Creatine Boosts Brain Energy

For decades, creatine has been used to help improve athletic performance by increasing the energy supply to muscle tissues, and this is one of the ways it benefits the brain too—by improving and maintaining energy supply to the brain, which requires a lot of energy.²

Here’s a fun fact: The brain consumes approximately 20 percent of the body’s energy, despite accounting for only about two percent of total body mass.³ Our neurons require a constant supply of adenosine triphosphate (ATP)—the main energy currency for all the cells in the body—and creatine is a critical component for regenerating ATP. Demands for creatine increase during times of stress, sleep deprivation, in cases of mental health conditions like depression, in neurodegenerative diseases, and with aging.^{4 5 6} Low creatine levels have been observed in cases of autism spectrum disorder, traumatic brain injury, and post-viral fatigue syndrome.⁷ Creatine serves as a fast-acting energy reserve, buffering fluctuations in ATP, helping to maintain a constant supply of energy to the brain to support healthy cognitive function, which encompasses attention, memory, decision making, creativity, reasoning, language, learning, and more.^{8 9}

In a landmark study examining the effects of creatine supplementation on cognition, researchers found that when healthy young adults took 5 grams of creatine daily for six weeks, they saw significant improvements in working memory and intelligence testing compared to those taking a placebo.¹⁰ A 2024 review and meta-analysis of 16 randomized controlled trials including 492 subjects aged 20 to 76 years old, concluded that, “evidence suggests that creatine supplementation may confer beneficial effects on cognitive function in adults, particularly in the domains of memory, attention time, and information processing speed.” The researchers also wrote the creatine supplementation “significantly” improved memory. They suggested that creatine leads to these improvements by increasing the energy supply to brain cells and improving neurotransmitter function.¹¹

Creatine can also help with mental fatigue, something nearly all of us have experienced at one time or another. One double-blind placebo-controlled study found that 8 grams of creatine daily for five days reduced mental fatigue in subjects repeatedly performing simple math calculations. The researchers noted that creatine supplementation led to increased oxygen utilization in the brain.¹²

An Aging Brain Benefits from Creatine Too

As we age, energy metabolism becomes less efficient, leaving neurons in the brain more vulnerable to stress. That’s where supplementation can help—recent research points to creatine’s potential to support neuronal energy metabolism and protect against age-related decline. The findings hint at a simple but powerful concept: when the brain’s energy systems begin to lag, creatine can bridge the gap.

A 2021 study, using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), quantified the amount of creatine consumed through a regular diet among adults aged 60 years and older, evaluating the link between dietary creatine intake and cognitive function. Creatine is found in foods like red meat and seafood. The study included 1,340 older adults (with a mean age of 71) and the results showed that those who consumed more creatine (≥0.95 g/day) had higher cognitive functioning test scores compared to those who consumed less than 0.4 g/day.¹³

A more recent 2023 meta-analysis evaluated eight randomized controlled trials involving 225 participants to investigate the effects of creatine supplementation on memory. The authors found that creatine supplementation improved memory performance in healthy individuals overall, and significantly improved memory performance in older adults (66–76 years), where the effect was notably larger compared to the younger group (11-31 years). The study also revealed that doses higher than 5 grams/daily weren’t more effective, suggesting that a daily dose of 5 grams is optimal.¹⁴

The Takeaway

By optimizing and sustaining brain energy, creatine has the ability to support cognitive function, through midlife and as we age, making a significant contribution to our overall wellbeing and quality of life. Most studies use creatine monohydrate, the same form popular among athletes, at doses of 3–5 grams per day.^{15 16} Creatine’s progression from sports supplement to brain nutrient is notable, and it’s time to tap into these newly discovered cognitive benefits!

References

1. Candow, D. G., Forbes, S. C., Ostojic, S. M., Prokopidis, K., Stock, M. S., Harmon, K. K., & Faulkner, P. (2023). "Heads Up" for Creatine Supplementation and its Potential Applications for Brain Health and Function. Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 53(Suppl 1), 49–65. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-023-01870-9
2. Candow, D. G., Forbes, S. C., Ostojic, S. M., Prokopidis, K., Stock, M. S., Harmon, K. K., & Faulkner, P. (2023). "Heads Up" for Creatine Supplementation and its Potential Applications for Brain Health and Function. Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 53(Suppl 1), 49–65. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-023-01870-9
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6. Matusch, A., Kleedörfer, S., Jayeshkumar Patel, H., Drzezga, A., Elmenhorst, D., Binkofski, F., & Bauer, A. (2024). Single dose creatine improves cognitive performance and induces changes in cerebral high energy phosphates during sleep deprivation. Scientific Reports, 14(1), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-54249-9
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9. Candow, D. G., Forbes, S. C., Ostojic, S. M., Prokopidis, K., Stock, M. S., Harmon, K. K., & Faulkner, P. (2023). "Heads Up" for Creatine Supplementation and its Potential Applications for Brain Health and Function. Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 53(Suppl 1), 49–65. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-023-01870-9
10. Rae C, Digney AL, McEwan SR, Bates TC. Oral creatine monohydrate supplementation improves brain performance: a double-blind, placebo-controlled, cross-over trial. Proc Biol Sci. 2003;270(1529):2147–2150. doi:10.1098/rspb.2003.2492
11. Xu C, Bi S, Zhang W, Luo L. The effects of creatine supplementation on cognitive function in adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Front Nutr. 2024 Jul 12;11:1424972. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2024.1424972. Erratum in: Front Nutr. 2025 Feb 17;12:1570800. doi: 10.3389/fnut.2025.1570800. PMID: 39070254; PMCID: PMC11275561.
12. Watanabe, A., Kato, N., & Kato, T. (2002). Effects of creatine on mental fatigue and cerebral hemoglobin oxygenation. Neuroscience Research, 42(4), 279–285. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0168-0102(02)00007-x
13. Ostojic SM, Korovljev D, Stajer V. Dietary creatine and cognitive function in U.S. adults aged 60 years and over. Aging Clin Exp Res. 2021 Dec;33(12):3269-3274. doi: 10.1007/s40520-021-01857-4. Epub 2021 Apr 17. PMID: 33866527.
14. Konstantinos Prokopidis, Panagiotis Giannos, Konstantinos K Triantafyllidis, Konstantinos S Kechagias, Scott C Forbes, Darren G Candow, Effects of creatine supplementation on memory in healthy individuals: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials, Nutrition Reviews, Volume 81, Issue 4, April 2023, Pages 416–427
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