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Creatine raise brain energy levels and slow Alzheimer's cognitive decline by 30%

https://thesciverse.org/scientists-found-that-the-creatine-supplement-millions-take-for-muscle-gains-is-quietly-raising-brain-energy-levels-and-slowing-early-alzheimers-cognitive-decline-by-30/
87•MrJagil•1h ago

Comments

adamking•31m ago
Creatine is one of the few supplements I actually notice a difference if I quit taking. Happy to see it’s benefits extend to beyond performance in the gym.
unshavedyak•22m ago
What sort of differences beyond gym related?
j45•19m ago
After 10g or so, the excess starts going to the brain which helps quite a bit with brain energy.
ravenstine•16m ago
Funny because I'm not sure I quite notice it immediately when I stop taking it, presumably since the body retains a certain amount of it. But I definitely notice a difference when taking it the first day after not having had it a little while, especially when taking 20+ grams a day. It gives me so much mental energy and alertness that I won't get a whole lot of sleep, but the next day I end up feeling just fine. If I remember correctly, there have been at least 2 studies that suggested high doses of creatine reduce the side effects of suboptimal sleep, and that definitely seems to be the case in my experience.
boredemployee•8m ago
Isn't 20+ grams a day a lot for the kidneys? genuine question
Mistletoe•11m ago
I feel like it makes me feel like crap and my brain weird every time I try it and searching my spreadsheet shows this effect many times when I forget and read something like the above article and try it again. Anyone else feel like this?
davidmurdoch•4m ago
> searching my spreadsheet

What does this mean?

cj•30m ago
Direct link to the study: https://jpbs.hapres.com/htmls/JPBS_1766_Detail.html

I wanted to check the dosages they used. Looks like the review includes studies ranging from 5g/day to 20-25g/day.

(Typical dosage you'll see for daily use is 5 grams)

SoftTalker•15m ago
I use it as a supplement because I do weightlifting. 5g/day. I did 20g/day for a week once, and didn't notice it made any difference, so I'm back to 5g now. In terms of stuff like memory, mood, etc. I can't say it's made any improvement but the idea that it might be helping prevent decline is nice.
542458•14m ago
Worth noting that early studies often use large doses (for safe substances) because the study isn’t about at what dose the effect happens, it’s about whether the effect exists at all (and for that purpose generally more is more). I’d expect future work to dial in on exactly how much you really need.
gardnr•12m ago
Just in case anyone is thinking about trying it: 25g seems pretty high. It’s worth it to review what that means for the rest of your body before starting this regime. Kidneys are really useful organs to have working.
SoftTalker•9m ago
Yes, the labeling does caution against using it if you have kidney disease. Not sure how much of a risk there is if your kidneys are functioning normally. Maintaining good hydration is always a good idea.
manishsharan•28m ago
How do you take Creatine ? And how much for what age group and weight?
OutOfHere•25m ago
I take 3-5g of creatine monohydrate in a glass of water. People usually take it with their protein shake, which for me contains a 30g serving of Organic low-sodium pea protein powder.

If I take creatine too late in the day, it definitely wrecks my sleep. It is good when taken as early in the day as possible.

As for the age group, I think it could be fine for anyone who is 18 or older.

As for a second dose, that's of possible value for intense exercise, but again be mindful of insomnia.

Note that some sensitive brains, e.g. those with excitotoxicity/inflammation pressure/headache/migraine issues, may not always tolerate creatine well. Such people need to fix their underlying brain issue first before using creatine.

CalRobert•25m ago
It's often a powder you can mix in to a drink. 5g a day for an adult is pretty normal.
gchamonlive•25m ago
Im 34, 72kg, I take 5g a day. White powder I mix in water, tastes like nothing and has a sandy texture I dislike a bit, but you get used to it.

There is the build up period where you take a higher dose for a week, 8g, in order to saturate the body faster.

cmckn•24m ago
I dissolve it in my coffee every morning, it’s flavorless. I believe 5 grams is the standard dose, it’s about a teaspoon.

I wouldn’t bother with the “loading phase” you often see recommended online. Just be consistent.

pillefitz•27m ago
Unfortunately, I get terribly tired and brain-fogged from even small quantities. Anyone else experienced this?
xeromal•23m ago
I haven't heard of that but I know creatine causes loads of water absorption. I wonder if you're borderline dehydrated and creatine pushes you over the limit.
ck2•17m ago
The water retention can be avoided with low-dose creatine which still has some benefits in studies

Instead of 5grams/day like 2grams/day

You can also spread it out during the day to avoid retention, 1000mg x 4 or x 2

Creatine is also a precursor to SAM-e which is a natural antidepresant

dc_giant•20m ago
Be sure it’s pure creatine, they often mix in all kinds of shit. I take creapure just to be sure.
beacon294•15m ago
Just buy 95% creatine monohydrate. This is the most common formulation, but others do exist.
SoftTalker•11m ago
I use Creapure (a/k/a "German Creatine")as well. Always hard to know with supplements but Creapure seems to be legit. Also use creatine monohydrate not creatine HCL. Monohydrate is harder to disolve so use warm water (I put mine in my coffee) but it's the one that's been studied the most and has the most documented evidence.
bmmurphy•25m ago
The article's entirely AI-generated; not necessarily untrue but may not have been fully reviewed by an editor.
narmiouh•17m ago
What did you use to determine this?

