Pure Creatine - FAQs
What
is Creatine Monohydrate?
Why
is Direct NutriSciences' Pure Creatine better than ever before? Is
this why it looks different?
Who
should take Pure Creatine?
How
does Pure Creatine work?
What
should I look for when buying creatine monohydrate?
What
results should I expect and when?
How
do I take creatine? What are the loading and maintenance
phases?
What
should creatine monohydrate be taken in?
How
long should I take it for? Should I take it in cycles?
What
about safety? Are there any side effects?
How
do I know this is pure creatine monohydrate?
How
can Direct NutriSciences offer Pure Creatine at such a low price?
What
is Creatine Monohydrate?
Creatine
Monohydrate is an amino acid-like substance that occurs
naturally in our bodies and in foods such as beef, fish
and chicken. As a supplement, it comes in the form of a
white crystalline powder, and has been proven to be one
of the most effective natural performance enhancers on the
market.
Why
is Direct NutriSciences' Pure Creatine better than ever before? Is this
why it looks different?
The
next time you buy Pure Creatine Monohydrate, don't be surprised
that it looks different. Direct NutriSciences Pure Creatine is now micronized,
which means it is manufactured with a 200-mesh screen, leaving
the material a much finer powder. How does this affect Creatine?
The best way to benefit from any nutritional supplement
is to achieve full absorption of the ingredients. Because
micronized Creatine is broken down into smaller, finer particles
it suspends in solution for much longer than other Creatine
- mixing instantly and absorbing quicker into the system.
Who
should take Pure Creatine?
If you’re
a recreational or competitive athlete seeking a competitive
edge, you should be taking creatine. Your competition is
probably already taking it. Most professional athletes take
creatine, as do amateur and Olympic athletes: 3 out of 4
medal winners at the 1996 Olympics were taking creatine
at the time of their competition. Athletes involved in sports
or activities such as weightlifting, sprinting, wrestling,
football, basketball, volleyball, hockey, soccer, or anything
that involves bouts of intense activity, benefit from Creatine
Monohydrate supplementation.
Creatine
Monohydrate is used not only by athletes, but also by anyone
who needs more energy in their muscles for the work they
do. For example, many doctors, massage therapists and dentists
who have to bend over their patients for prolonged periods
find that their lower back strain is alleviated by the use
of Creatine Monohydrate. People who use their muscles extensively
at work, like employees of the construction and oil-field
industries, use creatine for increased energy throughout
the day. Creatine is not only for workouts, but any activity
that involves the use of muscles.
How
does Pure Creatine work?
Basically,
Creatine Monohydrate provides more energy to your muscles.
The creatine in muscle cells serves as a metabolic reservoir
(gas tank) of the high-energy molecule ATP (adenosine triphosphate,
the gas), which is required for muscular contraction. Many
studies have proven that taking Creatine Monohydrate increases
this energy reservoir, meaning that your muscles have more
energy to burn. Because creatine provides more energy, your
muscles can work for a longer time before they fatigue.
Studies have also proven that supplementation with Creatine
Monohydrate decreases the time your muscles need to recover
from intense exercise. In short, it has been proven in numerous
controlled scientific studies that creatine increases muscle
strength and endurance while decreasing the time it takes
to recover from muscular exertion.
For
a detailed explanation, check out the
science
of Creatine Monohydrate.
What
should I look for when buying Creatine Monohydrate?
So how
do you know which companies are offering pure Creatine Monohydrate
and which are offering second-rate products? There are three
easy signs for analyzing the quality of your Creatine supplement:1)
Creatine Monohydrate does not dissolve in water. 2) It is
odorless. 3) It is white.
If your
Creatine supplement does not feature these three qualities,
chances are it isn't pure Creatine Monohydrate.
What
results should I expect and when?
You
will notice an increase in strength, an increase in endurance,
and a decrease in recovery times. You may also experience
a slight increase in weight, since the absorption of creatine
into cells causes your cells to absorb more water.
Most
people feel the results immediately, although for some people
it takes a little bit longer to notice the difference.
How
do I take creatine monohydrate? What are maintenance and
loading phases?
