The effects of creatine supplementation on cognitive performance-a randomised controlled study
Sandkühler JF, Kersting X, Faust A, Königs EK, Altman G, Ettinger U, Lux S, Philipsen A, Müller H, Brauner J
BMC medicine · 16 citations
How it was studied
- Design
- Randomized controlled trial (indexed by PubMed)
- Studied in
- People
- Main outcome
- Health markers and function
Who paid for it
- Funding
- Independent funding
- Nonprofit
- Cancer Research UK
- University or hospital
- Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn
- Government
- Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
- Nonprofit
- Effective Altruism Foundation
- Nonprofit
- Effective Ventures Foundation
- Unclassified
- Paul Christiano
- Grants
- Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (2242671); Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (2242671); Cancer Research UK (S_4017)
Based on 6 listed funder(s) and full-text disclosure statement.
Publication
- Published
- 2023-11-15 · BMC Med · vol. 21 · issue 1 · p. 440
- Publisher
- BioMed Central
- Cited
- 26 citations · more than 94% of similar papers · 3.3× the field average
- Impact
- Top 10% most cited in its field
- References
- 73 works
- Access
- Open access (journal) · CC-BY
- Research areas
- Muscle metabolism and nutrition · Cardiovascular and exercise physiology · Genetics and Physical Performance
- Keywords
- Creatine, Medicine, Placebo, Creatine Monohydrate, Effects of sleep deprivation on cognitive performance, Cognition, Phosphocreatine, Creatine kinase, Randomized controlled trial, Internal medicine, Physical therapy, Physical medicine and rehabilitation, Endocrinology, Psychiatry, Energy metabolism, Pathology
- MeSH
- brain, humans, creatine, bayes theorem, double-blind method, cognition, dietary supplements
10 authors
From DE, GB
- Julia Fabienne SandkühlerUniversity of Bonn; University Hospital Bonn
- Xenia A. K. KerstingJohannes Gutenberg University Mainz; University Hospital Bonn; University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz
- Annika FaustUniversity Hospital Bonn
- Eva Kathrin KönigsUniversity Hospital Bonn
- George T. AltmanManchester University NHS Foundation Trust
- Ulrich EttingerUniversity of Bonn
Abstract
Background
Creatine is an organic compound that facilitates the recycling of energy-providing adenosine triphosphate (ATP) in muscle and brain tissue. It is a safe, well-studied supplement for strength training. Previous studies have shown that supplementation increases brain creatine levels, which might increase cognitive performance. The results of studies that have tested cognitive performance differ greatly, possibly due to different populations, supplementation regimens, and cognitive tasks. This is the largest study on the effect of creatine supplementation on cognitive performance to date.
Methods
Our trial was preregistered, cross-over, double-blind, placebo-controlled, and randomised, with daily supplementation of 5 g for 6 weeks each. We tested participants on Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices (RAPM) and on the Backward Digit Span (BDS). In addition, we included eight exploratory cognitive tests. About half of our 123 participants were vegetarians and half were omnivores.
Results
Bayesian evidence supported a small beneficial effect of creatine. The creatine effect bordered significance for BDS (p = 0.064, η2P = 0.029) but not RAPM (p = 0.327, η2P = 0.008). There was no indication that creatine improved the performance of our exploratory cognitive tasks. Side effects were reported significantly more often for creatine than for placebo supplementation (p = 0.002, RR = 4.25). Vegetarians did not benefit more from creatine than omnivores.
Conclusions
Our study, in combination with the literature, implies that creatine might have a small beneficial effect. Larger studies are needed to confirm or rule out this effect. Given the safety and broad availability of creatine, this is well worth investigating; a small effect could have large benefits when scaled over time and over many people.
Trial registration
The trial was prospectively registered (drks.de identifier: DRKS00017250, https://osf.io/xpwkc/ ).
Abstract via Europe PMC. Copyright remains with the authors or publisher (CC BY).
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