Key Takeaways

Creatine Nitrate Benefits & Safety

• Enhanced Performance: Supports greater exercise performance and muscle strength.
• Increased Muscle Mass: Shown to boost lean muscle growth in athletes.
• Cardiovascular Efficiency: Improves blood flow and oxygen delivery during workouts.
• Motivation Boost: May increase willingness to engage in high-intensity training.
• Safety Profile: Generally safe with few reported side effects, such as dizziness and headaches in rare cases.
• Preferred Choice: While creatine nitrate shows promise, creatine monohydrate remains the gold standard for proven effectiveness and safety.

Sports supplements containing creatine nitrate have been around for quite some time. The addition of creatine nitrate to the round of supplements used for building muscle and strength is emerging as part of the bedrock of training supplements. But most athletes will agree that not all supplements that contain creatine are created equal. 

Since creatine is in fact so common, it can be difficult to wade through the claims that come with the various sports supplements that are on the market. Creatine monohydrate has been around for many years, whereas creatine nitrate is a relatively new development. Many people in the world of fitness and athletics wonder which is the better supplement. 

Creatine nitrate does hold some real promise as a sports supplement. First of all, basing this supplement in creatine gives it all the advantages of the tried and true creatine monohydrate. We will see below if there are additional benefits of creatine nitrate.  What is more, since creatine is a natural chemical found in the body, it is widely accepted as a safe training supplement. Creatine nitrate just adds to the potential ways in which you can benefit from supplementing with creatine. In fact, creatine nitrate adds to the essential matrix of the biochemical make-up of muscles. 

There is still much to learn about the efficacy and safety of creatine nitrate. The addition of nitrates to creatine should theoretically provide additional benefits. We will explore this possibility in this article, which breaks down some of the intricacies of creatine nitrate, its chemical features and what makes it different from other forms of creatine. In order to get a better understanding of how to properly supplement workout nutrition, we need to know just exactly what creatine nitrate is and how it works in the body. 

What is Creatine Nitrate?

Creatine nitrate is a new form of creatine which is derived from the molecule that gives us creatine monohydrate. By binding the creatine to a nitrate molecular structure rather than to a monohydrate it is thought that creatine may be more soluble and therefore more accessible for supplementing training.  

The chemical properties of creatine nitrate combine two powerful effects that are thought to improve the overall effect of creatine as a sports supplement. It is widely known that creatine is a powerful supplement for strength training and to build endurance. Nitrates have been increasingly viewed as offering an even greater boost to the effect of other sports supplements. 

Nitrates can reduce oxygen depletion and therefore help you train longer and harder. Nitrates can also increase energy supplies to muscles for increased performance. Many athletes have already begun using nitrates in the form of dietary nitrates like those found in beet juice.  

By binding creatine to nitrates rather than monohydrates, many trainers and athletes believe we can derive a double punch to increased training abilities and increased athletic performance. One important study demonstrated that this double punch does, in fact, work. The effects of creatine toward reducing fatigue, building muscle mass, and increasing performance were increased with the addition of nitrates. The effect of nitrates on boosting mitochondrial energy levels served to enhance the already powerful effects of creatine. 

Overall, this study found that participants were able to sustain high-intensity training and athletic performance at higher degrees with the use of creatine nitrate. What is more, the study found the benefits of both creatine and nitrates were enhanced when taken together and showed greater effects than when they are taken independently. 

At this stage, it appears that there are benefits to creatine nitrate that outperform either chemical on its own. 

What are Nitrates?

Put simply, nitrates are molecules made up of a single nitrogen and three oxygen elements. Nitrogen can bind with three elements. When Nitrogen binds three oxygens it is a nitrate. When it forms a double bond and bonds with two oxygens it forms a nitrite. This may seem like a minor difference, but chemically the difference is significant since they behave differently in organic systems like the human body. 

Nitrates and nitrites are often added to foods like bacon, ham, and sausage as a preservative. Nitrates tend to ward off harmful bacteria. Nitrates add to the flavor of these types of foods since they contribute to the salty flavor. Nitrates also have the added benefit of providing the color of bacon and ham that people find appealing. 

