Advanced Creatine Blend
If it was a bit cheaper, I wouldn’t mind taking BSN Clean Creatine, but it’s just too expensive at the moment. There are better advanced creatine blends on the market that are more cost effective, so I can’t recommend BSN Clean Creatine.
When the price drops, Clean Creatine could be a great option for an advanced creatine blend, but until then hold off on buying it.
- Ingredient Quality
- Price and Availability
- Ease of Use
- Safety
BSN has a brand-new advanced creatine product designed to provide strength, endurance, and performance: Clean Creatine.
I’ve taken creatine for years and have seen dozens of different blends, all claiming to be the best in new technology.
The only way to really know if these premium creatine products are worth it is to take an in-depth look and the ingredients and cost.
What’s In It?
Clean Creatine contains a blend of 3 different creatine forms, along with a few other natural extracts.
Before we look at each ingredient, let’s go over the basics behind creatine.
Creatine is a naturally-occurring amino acid used to increase strength and muscle size. During exercise, the body uses ATP as an energy source. When ATP levels are low, we are unable to continue working and experience fatigue.
The body is able to create more ATP with creatine, which is stored in the muscles. Therefore, when you reach your limit during weight training, muscles release creatine for ATP production and extra energy, helping you continue.
At least 5 grams of creatine daily has been shown in hundreds of studies to improve muscle strength and size both long and short-term. [1]
Creatine Monohydrate
This is the most basic and popular form of creatine. It’s simple to use and has the most clinical research to back it up. It’s unquestioned in the athletic world for its benefits.
Creatine Anhydrous
Anhydrous simple means without water, and creatine anhydrous is supposedly the most “pure” form of creatine available.
However, basic creatine monohydrate is already free of water, and there aren’t any studies showing a benefit to using creatine anhydrous over any other form.
Magnesium Creatine Chelate
This is a patented form of creatine also known as Creatine Magna Power. It’s relatively new and is claimed to be the most advanced creatine ever creatine.
It’s simply a combination of creatine and magnesium, which is supposedly more beneficial than plain creatine. The manufacturer claims this combinations halts the conversion of creatine into useless creatinine, preserving more creatine in the body.
The manufacturer also claims that including magnesium further accelerates the creation of ATP.
The first claim is true. During transportation to muscles, a certain amount of creatine is lost, and binding it to magnesium has been shown to preserve it. [2]
However, I was unable to find many studies examining magnesium creatine chelate, so we’re unable to say if it offers a significant advantage over traditional creatine forms.
Betaine
Betaine is a common compound that has been shown to improve the synthesis of protein and absorption by muscles. [3]
AstraGIN
This is another patented blend and contains astragalus and panax notoginseng.
The manufacturer claims several studies have shown that AstraGIN increases the rate at which other ingredients, including amino acids, are absorbed by the muscles, improving exercise recovery.
Unfortunately, while these studies are touted on the official website, with accompanying graphs, there is no information on where the studies were published. I am also unable to find a single real study about AstraGIN, which makes me wonder if the company is being honest about this research.
How Much Does It Cost?
Because it’s so new, Clean Creatine is only available through the GNC store. It costs about $50 for 500 grams.
That’s very expensive for creatine, even a premium blend. I expect the price will go down as it’s made more widely available.
So Is It Worth It?
I’m very leery about BSN Clean Creatine. It lists both monohydrate and anhydrous as separate ingredients, even though they’re basically the same thing. And there isn’t much research supporting the supposed premium creatine form.
If it was a bit cheaper, I wouldn’t mind taking BSN Clean Creatine, but it’s just too expensive at the moment. There are better advanced creatine blends on the market that are more cost effective, so I can’t recommend BSN Clean Creatine.
When the price drops, Clean Creatine could be a great option for an advanced creatine blend, but until then hold off on buying it.
References
[1] Candow DG, et al. “Effect of different frequencies of creatine supplementation on muscle size and strength in young adults.” J Strength Cond Res. 2011 Jul;25(7):1831-8.
[2] Brilla LR, et al. “Magnesium-creatine supplementation effects on body water.” Metabolism. 2003 Sep;52(9):1136-40.
[3] Cholewa JM, et al. “Effects of betaine on body composition, performance, and homocysteine thiolactone.” Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition. 2013 Aug 22;10(1):39.
