Creatine supplementation
g/day
Creatine monohydrate taken as a daily powder, usually a few grams. Trials treat that dose as its own exposure, separate from a gym session or a multivitamin.
Most trials use creatine monohydrate, often with a short loading week and then a smaller daily dose. Inside the body it shows up as phosphocreatine in muscle and as creatine in the brain. Resistance training can change strength on its own; this page is the powder.
Also called creatine monohydrate, Cr.
Connected relationships
Randomized trial · Contested
Creatine supplementation→Cognitive performance
Higher Creatine supplementation moves Cognitive performance only in some conditions. Read the mechanism.
McMorris 2008 found that 20 g a day of creatine for one week, after a placebo week, improved random-number, recall, and long-term memory tasks versus continued placebo in 32 older adults, except backward number recall. Toniolo 2018 then found that 6 g a day as an adjunct in 18 people with bipolar depression moved only verbal fluency.
Randomized trial · Contested
Creatine supplementation→Depression
Higher Creatine supplementation moves Depression only in some conditions. Read the mechanism.
Toniolo 2019 found that 6 g a day of creatine monohydrate as an add-on for six weeks did not beat placebo on the change in Montgomery-Åsberg score among 35 people already treated for a bipolar depressive episode (P=0.560), while a secondary remission cut (score of 12 or less) favored creatine (52.9 percent versus 11.1 percent).
Randomized trial · Contested
Creatine supplementation→Muscle strength
Higher Creatine supplementation moves Muscle strength only in some conditions. Read the mechanism.
Assigned creatine raised predicted one-rep strength more than lifting alone in 45 older adults (Amiri 2023) and raised fat-free mass in a five-day load (Mihic 2000), but a two-year postmenopausal trial found no extra one-rep max (Chilibeck 2023).
Sources
- T McMorris et al. (2008). Creatine supplementation and cognitive performance in elderly individuals.
- RA Toniolo et al. (2018). Cognitive effects of creatine monohydrate adjunctive therapy in patients with bipolar depression: Results from a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.
- RA Toniolo et al. (2019). A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, proof-of-concept trial of creatine monohydrate as adjunctive treatment for bipolar depression.
- E Amiri et al. (2023). The role of resistance training and creatine supplementation on oxidative stress, antioxidant defense, muscle strength, and quality of life in older adults.
- S Mihic et al. (2000). Acute creatine loading increases fat-free mass, but does not affect blood pressure, plasma creatinine, or CK activity in men and women.
- PD Chilibeck et al. (2023). A 2-yr Randomized Controlled Trial on Creatine Supplementation during Exercise for Postmenopausal Bone Health.
- ACB Marini et al. (2024). Effect of Creatine Supplementation on Body Composition and Malnutrition-Inflammation Score in Hemodialysis Patients: An Exploratory 1-Year, Balanced, Double-Blind Design.