Creatine Types Explained: Monohydrate, HCl, and What the Labels MeanCreatine Types Explained: Monohydrate, HCl, and What the Labels Mean
Creatine comes up in our stores constantly, and a lot of the questions we get are less "which one should I buy" and more "what even is this stuff?" So here is a plain description of the compound, where it occurs, and what the different products on our shelves actually are.
What creatine is
Creatine is a nitrogen-containing organic acid. Its chemical name is methylguanidinoacetic acid and its formula is C4H9N3O2. It is assembled from three amino acids — glycine, arginine, and methionine — and in humans that assembly takes place mainly in the liver, with the kidneys and pancreas also involved.
It is not a hormone, not a steroid, and not a stimulant. Chemically it sits in an entirely different category from all three.
Where it occurs
Creatine occurs naturally in animal tissue. The richest dietary sources are red meat and fish — beef, herring, salmon, tuna. A pound of raw beef or salmon contains roughly one to two grams. Cooking lowers that number, since heat converts some creatine into creatinine.
In the human body the large majority of it is found in skeletal muscle, with much smaller amounts in the brain, heart, and other tissue. Plant foods contain essentially none, so dietary intake is typically lower on a vegetarian or vegan diet.
The forms you will see on a shelf
- Creatine monohydrate — creatine bound to a single water molecule. The most common form by a wide margin, the least expensive, and the form used in the large majority of the published literature. It is roughly 88% creatine by weight.
- Micronized creatine monohydrate — the same molecule milled to a smaller particle size. This is a physical difference rather than a chemical one; the finer powder stays suspended in liquid longer.
- Creatine hydrochloride (HCl) — creatine bound to hydrochloric acid. More water-soluble than monohydrate, and typically sold in smaller serving sizes.
- Buffered creatine — monohydrate combined with an alkaline powder that raises the pH of the mixture. Kre-Alkalyn is the trademarked version.
- Creatine ethyl ester — creatine with an ester group attached to the molecule.
- Creatine nitrate — creatine bound to a nitrate group. More soluble in water than monohydrate.
- Creatine magnesium chelate — creatine bonded with magnesium, sold under the Creatine MagnaPower name.
How it is packaged and sold
Most creatine is sold as a loose powder, flavored or unflavored, in tubs measured either by total grams or by the number of three-to-five gram servings. It is also sold in capsules, in chewable and gummy form, and as one ingredient inside a larger pre-workout or post-workout blend rather than on its own.
A few things worth reading on a label:
- Single ingredient or blend. A tub labeled creatine may be creatine alone, or creatine as one line on a much longer ingredient list.
- Creapure. A German-manufactured creatine monohydrate. Products that use it generally say so on the label.
- Third-party testing. NSF Certified for Sport, Informed Sport, and USP marks indicate the finished product was tested by an outside laboratory.
- Mixing notes. Monohydrate dissolves more readily in warm liquid than in cold. Micronized powders disperse faster than standard grind.
Come ask us
We stock creatine at all four locations — St. George, Hurricane, Cedar City, and Mesquite. If you want to know which forms we carry, what a particular label says, or how two products differ from one another, come find one of us and we will go through it with you.
Questions about whether a supplement is appropriate for you personally are ones for your doctor or pharmacist.