Scientists have linked nitrates and nitrites to a risk of cancer, and this is why many people avoid foods that contain them. It is known that consuming processed meats can lead to cancer risks.

However, nitrates and nitrites are also natural components of many vegetables which are known to be healthy and pose no risk for cancer. Vegetables, in fact, are the biggest source of dietary nitrates. The level of nitrates naturally found in vegetables far exceeds what is found in processed meats. 

We also produce nitrates in our bodies. They are secreted in our saliva. Nitrates and nitrites are distributed throughout the digestive system and are found in our blood. This is part of what is known as entero-salivary circulation. Nitrates operate as natural antimicrobials in our digestive system and kill harmful pathogens like salmonella. 

While nitrates can be a problem if concentrations in drinking water are too high. They can lead to a condition called methemoglobinemia; a rare condition in which hemoglobin in the blood cannot release oxygen for the body to use. This is why drinking water is so carefully monitored and regulated. 

Dietary nitrates like those found in leafy greens and beet juice are known to help with endurance exercise. For one thing, nitrates have a tendency to relax pressure in the vascular system. This helps with circulation and the availability of oxygen for muscle performance. Thus, nitrates are favorite for athletes. For this reason, nitrates have been shown to help with high blood pressure. 

What is more, nitrates are known to boost the efficiency of mitochondria in cells and this gives us more energy. 

Creatine Nitrate vs. Creatine Monohydrate

The most well-known creatine supplement is creatine monohydrate. It has been widely researched and its effectiveness is well established. Creatine monohydrate is seen as one of the most effective sports supplements around by athletes and by the general population of sports enthusiasts. Creatine monohydrate is essentially creatine bonded with a water molecule which means creatine monohydrate is rendered accessible simply by dissolving it in water. 

One of the most obvious advantages of creatine monohydrate is that it has been so widely studied that its effectiveness and safety are solidly established. Creatine monohydrate is so well understood that it now has medical applications for helping people with things like neuromuscular diseases.

The primary benefits of creatine monohydrate as a sports supplement include:

• Builds lean muscle mass
• Improves strength and power
• Improves the capacity of high-intensity training 

Creatine nitrate is relatively new. It is a novel form of creatine and instead of simply binding creatine with a water molecule, it is bound with nitrates which alters the creatine's chemical properties and functions in the body. 

There is not as much research on creatine nitrate. It is known that it is more easily dissolved in the body than creatine monohydrate and is, therefore, more readily accessible.

Here again, there is not as much research on creatine nitrate as there is on creatine monohydrate. But from the chemical properties inherent in both creatine and the nitrate group, we can surmise some of the benefits. Essentially what you have in creatine nitrate is a combination of two ergogenic supplements in one chemical. 

The benefits of creatine nitrate include:

• Improved cardiovascular performance
• Improved power output (for high-intensity workouts)
• Enhanced oxygen flow

It appears that the combination of the known benefits of creatine with the added power of nitrates can provide a superior sports supplement. 

Some of the research on creatine nitrate does show some important benefits. While creatine nitrate has not been as well tested as creatine monohydrate, we can still make some claims about creatine nitrate that have some clinical research to back them up. It: 

• May increase exercise performance: In one study, participants were given high doses of creatine nitrate. They were then evaluated against one group that were given creatine monohydrate and another group that was given a placebo. The participants who took high doses of creatine nitrate were able to bench press a greater weight than those in the other groups.  

• May increase muscle mass: Creatine nitrate was shown to increase lean muscle mass in a 28-day study of athletes. 

• May increase motivation: Researchers provided creatine nitrate as a pre-workout supplement and a placebo a control group. The group who supplemented with creatine nitrate was more motivated to train and workout than the control group. 

Issues With Creatine Nitrate?

Creatine nitrate has been found to be generally safe. People who take creatine nitrate as a supplement have not experienced anything fundamentally different than what they experience with creatine monohydrate. 

