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Better memory through creatine supplements
It has now been 5 years since we reported that supplementation with creatine improves memory. This was based on a trial. Now we write a message with the same meaning - but this time we base ourselves on a meta-study.
Study
Konstantinos Prokopidis, affiliated with the University of Liverpool, published a meta-study in Nutrition Reviews in which he combined and reanalyzed the results of 10 previously published randomized controlled trials.
In the trials, researchers had given healthy test subjects creatine - no, not analogues, just the real stuff - and then looked at whether this improved memory performance.
Results
Creatin supplementation improved the total score for memory function, as shown in the table below. Click on it for a larger version.
Age was an important factor in creatine's effectiveness. Among people over 65 - 'older adults' in the figure above - the effectiveness of creatine was clear as day.
The duration of supplementation varied from 1-24 weeks, the dosage from 2.2 to 20 grams per day. These variables had no influence on efficacy.
Mechanism
Prokopidis suspects that creatine supplementation primarily supplies brain cells with phosphate. This means that the brain cells have more energy. In animal experiments, administration of creatine improves the ability to absorb new information. Moreover, administration of creatine increases the curiosity of laboratory animals.
“CREB, a key transcription factor that is well established in activity-dependent plasticity, learning, and memory, is upregulated 30 minutes after creatine injection,” writes Prokopidis. [Amino Acids. 2012 Dec;43(6):2491-503.]
Source:
Nutr Rev. 2023 Mar 10;81(4):416-27.
More:
Creatine supplementation improves memory in two weeks 08.04.2018
Creatine has a similar effect in your brain as in your muscles 25.12.2013
Creatine-Q10 combination protects brain cells and lengthens lifespan: animal study 15.07.2011
Creatine extends lifespan of mice by keeping their brains young 08.10.2008
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