Can a Creatine Supplement Make You Smarter and Happier?

If you’re into exercise supplements, you’ve probably heard of creatine. It’s an amino acid combo (glycine, methionine, and arginine) that athletes and bodybuilders use to improve exercise performance. It supplies energy to the muscles, which allows them to get better results by working harder and longer.
In this post, we look at the much-debated creatine supplement and its pros and cons.

The Creatine Affect

While creatine is mainly stored in muscles, it’s also found in the brain. Research shows that upping your levels there can up your mental performance.

Researchers are looking at it to improve memory, cognition, and even mood disorders like depression. In other words, they think creatine might make us both smarter and happier!

According to a research paper published in June 2023, creatine maintains intracellular levels of ATP (adenosine triphosphate, which plays a major role in energy production) during energy-demanding cerebral activities. Experts believe it plays an important role in energetically demanding cognitive tasks involving learning and memory. (1)

There are other clues suggesting that creatine affects the ability to think and reason:

1. Creatine has demonstrated a neuroprotective effect against beta-amyloid toxicity (as seen in Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative conditions). (1)
2. Studies have shown a positive correlation between brain creatine levels and “recognition memory” and that supplementing reduces mental fatigue on a serial calculation task. (2)
3. Syndromes involving brain creatine depletion are characterized by major mental and developmental disorders, including mental retardation, learning delays, autism, and seizures. These disorders may be partially reversed by creatine supplementation. (3)
4. A recent study of 45 vegetarians and vegans showed that “increasing creatine intake by oral supplementation resulted in improved brain function, similar to effects shown previously in muscle and heart.” (2)

Can a Creatine Supplement Make You Smarter and Happier?

Yes! It seems that increasing our creatine levels can make us smarter!

If you’re into exercise supplements, you’ve probably heard of creatine. It’s an amino acid combo (glycine, methionine, and arginine) that athletes and bodybuilders use to improve exercise performance. It supplies energy to the muscles, which allows them to get better results by working harder and longer.

While creatine is mainly stored in muscles, it’s also found in the brain. And research is showing that upping your levels there can up your mental performance. Researchers are looking at it for improving memory, cognition, and even mood disorders like depression.

In other words, they think creatine might make us both smarter and happier!

What the research says when it comes to taking a creatine supplement

According to a research paper published in June 2023, creatine maintains intracellular levels of ATP (adenosine triphosphate, which plays a major role in energy production) during energy-demanding cerebral activities. Experts believe it plays an important role in energetically demanding cognitive tasks involving learning and memory. (1)

There are other clues suggesting that creatine affects the ability to think and reason:

1. Creatine has demonstrated a neuroprotective effect against beta-amyloid toxicity (as seen in Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative conditions). (1)
2. Studies have shown a positive correlation between brain creatine levels and “recognition memory” and that supplementing reduces mental fatigue on a serial calculation task. (2)
3. Syndromes involving brain creatine depletion are characterized by major mental and developmental disorders, including mental retardation, learning delays, autism, and seizures. These disorders may be partially reversed by creatine supplementation. (3)
4. A recent study of 45 vegetarians and vegans showed that “increasing creatine intake by oral supplementation resulted in improved brain function, similar to effects shown previously in muscle and heart.” (2)

It seems that increasing our creatine levels can make us smarter!

Researchers are also investigating creatine’s potential role in depression for several reasons (1):

1. Many researchers consider creatine to be a neurotransmitter.
2. Taking creatine can increase levels of BDNF, which is known to have antidepressive effects.
3. Low concentrations of creatine are associated with a lower release of ATP, which is believed to promote symptoms of depression.

It looks like keeping our creatine levels up could have the same effect on our moods.

Are vegans and vegetarians creatine-deficient?

The liver, pancreas, and kidneys produce between one and two grams of creatine per day (4), and the brain produces it as well. We get the rest from our diet, mainly from animal products like meat, seafood, and dairy.

This suggests that vegetarians and vegans may have lower levels than omnivores – but this may not be the case.

Rae et al. (2) suggest that the synthesis of creatine may be upregulated in vegetarians. In other words, vegetarians may produce creatine at a faster rate. Transportation may also be affected, as chronic ingestion of creatine results in downregulation of the creatine transporter. So it’s possible that our amazing bodies make up for the low level of animal products in a plant-based diet.

How much is good for your brain?

Unfortunately, researchers have not determined how much creatine the brain needs. The way it works in the body is complicated, and its effects are further influenced by things like sleep deprivation and mental fatigue.

Even sex may play a role. When cognitively impaired rats were given creatine, the memory and learning abilities of the females improved. The males were not so lucky. (1)

Nevertheless, Rae et al. expect that most omnivores, apart from those who consume very high amounts of meat, could improve their brain performance by taking creatine supplements. (2) Various doses are mentioned in the literature, with most ranging between 5g and 20g daily. At 20g, some researchers recommend taking breaks, as the long-term effects of supplementation haven’t been determined. With the 5g dose, you might need to stay on it for a while before you notice any benefits.

According to the folks at the Mayo Clinic (4), combining creatine with caffeine may reduce the effects of the creatine. And using it with more than 300 mg of caffeine could worsen the progression of Parkinson’s disease.

The bottom line

If you want to play it safe, you could add some high-creatine foods to your diet. Of course, most of these are from animal sources. If you’re on a plant-based diet, you can maximize your body’s creatine production by getting plenty of glycine, methionine, and arginine (the three amino acids that makeup creatine) from your food. The internet is full of resources to help you figure out the best ways to do that.

Why not give it a try? It just might make you smarter and happier!

References

1. Candow, D.G., Forbes, S.C., Ostojic, S.M. et al. “Heads Up” for Creatine Supplementation and its Potential Applications for Brain Health and Function. Sports Med (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-023-01870-9

2. 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 Oct 22;270(1529):2147-50. doi: 10.1098/rspb.2003.2492. PMID: 14561278; PMCID: PMC1691485.

3. Roschel H, Gualano B, Ostojic SM, Rawson ES. Creatine Supplementation and Brain Health. Nutrients. 2021 Feb 10;13(2):586. doi: 10.3390/nu13020586. PMID: 33578876; PMCID: PMC7916590.

4. https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements-creatine/art-20347591