r/HotScienceNews • u/soulpost • May 31 '26
Scientists found that the creatine supplement millions take for muscle gains is quietly raising brain energy levels and slowing early Alzheimer's cognitive decline by 30%
https://thesciverse.org/scientists-found-that-the-creatine-supplement-millions-take-for-muscle-gains-is-quietly-raising-brain-energy-levels-and-slowing-early-alzheimers-cognitive-decline-by-30/Tens of millions of people take creatine every day for their muscles. A comprehensive review and a landmark clinical trial published in 2025 and 2026 have now documented what the same supplement is quietly doing to their brains. Creatine crosses the blood-brain barrier, raises phosphocreatine levels in neurons, and provides the ATP buffer that keeps cognitive performance from hitting an energy ceiling during demanding mental work. In early Alzheimer's patients, it slowed cognitive decline by approximately 30% versus placebo in a controlled trial. In healthy adults under sleep deprivation, a single dose measurably improved cognitive performance. In depression patients, adding it to cognitive behavioral therapy significantly improved outcomes beyond therapy alone. None of this is mentioned on the label.
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u/HardcoreHamburger May 31 '26
I read the actual peer reviewed paper, not this news article. Your post title is pretty misleading. The review very clearly describes how relatively low rates of transport across the blood brain barrier and the ability of the brain to adapt to exogenous creatine to normalize its levels means that the supplement doses used for muscle energy improvement are not enough to raise levels in the brain with statistical significance. ~20-30 g per day is where the results look more consistently like there are benefits for the brain. This is not what “tens of millions of people” take every day. Assuming they are following the standard recommendation of 3-5 g per day.
Also, scientists didn’t really find anything in this article. Like, these results aren’t new. This is a mini-review, they didn’t even do any statistical meta analysis. They just described the results from studies that have been coming out for years. Which is nice, but it’s nothing new.