve problems that don't exist because creatine monohydrate has a massive body of hundreds of studies showing its effectiveness and safety.

Having said all of that, I must be fair and admit that some people swear that they get better results from Kre-Alkalyn.