Effects of Creatine Supplementation on Brain Function and Health.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Narrative review without systematic search or meta-analytic methodology
PubMed 35267907 · doi:10.3390/nu14050921
What was done
Narrative review summarizing literature on creatine and guanidinoacetic acid (GAA) supplementation regarding total brain creatine and phosphorylcreatine (PCr) content, cognitive performance (specifically during sleep deprivation), symptoms following mild traumatic brain injury or concussion, depression, and neurodegenerative disorders.
What was found
The abstract reports no numerical values, sample sizes, or effect estimates. It qualitatively reports that creatine and GAA can increase brain creatine concentrations in humans, shows potential promise for mitigating symptoms of concussion, mild traumatic brain injury, and depression, but notes a lack of evident effect on neurodegenerative diseases.
Why it matters
Synthesizes early evidence on non-muscular applications of creatine, identifying neurological and psychiatric contexts where brain bioenergetic support may warrant further clinical investigation.
Limits
As a narrative review, it lacks a systematic search protocol, risk of bias assessment, or quantitative pooling. The underlying human literature is explicitly characterized as small and preliminary, and the abstract provides no specific outcome metrics or dosing details.
Cited by
- context Approximately 6% of the body's total creatine stores are located in the brain.