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. 2023 Sep 1;13(9):1276.
doi: 10.3390/brainsci13091276.

Dose-Response of Creatine Supplementation on Cognitive Function in Healthy Young Adults

Terence Moriarty  1 , Kelsey Bourbeau  1 , Katie Dorman  1 , Lance Runyon  1 , Noah Glaser  1 , Jenna Brandt  1 , Mallory Hoodjer  1 , Scott C Forbes  2 , Darren G Candow  3
Affiliations

Dose-Response of Creatine Supplementation on Cognitive Function in Healthy Young Adults

Terence Moriarty et al. Brain Sci. .

Abstract

To determine if creatine (Cr) supplementation could influence cognitive performance and whether any changes were related to changes in prefrontal cortex (PFC) activation during such cognitive tasks, thirty (M = 11, F = 19) participants were evenly randomized to receive supplementation with Cr (CR10:10 g/day or CR20:20 g/day) or a placebo (PLA:10 g/day) for 6 weeks. Participants completed a cognitive test battery (processing speed, episodic memory, and attention) on two separate occasions prior to and following supplementation. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) was used to measure PFC oxyhemoglobin (O2Hb) during the cognitive evaluation. A two-way repeated measures ANOVA was used to determine the differences between the groups and the timepoints for the cognitive performance scores and PFC O2Hb. In addition, a one-way ANOVA of % change was used to determine pre- and post-differences between the groups. Creatine (independent of dosage) had no significant effect on the measures of cognitive performance. There was a trend for decreased relative PFC O2Hb in the CR10 group versus the PLA group in the processing speed test (p = 0.06). Overall, six weeks of Cr supplementation at a moderate or high dose does not improve cognitive performance or change PFC activation in young adults.

Keywords: cognitive function; creatine; functional near-infrared spectroscopy; oxygenated hemoglobin; prefrontal cortex.

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Conflict of interest statement

D.G.C. has conducted industry sponsored research involving creatine supplementation and received creatine donations for scientific studies and travel support for presentations involving creatine supplementation at scientific conferences. In addition, D.G.C. serves on the Scientific Advisory Board for Alzchem and Create (companies that manufacture creatine) and as an expert witness/consultant in legal cases involving creatine supplementation. S.C.F. has received creatine donations for research purposes and serves as a scientific advisory board member. S.C.F. also sells creatine educational videos.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Relative change of PFC O2Hb responses during the first cognitive task (processing speed). O2Hb = oxyhemoglobin; PFC = prefrontal cortex.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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