Brain Health & Creatine; fact or fiction?
Hmmmm, Creatine. Although typically used as a muscle-growth, it is currently being hailed as a potential new ‘miracle’ for Brain health, particularly Dementia prevention (a risky word to use for an as-yet incurable disease). So are we quite there yet, is the reality and efficacy of creatine as good as it sounds? Let’s review Creatine’s status.
Fundamentally, Creatine is a protein that your body makes naturally (and it can be obtained from food). Its principle role is to fuel cellular energy production, and supply said fuel to muscles. So it is an energetic, which (at the time of writing this Blog Post) is being hypothesised to be able to cross the Blood-Brain-Barrier and thus potentially be applicable to the Brain’s energetic deterioration in both Traumatic Brain Injury and Alzheimer’s Disease Dementia.
However, given that its biochemical nature & effects are now being analysed for Brain health, there lurks a danger of Creatine being hailed as a ‘quick fix’ for Dementia prevention or even reversal and recovery/reversal from traumatic Brain injury; itself a potential trigger for Alzheimer’s Disease Dementia.
HOWEVER, human studies on Creatine application & efficacy for Brain health is still in its early stage infancy of research. To exemplify this, a Pilot Study published in 2025 administered 20g of Creatine Monohydrate per day to human candidates and found that over eight weeks their Brain-Creatine content increased by 11%. Whilst there was a little short-term change or improvement in list-sorting (memory) and oral reading (attention), there was no change in vocabulary, verbal skills or knowledge recall. Furthermore, the study did NOT assess quality of life improvements, and there was no blinding or no control group; thus no cause-and-effect links were established and therefore there remains little surety of whether Creatine was the definitive influencer, (changes could have been due to ‘practice effect’, placebo effect, or natural variability). Even the study’s Author said although the results was interesting, it was not proof-of-concept.
(REFERENCES: https://alz-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/trc2.70101
and these two published in 2024:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11314487/#sec8-nutrients-16-02430 )
In the interest of balance, I recently read (in a Press Release by the International Journal of Sports Nutrition [so it may have a ‘bias’ … but then again articles often do have a bias depending on their Authors, third party external interests/prejudices, funding source and sponsors etc.]) that there are 680 peer-reviewed studies “…confirming [Creatine’s] safety in … cellular energy metabolism, supporting muscle function, brain health and physiological performance.”
(REFERENCE: https://www.sportsnutritionsociety.org/PDFuploads/ISSN-PDF-Upload-394.pdf )
What I would say to this is that no one is doubting the theory that Creatine is a critical component to these things because as discussed it does feature in these aspects of systemic health and can & does come from food. It’s the emphasis on supplementing under the guise of the as-yet-unproven claim that Creatine ‘restores cognitive impairment (after traumatic Brain injury)’ or ‘prevents/cures Dementia’ which we still need to be wary of.
So, the evidence is potentially emerging, but it is not quite robust enough yet to form any definitive conclusions as to Creatine’s effectiveness for Brain health. The words “warrants careful consideration…of sufficient clinical evidence to confirm causal associations…[against] methodological limitations”, and “shows potential…may represent a first step in this context of a broader holistic approach” are all-important here. Therefore, as 99% of research papers declare in their conclusions; “more research is needed” which in this case rings true since we are not yet in a position to disregard or confirm Creatine’s usefulness and efficacy for supporting Brain health and preventing or reversing cognitive decline or neurodegenerative conditions.
Therefore, as a Registered Nutritionist I prefer to prioritise a food first approach. To this effect, here are three food sources of Creatine to support your Brain health & cognitive function:
Red meat – although this is also reasonably pro-inflammatory so do take care how frequently you indulge; one serving/portion a week is ample.
Fish – herring & salmon, (tuna is also cited, but you need to be careful with tuna as it can contain reasonably high levels of environmental & heavy metal toxins such as Mercury which are Brain-detrimental).
Poultry - try to buy organic wherever possible.
So in conclusion, at the time of writing this Blog Post I am NOT recommending Creatine as a Brain health dietary supplement. If research evolves to affirm & confirm Creatine’s positive impact on human Brain health (and benefits for neurodegenerative conditions), then please also remember that dietary supplementation should always be actioned only on a therapeutic need basis, overseen by a Registered Nutritional Therapist and a Doctor where applicable.
As I hope this post has highlighted, this is a highly complex and personalised area contributing to a much bigger picture of systemic health, so if you feel you, a friend of a family member needs bespoke and personalised support please do not hesitate to get in touch.
In the meantime, don’t forget Eat, Drink, Think Nutrition and spare a thought (no pun intended) for your Brain health. Losing your Brain power can be even more devastating to you and those around you than losing an aspect of your physical health, so why wouldn’t you start to look after your Brain right away since diet and lifestyle modifications actioned NOW could save a lot of distress and heartbreak later in life.
REMEMBER: if you are taking any medications always consult a Registered Nutritional Therapist as well as your Doctor before making significant dietary or lifestyle changes. This blog post is written for educational purposes only and in reference to ‘food’. It is NOT advocating taking dietary supplements. It is very important to please always consult a Registered Nutritional Therapist or your Doctor before introducing any dietary supplements into your health regime as these qualified professionals will be able to offer personalised recommendations.
If sleep, Brain, cognitive and/or memory are issues which you are struggling with and you want to discover the inspiring & sustainable diet & lifestyle programmes offered by Nutritional Therapy, get in touch via the Contact Me page on this website, or directly on info@eatdrinkthinknutrition.co.uk for more information about 1:2:1 Consultations with Eat Drink Think Nutrition®.
