User:Creatine

Creatine Ethyl Ester

Creatine is a naturally occurring guanidine compound, which has been commercially available as a supplement for more than 80 years (Chanutin 1926, J. Biol. Chem., 67, 29-41). Creatine has a central role in maintaining cellular ATP homeostasis and creatine monohydrate supplements have become extremely popular with athletes. There are a plethora of peer-reviewed studies demonstrating the benefits of creatine monohydrate supplementation on muscle contractile performance in exercising populations. It has been reported that in the acid environment of the stomach, some of the ingested creatine monohydrate degrades to creatinine, which is undesirable.

Creatine ethyl ester is a synthetic form of creatine, in that it does not occur in nature and has been available since the 1922 (Dox and Yoder 1922, J. Biol. Chem., 64, 671). In 2003 a patent application from Dr Miller at the University of Nebraska was presented following which nutrition company Medical Research Institute (CA, USA) brought the product to market despite no pre-approval from the FDA as it would be classed as a novel dietary ingredient. It comprises of creatine with an ethyl group attached and several suppliers of Creatine ethyl ester products claim that this molecular configuration provides several advantages over creatine monohydrate.

The Medical Research Institute (CA, USA) claim that the Creatine ethyl ester provides greater solubility in lipids, leading to improved absorption. As a consequence of these marketing claims Creatine ethyl ester has gained increasing popularity as a sports supplement, even though these claims had not been evaluated by an independent, or academic laboratory

In 2 recent studies by UK based researchers Dr Mark J Tallon, PhD and Dr Robert Child demonstrated creatine monohydrate undergoes minimal degradation during simulated digestion in stomach acid (Child R and Tallon MJ. 2007 JISSN., 4; 2). In contrast, the addition of the ethyl group to creatine actually reduced acid stability and accelerated its breakdown to creatinine, a finding consistent with earlier research (Mold et al. 1955 J. Am. Chem. Soc., 77, 178). This increase in breakdown substantially reduces creatine availability in its esterified form Child R and Tallon MJ. 2007 JISSN., 4; 2. As a consequence, Creatine ethyl ester is likely inferior to creatine monohydrate as a source of free creatine.