Creatine monohydrate pilot in Alzheimer's: Feasibility, brain creatine, and cognition
Smith AN, Choi IY, Lee P, Sullivan DK, Burns JM, Swerdlow RH, Kelly E, Taylor MK
Alzheimer's & dementia (New York, N. Y.) · 13 citations
Review labels
Neutral facts our review recorded about how this study was done. They describe method, never whether we like the result.
How it was studied
- Design
- Controlled clinical trial (classified by our AI screen)
- Studied in
- People
- Main outcome
- Health markers and function
Who paid for it
- Funding
- Possibly industry funded
- Nonprofit
- Alzheimer's Association
- Government
- National Institutes of Health
- Government
- National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences
- Nonprofit
- Alzheimer's Association
- Government
- NIA NIH HHS
- Authors
- At least one author declares a financial tie to industry
- Grants
- Alzheimer's Association (AARG-22-924314); National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (# UL1TR002366); National Institutes of Health (UL1 TR002366); National Institutes of Health (P30AG072973); National Institutes of Health (K01AG065487)
Based on 5 listed funder(s) and full-text disclosure statement.
Publication
- Published
- 2025-04-01 · Alzheimers Dement (N Y) · vol. 11 · issue 2 · p. e70101
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Cited
- 15 citations · more than 98% of similar papers · 7.5× the field average
- Impact
- Top 10% most cited in its field
- References
- 42 works
- Access
- Open access (journal) · CC-BY-NC
- Research areas
- Muscle metabolism and nutrition · Nutrition and Health in Aging · Clinical Nutrition and Gastroenterology
- Keywords
- Creatine, Creatine Monohydrate, Medicine, Dementia, Internal medicine, Cognition, Clinical endpoint, Disease, Physical therapy, Clinical trial, Placebo, Pathology, Psychiatry
8 authors
From US
- Aaron N. SmithUniversity of Kansas Medical Center
- In‐Young ChoiUniversity of Kansas Medical Center
- Phil LeeUniversity of Kansas Medical Center
- Debra K. SullivanUniversity of Kansas; Shawnee Mission Medical Center; University of Kansas Medical Center
- Jeffrey Murray BurnsUniversity of Kansas; Shawnee Mission Medical Center; University of Kansas Medical Center
- Russell Howard SwerdlowUniversity of Kansas; Shawnee Mission Medical Center; University of Kansas Medical Center
Abstract
Background
Preclinical studies suggest that creatine monohydrate (CrM) improves cognition and Alzheimer's disease (AD) biomarkers. However, there is currently no clinical evidence demonstrating the effects of CrM in patients with AD.
Methods
In this single-arm pilot trial, we investigated the feasibility of 20 g/day CrM for 8 weeks in 20 patients with AD. We measured compliance throughout; serum creatine at baseline, 4 weeks, and 8 weeks; and brain total creatine (tCr) and cognition (National Institutes of Health [NIH] Toolbox, Mini-Mental State Examination [MMSE]) at baseline and 8 weeks.
Results
Nineteen participants achieved the target of ≥80% compliance with the CrM intervention. Serum Cr was elevated at 4 and 8 weeks (p p p = .02) and fluid (p = .004) composites, List Sorting (p = .001), Oral Reading (p p = .05) tests.
Discussion
Our data suggest that CrM supplementation is feasible in AD and provides preliminary evidence for future efficacy and mechanism studies.
Trial registration
ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT05383833, registered on May 20, 2022.
Highlights
Creatine monohydrate supplementation was feasible in patients with Alzheimer's disease.Creatine monohydrate was associated with increased brain total creatine.Creatine monohydrate was associated with improvements in cognition.Efficacy of creatine monohydrate in Alzheimer's disease should be studied further.
Abstract via Europe PMC. Copyright remains with the authors or publisher (CC BY-NC).
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