Ask because many of the online tools I've tried, they will sometimes tag what I've written at 30-40% AI written and sometimes purely AI written stuff is flagged as 60-70% AI

zug_zug•12m ago
To be clear you're not alleging the journal article published in Journal and Brain Psychiatry is ai-generated right.
cheschire•23m ago
Feels like a sign of the times that I expect half the comments here to be paid astroturfing about how amazing creatine is.
beacon294•17m ago
Creatine is $10 at Walmart, I don't think they are paying for astroturfing. It's a chemical like salt.
computerphage•16m ago
That strikes me as a really poorly calibrated expectation. Who benefits? Who's paying? How could I get this job?
pydry•14m ago
You tend to see that more for the more high margin and branded supplements.

The profit margins on creatine are not high.

computerphage•13m ago
Do you?? Show me an HN thread where half the comments are paid for
pydry•2m ago
Prove to me first that you can accurately detect what is and isn't a not.
king_zee•13m ago
aatd86•21m ago
I feel like crap when taking creatine... Actually most of these purported supplements are a no go. Preworkouts would work first session then make me ultra tired, caffeine is fine as long as I 'cycle' it...

Wondering strongly if those studies are not just to sell more cheap supplements... As long as for some reason we find that it has some level of effect on most people.

It has some effect for sure but not sure it is that positive... Besides, I don't know if it helped jump start the process or not but I build muscle either way, on little protein, no creatine... Carbs seem to be more important actually.

Anyway, let me take a scoop of creatine to try again, even though I am unconvinced... Hope sells... :s

(I think hydration levels are more important and that is not solved by drinking low mineralized water although I find it has better taste, it gets rid of tiredness)

OutOfHere•17m ago
What precisely does it mean to "feel crap"? Is that how you would describe it to a doctor? You seem to also be making broad generalizations. Overall your comment is providing zero insight whatsoever wrt creatine.

In my experience, those with creatine intolerance, especially if assuming it's not taken late in the day, have unresolved excitotoxicty/inflammation/pressure/headache/migraine issues in their brain.

Also, be mindful with blends as they can be fairly dangerous. It's best to get an isolated creatine monohydrate product that is not a blend.

piskov•16m ago
Try micronised (even finer powder, maxxwell has them) or even in jelly gummy form.

I take 7.5 g every day for a couple of years now and what I definitely noticed is much lower sugar cravings during hard programming days: previously I would eat almost one chocolate every day.

Though YMMV, as I also bench press 140 kg.

mfro•12m ago
ck2•14m ago
not sure if I got it from here or reddit but someone made an automated site that gathers all published creatine studies

https://creatine-sandy.vercel.app/

snitzr•13m ago
I took a normal dose of creatine and I went crazy after a few days. Tried it again and the same thing happened. Very irritable. I wasn't taking anything else. It's well tolerated, but not by everyone.
WhitneyLand•12m ago
The article made up the claim it’s not from the paper itself.

There was some improvement in cognitive scores, but no placebo group. Without a placebo group, there are a lot of explanations for the data.

zug_zug•3m ago
>> Recently, a pilot study (single-arm) by Smith et al., recruited 20 patients (73 years of age) with AD and provided them with 20 grams/day of CrM for 8 weeks [20]. Serum creatine levels were increased at weeks 4 and 8 (p < 0.001), and total brain creatine levels (as measured by H-MRS) increased by 11% (p < 0.001). Clinically, there were demonstrated improvements in cognition on global (p = 0.02) and fluid composites (p = 0.004), as well as List Sorting (p = 0.001), Oral Reading (p < 0.001) and Flanker tests (p = 0.05).

Yeah 20 patients is not a lot. I'm inferring this is a pre-post test. However some of those p-values are pretty good (.001 on reading and and sorting). Very promising pilot study but not conclusive imo.

suzzer99•7m ago
Peter Attia is a crap human being for being buddies with Epstein after most of his crimes were already known.

But I still trust his analysis more than anyone else at dissecting this kind of stuff and separating the wheat from the chaff. I'll be curious to see if he covers this.

dakolli•6m ago
I have bad central sleep apnea, and regardless of CPAP I still end up with poor quality sleep unfortunately. I was on stimulants like Modafinil and Ritalin for over a decade, which comes at a huge cost physically, mentally and psychologically. Its the only supplement I take other than Vitamin D, I'm not some freak biohacker.

