How Much Dextrose Do You Mix With Creatine for Bodybuilding?

The world of sports nutrition is a multi-billion dollar industry. In a world of gimmicks, creatine has proven itself to be a successful modulator for increasing muscular strength and muscular size in hundreds of clinical studies. When taken in conjunction with dextrose, the bio-availability dramatically increases, meaning the body absorbs it better.

What Is Dextrose?

Registered dietitian Gordon Wardlaw states that dextrose is an interchangeable term for glucose or blood sugar. It is one of the most abundant simple sugars in your body but you do not generally consume pure glucose. In supplements, dextrose is derived from corn starch and your body sees it as essentially the same as human glucose.

What is Creatine?

Creatine is a non-nitrogen containing amino acid that is made by the human body from the amino acids arginine, glycine and methionine. Over 90 percent of your creatine is held within the muscles. Although the body produces its own creatine, the consumption of creatine in the form of a supplement helps increase the muscle cells creatine content. The "Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition" states that higher levels of creatine are linked to increased muscular strength and muscle size 3.

Digestion Physiology

Dextrose causes a fast increase in blood sugar which subsequently causes the body to release insulin to normalize blood sugar. The insulin then pulls the dextrose, creatine into the muscle at a faster rate. Creatine by itself, does not cause a release of insulin, which would decrease its ability to be absorbed.

Dextrose and Creatine

Several studies have been performed, testing how much dextrose is needed for increased creatine absorption. Researchers at Baylor University in Texas tested whether varying amounts of dextrose affected creatine's absorption. Results showed that the group consuming 18 g of dextrose with creatine had greater increases in absorption and retention than the group consuming 5 g of dextrose with creatine, according to "Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition. 3"

Anabolic Edge

The main goal of a bodybuilder is to gain muscle. Creatine can help with this but there are methods that can cause greater increases in muscle mass. Researcher Jay Hoffman presented data in various journal articles asserting that the consumption of 35 g of dextrose with 6 g of essential amino acids, such as leucine, isoleucine, methionine, was shown to increase protein synthesis by 200 percent. For a bodybuilder, adding creatine to the 35 g dextrose and 6 g essential amino acid mixture, promotes more muscle mass than if you used creatine and dextrose alone because of the muscle-building effects of the nine essential amino acids.