Creatine Supplementation and Brain Health

Abstract

There is a robust and compelling body of evidence supporting the ergogenic and therapeutic role of creatine supplementation in muscle. Beyond these well-described effects and mechanisms, there is literature to suggest that creatine may also be beneficial to brain health (e.g., cognitive processing, brain function, and recovery from trauma). This is a growing field of research, and the purpose of this short review is to provide an update on the effects of creatine supplementation on brain health in humans. There is a potential for creatine supplementation to improve cognitive processing, especially in conditions characterized by brain creatine deficits, which could be induced by acute stressors (e.g., exercise, sleep deprivation) or chronic, pathologic conditions (e.g., creatine synthesis enzyme deficiencies, mild traumatic brain injury, aging, Alzheimer's disease, depression). Despite this, the optimal creatine protocol able to increase brain creatine levels is still to be determined. Similarly, supplementation studies concomitantly assessing brain creatine and cognitive function are needed. Collectively, data available are promising and future research in the area is warranted.

Keywords: brain injury; cognition; concussion; dietary supplement; phosphorylcreatine.

Figure 1

Dietary creatine is transported through the blood–brain barrier via a creatine transporter. Astrocytes cells can also endogenously produce creatine, which is taken up by the neurons expressing the creatine transporter. Cr: creatine; PCr: phosphocreatine; Gly: glycine; Arg: arginine; AGAT: L-ariginine: glycine amidinotransferase; GAA: guanidinoacetate; GAMT: guanidinoacetate methyltransferase, SAM: S-adenosylmethionine; CreaT: Cr transporter. Created with BioRender.com.