A study reveals that creatine supplementation increases the performance of our brain.
- Creatine is a natural compound found in small amounts in certain foods such as red meat and fish.
- Creatine supplementation improves memory more significantly than placebo, new research suggests.
- This effect is particularly pronounced in people aged 66 to 76.
An analysis studying the effects of creatine supplements on healthy humans found that their use boosts our abilities to remember things.
The research was published in Nutrition Reviews.
Memory: why study creatine?
Creatine is a natural compound found in small amounts in certain foods such as red meat and fish. It is also produced by the body, mainly in the liver, kidneys and pancreas.
It is stored in muscles and serves as an energy source for short-duration, high-intensity activities such as sprinting or weightlifting. Because of this, creatine supplements are commonly used by athletes, bodybuilders and fitness enthusiasts to improve their performance.
Curious to know if creatine could also have an impact on the brain, the researchers screened eight studies already carried out on the subject and synthesized the results found.
Creatine has more effect on memory in older people
The results showed that creatine supplementation improved memory more significantly than placebo, and that this effect was particularly pronounced in people aged 66 to 76.
The benefits of creatine supplementation were observed regardless of participants’ gender or geographic origin.
The effects observed on memory were also similar regardless of the duration of creatine intake (between 5 days and 24 weeks, depending on the various studies analyzed by the researchers). Likewise, the dosage of creatine intake (from 2.2 to 20 grams per day) did not significantly influence the results.
Memory and creatine: the limits of the study
The study detailed in this article therefore contributes to scientific knowledge of the effects of creatine supplementation on memory functioning. However, its authors point out that the data included in the meta-analysis were produced using very different memory assessment tools, which limits the precision of the results.
The article titled “Effects of creatine supplementation on memory in healthy individuals: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials” was written by Konstantinos Prokopidis, Panagiotis Giannos, Konstantinos K Triantafyllidis, Konstantinos S Kechagias, Scott C Forbes and Darren G Candow.