Last week I explained how high temperatures increase creatine degradation rate and how this might reduce the amount of creatine you are actually ingesting following its mixing in liquids. I now explain how heat also increases creatine’s solubility, effectively increasing the amount of creatine that goes into solution. How to offset these two apparently dichotomous effects in order to optimize creatine availability for maximal absorption is the topic of today’s post.
Creatine’s Insolubility Causes Problems
One of the most problematic aspects of dietary supplementation with creatine monohydrate powders are their poor solubility - this annoying feature gives rise to a range of inconveniences ranging from not being able to get your creatine into solution to persistent diarrhea.
Heating Increases the Amount of Creatine That Goes Into Solution
Although this may sound like a contradiction it is not. Recall from the last post that heat increases the disorder of our “creatine in a glass” system, which translates into more creatine molecules being randomly dispersed (dissolved) in our liquid. In fact, increasing the temperature increases the solubility of creatine in water significantly. In practical terms, going from 10 to 50 degrees Celsius increases the solubility of pure creatine monohydrate about three-fold. This is an important consideration, since creatine is rather insoluble; typically about 14 grams of pure creatine monohydrate can be dissolved in a liter of water at room temperature (25 degrees Celsius). Importantly, this values drops to around only 8 grams of creatine being able to be dissolved in one liter of water right out of the refrigerator (4 degrees Celsius). And, of course, creatinine production will also increase, although much less significantly than the increase in creatine solubility. Can you see where I am going with this? Read More »
Hello Rob,
Nicely formulated question, but you got me right where it hurts, the lack of published scientific studies addressing creatine’s solubility and degradation in aqueous solutions. Below is what I have been able to piece together from the literature that I have been able to find. Other reports surely exists, I have simply not been able to pin them down.
Since one of your queries uses the term, thermodynamics, I use this approach to answer the question. Don’t worry. I’ll try and develop the answer in an intuitive manner, not like a university physical chemistry course.
Ok, buckle-up, here we go…
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Dear Readers,
A version of this question appeared in my inbox a few days ago. I felt it important enough to merit its own post in this blog. Today, I’ll post the original question and in a few days I’ll upload my answer.
Sincerely,
Alfredo Franco-Obregón
Nutritional Supplements Newsletters Publishing
http://www.creatinemonohydrate.net
http://www.creatine-blog.com
Question
Following is a question regarding “Creatine Solubility” that I haven’t seen addressed within the contents of your website and the answer to which could prove to be of great value and interest not only to myself but to all your readers & visitors to this website. I have yet to receive a fair & comprehensive answer to my question from any other sources which is why I’m now turning to you for help.
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Life without calcium would not be possible. Calcium is an indispensable regulator of many essential biochemical processes. The cellular behaviors regulated by calcium range from the reading of genes to produce cellular components to the activating of all forms of cellular movement, including muscle contraction. In fact, creatine makes muscle contraction more efficient by increasing the availability of calcium.
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Although nowhere nearly as robustly (or obviously) as muscles, bones also develop in response to exercise. Because this effect is largely hidden from view, however, most athletes are not aware of its importance to athletic performance. In truth, bones must increase in strength in parallel to muscle mass in order to support the higher levels of mechanical stress being placed upon them by stronger, larger muscles. As we will learn today both these processes are reliant on creatine…
In my last post (see Creatine builds strong bones… part 1) I made the case that creatine supplementation, by way of maximizing muscular force generation, promotes bone formation (osteogenesis). Although muscular activity surely contributes to the bone formation observed with creatine, this cannot be the entire story. Situations have been described where creatine treatment promotes osteogenesis outside the animal. That is, creatine supplementation, in the absence of mechanical stimulation imposed by skeletal muscle, also appears to promote bone formation.
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Posted in Elderly | Tagged bone, cartilage, chondrocytes, creatine monohydrate, Elderly, exercise, mechanical stimulation, muscle, osteoblast, osteoclasts, osteogenesis |
