Creatine Ethyl Ester is modified creatine monohydrate, i.e. it is creatine monohydrate that comes with an ester attached. It does what regular creatine does but there is growing anecdotal evidence from those who have switched from creatine to CEE that CEE does a better job at increasing muscle mass, muscle strength, and overall performance of bodybuilders and athletes.
The reason behind CEE’s superior performance is that it is easily absorbed through the muscle cells as it is more soluble than creatine monohydrate. This means that over the same period of time a smaller quantity of CEE is required to get ingested and absorbed by the muscular system as against creatine monohydrate. The increased bioavailability and stability means that creatine also does a better job of maintaining muscle concentrations over longer periods.
CEE has the property of being membrane permeable and therefore does not require a vehicle to reach the muscle cells. This is one of the reasons that with CEE bodybuilders do not suffer any of the “creatine bloating” that is caused by unabsorbed creatine monohydrate. Most CEE-based products recommend a dosage of less than 5 grams per day as against 20-25 grams for creatine monohydrate. If these dosage recommendations are taken at face value, it implies that CEE is a whopping 4-5 times easier to absorb than creatine monohydrate, it is also easier on the body.
CEE scores over creatine monohydrate because the esterification process which results in the addition of an ester makes CEE more lipopholic than creatine monohydrate. The increased affinity of CEE for lipids improves its absorption through cell walls. On the other hand regular creatine monohydrate sits outside the muscle cell walls and combines with the water molecules to give the infamous bloated look.
CEE offers hope to those who are either unresponsive to or cannot tolerate creatine monohydrate due to some medical condition. It may also be useful to those who suffer from multiple sclerosis but cannot ingest creatine monohydrate because they are creatine non-responders.
As mentioned above, anecdotal evidence suggests that CEE scores over creatine monohydrate as far as short term benefits are concerned but in the absence of any scientific evidence, the jury is still out on the long term advantages that CEE may have over creatine monohydrate.
It is best that you give CEE a try and find out what it does for you. You may be pleasantly surprised to find that it is just the thing you were waiting for to gain muscle mass, lose body fat, improve metabolism and muscle fiber recovery, and also get that extra push to work out harder.
