What can it do for me?
Creatine Edge is perfect for anyone who exercises on a regular basis. It is beneficial for such exercises as riding a bike, lifting weights, Tae Bo, kickboxing and virtually any competitive sport. Creatine Edge fuels your muscles, providing constant energy to help maintain your intensity. Your muscles just don’t get tired as fast as they normally would, giving you the opportunity to go harder for a longer period of time. In short, Creatine Edge gives you a safe, effective tool to help you reach your fitness and body transformation goals. This product is most effective for those wishing to gain strength and a more fit appearance without gaining weight.
Creatine provides your muscles with energy to do work. This is accomplished by replenishing ATP stores within the muscle. Though your body produces creatine naturally, the stores of this amino acid derivative are depleted during exercise. By using Creatine Edge, you give your body a more efficient means of replenishing its muscular energy stores.

Creatine Edge is a patented formulation that provides your body with the most efficient means of creatine supplementation, and does so without any carbohydrates, calories or artificial coloring. This innovative formula has been proven at a leading university to be over 4 times more absorbable than regular creatine monohydrate, the form used in virtually every other creatine product currently available to the consumer.

Advantages vs. other creatine products
The most popular creatine on the market today is creatine monohydrate. This is simply because it was the first creatine to become popular in the early 1990’s. As the evolution of creatine began to speed up through the 90’s, it became apparent that along with creatine monohydrate came a slew of side effects that include all of the following:

In 1997, FSI’s V.P. of Research, Joe Carnazzo, R.Ph., invented and patented effervescent creatine. This formulation does not use creatine monohydrate, but instead, a proprietary form of creatine citrate. This product revolutionized the creatine industry, as it rid users of all of the side effects listed above due to its increased bioavailability.

This invention leaves any other creatine product on the market obsolete. Below is a list of creatine forms currently on the market and the problems in using them.

Pure Creatine Monohydrate
Creatine monohydrate was found to be only 20% in absorbable form after 20 minutes in water, compared to 92% for FSI’s patented technology. This from a recent university study. Don’t let the phrases “muscle uptake” and “assimilation” confuse you. The uptake of creatine into muscle can only take place after the creatine has been absorbed through the intestine walls into the bloodstreams. What this study shows is that if you take a 10-gram serving of creatine monohydrate, regardless of what additives are included in the product, only 2 grams will even be available for muscle uptake, or assimilation.

In addition, because 80% of creatine monohydrate is not in an absorbable form for the body, it simply sits in the stomach drawing water from the bloodstream in an attempt to break it down. This simply doesn’t work and instead causes the body to become dehydrated, which leads to all of the side effects listed above, most common of which is diarrhea.

Creatine Monohydrate with High Amounts of Dextrose
The creation of these products was based on published research using high amounts (up to 96 grams) of dextrose in order to cause a large insulin spike to increase creatine muscle uptake. The problem with this is three-fold. First, it doesn’t solve the original problem of creatine bioavailability, which we have already addressed. The intestine must first absorb creatine before the muscle can assimilate it.

Second, taking sugar in these high amounts leads to both weight gain, attributed to fat gain, and the danger of pancreatic damage associated with long term use.

Third, this concept is based on outdated research. A more current published study concluded that creatine muscle uptake is dependent on sodium, but not insulin¹. If its not dependent on an insulin spike, why take the sugar in the first place??!!

Creatine liquids or serums
FSI has had virtually every liquid and serum creatine product on the market tested for stability, and to date none have come even close to passing label claims. In fact, the leading serum brand was found to have less than 2% of the 5 grams it claimed to have per serving. The remainder was found to be creatinine, a dangerous by-product of creatine conversion.

Creatine Gel Caps
These products use creatine monohydrate in a gel tablet or capsule. This will not help the bioavailability or absorption rate of creatine monohydrate.

Creatine Citrate in water
This sounds half-way plausible. Unfortunately, it again doesn’t solve the problem of creatine bioavailability or stability.

Creatine Citrate has been found to be more soluble, or water dispersible, than creatine monohydrate. However, soluble does not equal bioavailable to the body. The definition of these words are below according to Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary:

Soluble - susceptible of being dissolved in or as if in a liquid and especially water.

Bioavailability - the degree and rate at which a substance (as a drug) is absorbed into a living system or is made available at the site of physiological activity.

As you can see, because a substance is soluble, that does not make it more available to the body to be absorbed. Many companies in this industry try to confuse you with buzzwords such as “soluble”, “transport”, and “assimilation” in order to hide the inferiorities of their creatine products and their fundamental problem….bioavailability.

Yet another problem with Creatine Citrate lies in its stability. A university study looked at the conversion rates of regular creatine citrate in water and FSI’s proprietary form of creatine citrate in effervescent form. What this study found was that creatine citrate in water has an exceptionally quick and almost instantaneous conversion to creatinine once it is introduced into water. However, FSI’s technology is 100% stabile for up to 30 days in solution..