Scientific
studies have shown that you will optimize gains with creatine
if you take it in two phases: the loading phase and the
maintenance phase. The loading phase is designed to saturate
the muscles with creatine, while the maintenance phase is
designed to keep them saturated. For the average person,
5 grams of creatine should be taken 4 times daily for the
first five days to complete the loading phase. The maintenance
phase consists of taking only 5 to 10 grams per day. The
amount of creatine you should take depends on your weight,
so take less if you are under average weight, and more if
you are over the average weight (160 lbs). For example,
if you were 250 lbs, you would take 5 grams 6 times a day
for the loading phase, and 2-3 times a day for the maintenance
phase.
Having
said this, we have to add a note for the people who think
that if a little bit of something is good, more must be
better. Not true! You aren’t going to get any better results
by downing a kilo of creatine a day. What people have to
remember is that more is NOT necessarily better with creatine;
it is only a waste of money.
Servings
of creatine should be spread out over the course of the
day. Try to take one serving right before your peak physical
activity, and another serving right after. The best time
to get creatine moved into muscle cells is immediately after
exercise. If you can manage it, try to take creatine on
an empty stomach so that absorption is maximized.
What
should creatine monohydrate be taken in?
Not
milk, not water, not coffee, not yogurt. Quite simply, creatine
should be taken with a sweet juice because it has been scientifically
proven that the type of sugar found in fruit juice causes
a temporary increase in plasma insulin level, which increases
the absorption of creatine by muscle cells by up to 300%
compared to taking it in water. Grape juice is a good option,
but orange and grapefruit juices are too acidic, and may
interfere with absorption.
There
are creatine products available with ‘special’ carbohydrates
that are supposed to increase the absorption of creatine.
The ‘special’ ingredients are, at best, nothing more than
the carbohydrates that you find in fruit juices. You get
the same effect by taking pure creatine in juice. You also
get a better deal, since you aren’t paying for sugar ‘fillers.’
It should
also be noted that one recent study showed that taking creatine
with a combination of carbs and protein is just as effective
as taking it with straight carbs. In other words, it may
be beneficial to supplement your Creatine with a high quality
protein such as Direct NutriSciences'
DynaWhey
Protein Beverage Mix.
How
long should I take it for? Should I take it in cycles?
We make
creatine in our bodies at an average rate of about 2 grams
per day, through a metabolic pathway that is most active
in the liver. Studies have shown that when you take supplemental
creatine you shut off this internal manufacturing process,
but that it restarts as soon as you stop taking creatine.
To be absolutely safe, we recommend that you take creatine
for a maximum of ten weeks before you take a minimum of
ten days off. This also prevents your body from getting
too accustomed to the increased creatine levels.
What
about safety? Are there side effects?
There
is a huge pile of studies on the effects of creatine supplementation
in the biomedical literature. To the best of our knowledge,
none of these studies have reported any detrimental side
effects, even at dosage levels much higher than recommended.
There are, however some anecdotal reports of intestinal
discomfort and mild diarrhea due to excessive creatine doses.
If this happens to you, cut your current dosage until symptoms
disappear. Insufficient water consumption during creatine
supplementation may lead to muscle cramping or stomach discomfort,
so increase your water intake when taking creatine.
We recommend
that people with kidney or liver disorders refrain from
using creatine, as these organs are responsible for clearing
any excess creatine from the body.
How
do I know this is pure creatine monohydrate?
It’s
only natural to wonder if you’re getting a high quality
product when you buy supplements. We understand that, because
we have the same questions and concerns. We have been selling
supplements for years, and we have an excellent reputation
for quality and purity.
Every
lot of creatine that we get from our suppliers is tested
for purity. Once we know that it is at least 99.5% pure
creatine, it is packaged in our facility under very strict
food handling regulations. We are positive that you’ll be
very happy with the quality and purity of the creatine monohydrate
you get from Direct NutriSciences.
How
can Direct NutriSciences offer Pure Creatine at such a low price?
The
answer is simple - we eliminate the middleman or, as is
so often the case in the supplement industry, the middlemen.
Most Creatine distributors go through two or three middlemen
in the process of getting the Creatine to the customer,
every one of which wants to make some money and increases
the price, thus increasing the price for the customer. At Direct NutriSciences, however, we actually produce our own Creatine,
thereby removing the middlemen and maintaining a low price.