Kre Alkalyn(TM) is a proprietary creatine blend that claims to be 10 to 20 times more effective than pure creatine monohydrate at getting into muscle cells. The patent holder claims that Kre Alkalyn uses a buffering agent to activate more creatine and stop the conversion to creatinine. Creatinine is a byproduct of creatine metabolism and is considered a waste product, making it undesirable for the bodybuilder.

Standard creatine comes in many forms that compete with buffered creatine, including creatine malate, creatine citrate, other creatine salts, creatine monohydrate, and creatine ethyl ester. These forms of creatine also claim close to 100% absorption and are also touted as better forms of creatine. To prove the claims that Kre Alkalyn has better bioavailability, we can consult the scientific literature. Also, what does the scientific literature say about claims that 90% of creatine is converted to creatinine and therefore useless? Is Kre Alkalyn worth the extra money?

According to its patent, buffered creatine uses one of the following ingredients to act as a buffering agent: sodium carbonate, magnesium glycerol phosphate, hydroxide, carbonate, bicarbonate, chloride, tree latex, or a phosphate. These buffering agents theoretically help stop the conversion of creatine to creatinine in an acidic stomach. Supposedly, this conversion is stopped by adding these buffering agents that counteract stomach acid.

Buffered creatine has some studies posted on the All American EFX website. Do studies support the idea that Kre Alkalyn is far superior to creatine monohydrate or creatine salts like creatine malate or creatine citrate and creatine ethyl ester? The first study may support a slight improvement over other forms of creatine when examined.

Using 24 healthy Bulgarian weightlifting competitors, buffered creatine showed an increase of approximately 2% in weight lifted compared to creatine monohydrate. To put this in perspective, if a weightlifter squats 300lbs, after 60 days the creatine monohydrate group would lift 325lbs and the Kre Alkalyn would lift 332lbs. Not quite the stellar performance differences and vastly different absorption that the folks at Kre Alkalyn claim. Sure, lifting an extra 7 pounds for 60 days is impressive, but it’s not life-altering weight, even for a well-trained athlete. Furthermore, this study is clearly in dispute with its claim that over 90% of creatine monohydrate taken as a supplement is converted to creatinine in the stomach and thus rendered inactive.

While it is significant to see a 7 pound increase in weight lifted, is it possible that the real reason Kre Alkalyn performs better is due to the bicarbonate in the product? Personally, I think that makes more sense. Certainly, more than 10% of the creatine monohydrate is active, contrary to what Kre Alkalyn claims, so it is not the additional creatine that is seeing a slight improvement. Most likely it’s the baking soda. As an ergogenic aid, bicarbonate is very useful for high-performance athletes. If you don’t know, you probably already have baking soda. It’s called baking soda.

So maybe the “secret” to Kre Alkalyn is really just 5 cents worth of baking soda, which we know is good for high-performance athletes. A study of sodium bicarbonate in high-performance athletes confirms this claim. “Sodium bicarbonate and sodium citrate appear to be effective in activities of sufficient duration to generate a difference in the hydrogen ion gradient, characterized by very high intensity, and involving large muscle groups.” (1) Large muscle groups is exactly what was studied in the Kre Alkalyn article, so for large muscle groups clearly bicarbonate will increase performance and thus may explain the added benefit achieved in the Kre Alkalyn study.

I guess this is a benefit of taking Kre Alkalyn, the addition of bicarbonate. However, for the extra price, it hardly seems worth it. Considering the Kre Alkalyn site study used 7.5g of Kre Alkalyn per day and that will set you back around $35, it doesn’t sound like Kre Alkalyn is a good deal compared to creatine monohydrate and a teaspoon of baking soda. sodium as a buffering agent. . Additionally, there are more advanced creatine complexes on the market that contain crucial cofactors that enhance creatine, such as beta alanine and hydrolyzed amino acids. These complexes are usually cheaper and would certainly have benefits over standard creatine monohydrate and Kre Alkalyn. Hardly anyone takes creatine on its own anymore, as there are advanced blends that have eclipsed them in performance by binding creatine with numerous cofactors.

