Creatine supplementation improves working memory and reasoning in vegetarians (double-blind crossover RCT)
Rae C, Digney AL, McEwan SR, Bates TC
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Summary
In 45 young adult vegetarians (who eat little to no meat or fish), a double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover trial tested creatine 5 g/day for six weeks. Performance on a working-memory task (backward digit span) and a reasoning task (Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices) improved significantly versus placebo. The trial did not measure brain creatine concentrations, so it does not establish that low brain creatine mediated the improvement. The finding is limited to an improvement observed in a group whose dietary creatine intake is low.
Key findings
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6 weeks of 5 g/day creatine significantly improved working-memory task performance versus placebo in vegetarians
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Reasoning task performance (Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices) also improved significantly
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The sample was restricted to vegetarians, whose dietary creatine intake is low; the same effect size may not apply to people who regularly eat meat or fish. Baseline creatine concentrations were not the measured outcome here.
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A single trial of 45 participants; replication would strengthen confidence in the effect size
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