I've completely replaced stimulant use with 15g of Creatine a day, and 25-30g on days when I feel especially sleep deprived. It has actually changed my life. I decided to try this after reading this paper and will never go back: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-024-54249-9

There's lots of interesting literature on Creatine starting to be published.

el_benhameen•6m ago
Curious if anyone has had hair issues while taking it. I’m aware that there’s no positive evidence for an effect, but there is an at least plausible mechanism. I’ve gone through two periods where I took it and liked the effects, but felt like I shed way more hair and stopped due to that.
softwaredoug•5m ago
I take 10 g a day and have maybe noticed muscles seem to bulk more after a hard strength workout. But other than that I feel about the same.
koinedad•5m ago
Interesting, I also noticed thinning
traviswingo•5m ago
I wonder how long it’ll take this thread to become a proxy of r/creatine.
brunooliv•3m ago
Side question: I've always been a recreational runner, running 3/4x a week, completed a few half marathons, and recently decided to _also_ go to the gym to do strength training as it has a lot of benefits for runners too. Should I consider/take creatine, is it useful?
ai_fry_ur_brain•3m ago
This is a myth, its not bad for your kidneys. The reason this gets spread is because you will have higher levels of creatine in your urine if your Doctor tests your urine for kidney function, which indicates kidney disease.

However, If you reveal to that doctor that you're supplementing Creatine it will not be concern them.

stouset•19m ago
It’s a flavorless powder you mix into a drink. It unfortunately doesn’t really dissolve, so it can be a little grainy if taken with water but it’s mostly flavorless so outside of that you wouldn’t notice it.

5g/day is the general recommendation and most packaging will come with an appropriately sized scoop, notably this is one of the rare ones where dose doesn’t seem to be adjusted by age or bodyweight. I presume because it’s cheap, well-studied, and there don’t appear to be downsides for overdoing it. They’re testing it at up to and possibly above 25g/day for Alzheimer’s.

Some people recommend a higher “loading” dose for the first two weeks to build up reserves in your body more quickly, but if the goal is to start taking it daily, this is really unnecessary.

ravenstine•12m ago
> there don’t appear to be downsides for overdoing it

There may or may not be a downside depending on what one considers a downside.

In one of my other comments I just made in this thread, I mentioned my experience taking relatively large doses of 20g a day. While I found it has cognitive benefits, it did interfere with my sleep, though not catastrophically. If a person happens to enjoy sleep, then it's probably best they stick to 5 or 10 grams. On the other hand, if you need to pull an all-nighter, the sleep interference (as well as the better recovery the following day) may not be seen as a downside but beneficial.

But yeah, from a toxicological perspective, creatine does seem very safe even at those doses.

stouset•4m ago
Yes, there is always going to be someone somewhere that sees some sort of issue. My point wasn’t that nobody anywhere has ever experienced a negative consequence, but that at scale, it is overwhelmingly safe. Any of the rare issues that people do experience—especially at the 5g/day level across age and weight—are minor, acute, and easy to resolve by simply lowering the dose.
empiricus•11m ago
search the micronised version, it is so fine it looks like it disolves completely.
j45•18m ago
In water, with a bit of regular or pink salt added for general absorption.

Creatine requires you to increase your daily water intake, and actually do it.

ck2•9m ago
creapure got too expensive IMHO probably tariffs

but you are right, independent testing finds some brands are garbage

* https://supp.co/tested/creatine.pdf

* https://supp.co/articles/suppco-tested-creatine-testing-resu...

I switched to sportsresearch brand when they had a sale on amazon

$19 for 1KG (2.2 pounds) but it's like double that now (don't buy) amazon.com/dp/B0DXR7MPNV

I work out but I've never taken it. I feel like not everything has to be minmaxed, sometimes some things are better left to nature. Easy come easy go as they say
zug_zug•6m ago
A few thoughts

1) It annoys me whenever anybody mentions literally anything (whatever baking soda, potassium, any vitamin) you get a million unhinged comments about how this was a personal panacea.

2) Creatine definitely does stuff, that's scientifically been established by numerous studies for decades. It's been recommended as a supplement for vegetarians for mental reasons and for people trying to build muscle-mass (sort of niche). I'm actually a bit surprised how few people talk about it when it's a standard blood test thing (possibly because it can't be patented).

3) It's dirt cheap and made by tons of difference places. I don't think there's a "big creatine." It's probably like < 25 cents a serving.

I had a lot of issues with stomach when taking creatine until I tried the micronised version. Bucked up makes a good product you can find at Walmart.
sidrag22•5m ago
Creatine is great regardless, just dont get sold by whatever the nonsense article is pushing if anything. Generic creatine the cheapest you can find is likely your best bet.

I have the same struggles with preworkout, they are just overkill for me and make me crash and i feel they impact my sleep because i usually work out at a random time so the caffeine timing may be terrible. Certainly had success with them for a while, but it was when i didn't really care when i went to sleep because when i was younger I'd just sleep for 8-10 hours straight regardless of time of day/night.

Creatine raise brain energy levels and slow Alzheimer's cognitive decline by 30%

https://thesciverse.org/scientists-found-that-the-creatine-supplement-millions-take-for-muscle-ga...
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