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Quote (nematic @ April 03 2002,12
3)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">On a related issue I would like to submit my recipe for creatine "tea." It isn't really tea. Think of it as just a hot beverage. As you all probably know creatine isn't chemically stable in acidic environments like real tea (tannic acid) or the stomach (HCl) and is converted to creatinine.
1/2 tea baking soda
75 grams creatine
75 grams sugar (glucose best, but table sugar will do).
Put everything in a coffee grinder and turn into what looks like flour (home made "micronized"
Mix 2 teaspoons in a cup of warm water.
Makes 37, 2 gram servings. (1 Serving = 1 teaspoons)
The baking soda raises the pH to about 8.2 at which creatine is stable. A Japanese patent found creatine stable is solution at pH=8.3 for months. More baking soda won't raise the pH and makes the "tea" taste worse. I prefer to take it on an empty stomach so that it passes rapidly into the digestive tract before it can break down. Creatine is soluble is water (see the CRC Handbook), just not real soluble, so use warm water.[/QUOTE]<span id='postcolor'>
Creatine degradation to creatinine is a spontaneous non-enzymatic reaction.
Creatine is favours high pH and low tempertures, whilst creatinine favours higher temps and lower pH.
If you are going to worry about the "small" conversion of creatine to creatinine in an acidic soilution for 1-2hours max, then you should also worry about the temp of the solution, thereby making the 'tea' in cold water would be better.
To quote a review on the subject (1) "Starting with pure Creatine solution, 1.0-1.3% of the creatine per day is converted to creatinine at pH 7.0-7.2 and 38degrees C."
The reaction goes both ways, so in the stomach the reaction will favour production of creatinine, but once the environmetn changes to more alkaline (as in the small intenstine) the reaction should favour creatine.
(1) Wyss and Kaddurah-Daouk. Creatine and Creatine metabolism. Physiol Rev 2000;80:1107-1213
This paper just goes on and on, with 1163 references !!!!!!