Furthermore, creatine citrate in water does not afford creatine any protection once it is ingested into the stomach. The acidic environment of the stomach can quickly damage both creatine monohydrate and creatine citrate once ingested, converting it to the dangerous by-product creatinine. These forms of creatine can sit in the stomach for an hour or longer, the whole time being exposed to this volatile environment.

FSI’s technology affords creatine a buffered solution to protect it from this acidic environment once it enters the stomach. In addition, the PH shift caused by the effervescence causes a quick “dumping” of the stomach contents to the small intestine. Here, the danger ceases and the absorption process of free creatine ion can begin through the intestinal walls to the bloodstream.

 Willot, C.A., Young, M.E., Leighton, B., Kemp, G.J., Boehm, E.A., Radda, G.K., Clarke, K. 1999. Cratine uptake in isolated soleus muscle: kinetics and dependence on sodium, but not on insulinn. Acta Physiol. Scand. 166. 99-104

University Bioavailability Profile
According to the recommendation of the FDA Generic Drugs Advisory Committee, the use of dissolution testing is an in vitro surrogate marker for bioavailability.¹

A recently concluded study at a major, independent university was done comparing the in vitro dissolution profiles of FSI's patented effervescent creatine technology to regular creatine monohydrate. The 2-year study revealed that 92% of FSI's formulation was available in absorbable form after 20 minutes as compared to only 20% in the case of creatine monohydrate.

Furthermore, regular creatine monohydrate in effervescent form was also profiled in the dissolution testing. There was no significant difference in absorbable form when comparing creatine monohydrate in water and creatine monohydrate in effervescent form. Only FSI's patented technology showed the large increase in bioavailability within 20 minutes.

AAPS Newsletter; American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists: Alexandria, VA February 1994; Vol. -, pp 1-3

Independent Stability Analysis of FSI's Patented Effervescent Creatine Technology

Random product samples were sent to Alpha Chemical and Biomedical Laboratories, one of the most well respected independent laboratories in the world. The conducted research examined FSI’s patented effervescent creatine’s conversion to creatinine at a refrigerated temperature of 2-8 degrees Celsius. The data reveal that this patented formula is 100% stabile up to 30 days in solution. 

ALPHA Method:
CE101: Sample Preparation
CE221: Creatine and Creatinine in Finished Product by Capillary Electrophoresis (CE)

Non-Insulin Dependent Muscle Uptake
For years it was assumed that a significant insulin spike was necessary for creatine transport and assimilation into the muscle. However, a recent study found that creatine uptake in muscle is dependent on sodium, but not on insulin.¹ This finding reinforces what FSI has always maintained: It is not necessary to combine creatine with large amounts of sugar (i.e. dextrose) for uptake into the muscle.

 Willot, C.A., Young, M.E., Leighton, B., Kemp, G.J., Boehm, E.A., Radda, G.K., Clarke, K. 1999. Cratine uptake in isolated soleus muscle: kinetics and dependence on sodium, but not on insulinn. Acta Physiol. Scand. 166. 99-104

Body Absorption and Assimilation Process
FSI’s patented formulation provides 92% absorbability of free creatine ion molecules, ready for absorption by the small intestine. Once absorbed, the creatine is shuttled to the muscle and penetrates the cell membrane via the sodium molecular mechanism provided in this patented formula. The creatine is then assimilated by the body to help delay muscular fatigue and speed muscle recovery. Creatine Edge provides all of this without the use of carbs, calories or the traditional loading phase.

Scientific Overview
The patented effervescent creatine technology that FSI invented has really taken its place both physiologically and innovatively. The aggressive approach to not only learn more about the molecular structure of creatine and its bioavailability state, but how to alter the fundamental process in terms of absorption only shows the true expertise and determination of FSI’s research team.

The finished product not only increases supplemental creatine efficiency, but also further enhances its known benefits. This efficient absorption eliminates the common gastrointestinal distress typically caused by creatine monohydrate when the stomach attempts to dissolve the compound into a free creatine, absorbable ion. Furthermore, an obvious conclusion can be deduced that with increased bioavailability comes a decrease in the amount of supplemental creatine that must be consumed. For the average consumer, this leads to a decrease in the amount of creatine ingested and a significant decrease in cost per gram assimilated.

Supplement Facts Serving Size 1packet per 12 oz  Servings per container 20 (10 gram packets) Amount  Per Packet % Daily Value* Vitamin C (as Ascorbic Acid) 60 mg 100% Vitamin B12 (as Cyanocobalamin) 6 mcg  100% Sodium (as Sodium Bicarbonate) 250 mg  10% Potassium (as Potassium  Bicarbonate) 200 mg   6% Creatine (as di-Creatine Citrate) 5000 mg ­   * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000-calorie diet ­ Daily Value not established.