There are other studies on the Kre Alkalyn website that show that this buffered form of creatine is stable and non-toxic, which is to be expected. Another study shows that Kre Alkalyn again performs slightly better than creatine monohydrate in a VO2 max test, but again, this is probably due to the increased bicarbonate in the mix, not the creatine itself changing in any way or is better absorbed.

According to this study, Kre Alkalyn appears to be missing a key driver of creatine monohydrate supplementation: increased DHT levels. These elevated levels of DHT in young men may be what makes them irritable with creatine, but it can also increase the size of their penis and potentially make them taller (4). This benefit is apparently negated by buffered creatine for some strange reason. Perhaps the extra acidic environment pushes the body to make more DHT from sources other than testosterone, which is a very good thing for young people. The fact that this health benefit is negative is a blow against buffered creatine.

So what about the claims that Kre Alkalyn is better absorbed because almost 90% of creatine monohydrate is broken down in the stomach? The scientific literature completely discredits this claim. In fact, scientific studies show that creatine monohydrate can indeed be 100% absorbed; one study states that “creatine appears to be fully absorbed as no creatine or creatinine was detected in the stool.” (2,3) and creatine salts such as creatine citrate and creatine malate have also been shown to have nearly 100% absorption (3). This completely debunks the myth by All American EFX, the maker of Kre Alkalyn, that buffered creatine is a better form of creatine for absorption and debunks the claim that over 90% of standard creatine monohydrate is converted to the waste product, creatinine. Using muscle creatine levels as a standard, it was shown that nearly all forms of creatine are absorbed and utilized.

All of this serves to really debunk the claim that unbuffered creatine is inferior to Kre Alkalyn. The data seems to indicate that any benefit from Kre Alkalyn is likely due to the bicarbonate or other buffering agent. The small amount of bicarbonate makes the supplement work slightly better than standard creatine monohydrate, but the differences are very slight even in high performance athletes. If you really wanted buffered creatine, bicarbonate can be found in any kitchen in America as “baking soda.” You can make your own Kre Alkalyn by adding 1 teaspoon of baking soda to your creatine drink.

A serious shortcoming of most Kre Alkalyn supplements on the market is that they seem to lack the various advanced cofactors found in most pre-workout drinks. These cofactors, such as beta alanine, show greater enhancement than pure creatine, making them a key component of any pre-workout creatine drink (5). The lack of things like beta alanine makes most Kre Alkalyn supplements inferior to today’s leading pre-workout powders.

Creatine is great for you and should be used by any serious bodybuilder. It is a proven supplement with benefits for weightlifters, bodybuilders, seniors, and middle-aged men and women. Regardless of which form you use, be sure to add this impressive nutrient to your workouts and reap the many benefits.

References:
1. Sodium bicarbonate and sodium citrate: ergogenic aids? J Resistance Cond Res. 2005 Feb; 19 (1): 213-24. Requena B, Zabala M, Padial P, Feriche B. Department of Physical Education and Sport, University of Granada, Spain

2. Jäger R, Harris RC, Purpura M, Francaux M. Comparison of new forms of creatine for raising plasma creatine levels. J Int Soc Sports Nutr. 2007 November 12; 4:17.

3. Deldicque L, Décombaz J, Zbinden Foncea H, Vuichoud J, Poortmans JR, Francaux M. Kinetics of ingested creatine as a food ingredient. Eur J Appl Physiol. 2008 January; 102(2): 133-43.

4. 5 alpha-reductase deficiency in patients with micropenis. J Inherit Metab Dis. 1997 March; 20(1):95-101. Gad YZ, Nasr H, Mazen I, Salah N, el-Ridi R. Department of Human Genetics, National Research Centre, Dokki, Giza, Egypt.

5. Effect of creatine and beta-alanine supplementation on performance and endocrine responses in strength/power athletes. Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab. 2006 August; 16(4):430-46. Hoffman J, Ratamess N, Kang J, Mangine G, Faigenbaum A, Stout J. Dept. of Health and Exercise Sciences, The College of New Jersey, Ewing, NJ 08628, USA.