New Study Finds Creatine May Support Muscle and Memory Beyond Exercise

Speak to almost any young athlete and they are likely to be familiar with creatine.

It is among the most widely used supplements for supporting muscle recovery and retaining muscle mass, and is popular with gym-goers worldwide.

Fresh research now adds to the preliminary evidence that creatine could support both the body and the brain, including in people who do not exercise.

Although creatine may not itself trigger fat loss, early results indicate that it could slow the loss of muscle mass even in the absence of resistance training. The supplement may also offer benefits for memory and cognitive performance.

The new research appeared in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition.

Creatine, muscle mass and exercise

The trial involved 64 inactive adults aged 45 to 65. Participants were randomly assigned to receive either a placebo or a high daily dose of creatine - 10 grams - for 12 weeks.

Neither the participants nor the researchers knew who had received which treatment.

During the study, volunteers could choose whether to take part in an exercise and dietary intervention. Of the 26 people who declined that intervention, those taking creatine nevertheless increased both lean tissue mass and strength on the bench press and leg press.

This happened despite them not increasing their resistance training.

That does not, however, mean exercise is irrelevant when taking creatine. The effects were more striking among the 38 participants who altered their diet and physical activity.

After 12 weeks, the supplement was associated with a larger fall in body-fat percentage, alongside better muscular strength and endurance in bench-press and leg-press tests.

There were also indications that creatine improved cognitive function and memory-test scores in both exercisers and non-exercisers, though these findings are exploratory only.

"These findings may have important implications for middle-aged and older individuals seeking to reduce body fat while maintaining muscle mass and cognitive function," write researchers from Texas A&M University.

"[They] support contentions that creatine supplementation can help older individuals maintain muscle mass, strength, and cognitive function."

According to the researchers, this is the first study to show that adding creatine to a weight-loss programme based on exercise and diet can result in a greater reduction in body-fat percentage than diet and exercise alone.

The study's senior author, Richard Kreider, has researched creatine for more than 30 years.

He is currently chair of the scientific advisory board at Alzchem, the creatine producer that supplied the trial supplements and paid for one set of laboratory tests. The paper states that the company had no involvement in gathering, analysing or interpreting the new data.

Questions over creatine without training

The apparent advantages of creatine without exercise are contentious.

Earlier this year, Jason Mitchell, chief medical officer at healthcare company Geisinger, said on the Health vs Hype podcast that several strong studies show older people who do strength training while using creatine supplements retain more lean body mass.

However, Mitchell was not persuaded that creatine supplements are effective without exercise.

"I think sometimes you'll see influencers saying, 'take creatine and you can lose fat,' and that is not true. The reason that it works is if you're taking creatine while doing weight training, increase lean body mass and that ultimately decreases fat," said Mitchell.

"So that's one of those misconceptions."

Earlier trials of creatine supplementation without exercise have delivered inconsistent findings.

For example, a two-year randomised trial in 2019 involving approximately 200 older women found no gains in lean mass or muscle strength where there was no resistance training.

That study, however, did not directly compare resistance training with no training in the way this latest research did.

Creatine and brain function

Creatine is one of the most thoroughly researched sports and nutritional supplements, although its potential uses beyond the gym are only now becoming clearer.

When creatine surged in popularity during the 1990s, scientists had found that it could enhance athletic performance. Most of those early studies, though, examined people who trained regularly.

More recently, interest in creatine has moved beyond the gym. Developing evidence suggests it could improve brain function, memory and perhaps even mood.

"It's intriguing. It's not definitive at this point," said Mitchell about emerging data.

"Certainly there's nothing that shows improvements with dementia and that type of thing."

As Mitchell explains, the brain consumes considerable energy and contains creatine. Yet its effects on cognition remain uncertain.

"We don't have the data to say, yeah, this is something you should be taking for your brain, but I don't want to discount that. There are some studies out there," he said.

Even less certain is the dosage needed to obtain the greatest benefits.

Participants in the current study took a comparatively high amount of creatine, equal to consuming roughly 2 kilograms (4.5 pounds) of meat or fish daily. But would this be beneficial for everybody?

Creatine has become a "billion-dollar darling of the wellness aisle" as research has begun linking it with longevity. Yet supplements are costly, and they may not be effective or safe for everyone.

Online hype can easily race ahead of the available evidence, so it is important to be cautious about what a single supplement can deliver.

For now, creatine appears able to complement exercise, but it cannot replace it.

The research was published in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition.

This article was fact-checked by Rebecca Dyer and edited by Rebecca Dyer. Although we take pride in our process, we are only human. If you notice an error, please let us know.