Though the side effects that have been reported are rare, there are a few issues that have been noted:

Again, these side effects are rare. 

For more potentially dangerous issues, we have to rely on research conducted on nitrates independent of creatine nitrate. Since creatine nitrate can react with dietary amines, they can form nitrosamines which have been linked to cancer. Naturally occurring nitrates generally contain vitamin C which works as an antioxidant against the formation of nitrosamines.

It is also known that creatine reacts with nitrites under acidic conditions and may produce a chemical called N-nitrososarcosine (NSAR), This too is a carcinogen.

Creatine nitrates can often contain contaminants such as melamine and other chemicals that may disturb hormone cycles. 

Best Creatine Monohydrate Supplement

While we do see some validity in using creatine nitrate as a supplement, it remains clear that creatine monohydrate remains the preferred supplement for athletes. There is some scientific evidence in favor of creatine nitrate, but the overwhelming amount of scientific evidence to prove the effectiveness of creatine monohydrate is compelling. 

Creatine monohydrate remains the standard for sports supplements that increase stamina and build lean muscle mass. Creatine increases energy and strength in the body at the cellular level and creatine monohydrate is the best supplement to help you achieve these kinds of benefits. 

NF Sports offers Micronized Creatine as the best creatine monohydrate supplement around. This will increase your energy levels, increase oxygen and blood flow, and assist in building lean muscle. 

Wrapping Things Up

While creatine nitrate shows a great deal of promise as a sound addition to the range of sports supplements, it remains to be seen what more research will show. Creatine nitrate does contain the added benefits of nitrate as a boost to energy and oxygen flow in the bloodstream. Many athletes are already supplementing with dietary nitrates in things like beet juice. On the face of things, creatine nitrate should provide a double benefit with the combined effects of a well-established supplement like creatine with the scientifically proven benefits of nitrates. What is not known is if this combination actually does create the dual benefit we see in theory. 

There are some real concerns regarding creatine nitrate. While nitrates themselves are not the health threat people once thought they were, they can be potentially dangerous when removed from the natural systems in which they are ordinarily found. Nitrates generally occur in nature with a combination of other biochemical components that remove the dangers nitrate can pose. When combined in forms that are not well-tested, nitrate may present health hazards. 

Creatine monohydrate has been around for a long time. Athletes and people who know the ropes of sports supplements know that creatine monohydrate not only works, it is safe. And creatine monohydrate has been scientifically tested. The benefits of creatine monohydrate are scientifically proven, and safety has been established. 

For a sound creatine supplement that provides maximum benefit for competition and high-intensity training, NF Sports Micronized Creatine will give you the added energy, strength, and power you require.

Health and Safety Notice for Our Readers

At NF Sports, we're dedicated to supporting your fitness journey with high-quality, natural supplements made in an FDA-registered facility. Our content and product recommendations are for informational purposes only and are not intended as medical advice.

Consult Your Doctor: Before starting any new supplement regimen, especially if you have health concerns or conditions, consult with a healthcare professional to ensure it's safe and right for you.

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FAQs

What is creatine nitrate?

Creatine nitrate is a newer form of creatine, designed to improve solubility and absorption by binding creatine with a nitrate molecule, potentially offering enhanced benefits for strength, endurance, and muscle growth compared to traditional forms like creatine monohydrate.

How does creatine nitrate differ from creatine monohydrate?

Creatine nitrate is believed to be more soluble in water, which may enhance its absorption and effectiveness. It combines the benefits of creatine with the added advantage of nitrates, which can improve oxygen flow and energy efficiency, unlike creatine monohydrate, which is bonded with water molecules.

What are the benefits of creatine nitrate?

Benefits include improved high-intensity exercise performance, increased lean muscle mass, enhanced motivation for training, better cardiovascular performance, and possibly greater power output.

Are there any known side effects of creatine nitrate?

While generally considered safe, some users may experience dizziness, headaches, increased heart rate, or nervousness. However, these side effects are rare.