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Research Shows That Creatine May Protect The Brain From Injuries

Author:

Molly Knudsen, M.S., RDN

October 10, 2024

Registered Dietitian Nutritionist

By Molly Knudsen, M.S., RDN

Registered Dietitian Nutritionist

Molly Knudsen, M.S., RDN is a Registered Dietician Nutritionist with a bachelor’s degree in nutrition from Texas Christian University and a master’s in nutrition interventions, communication, and behavior change from Tufts University. She lives in Newport Beach, California, and enjoys connecting people to the food they eat and how it influences health and wellbeing.

Image by fizkes / iStock

October 10, 2024

While creatine is a beloved (and effective) muscle-building supplement, about 5% of your body's stores of this compound are in the brain.

Researchers are increasingly interested in how supplementing with this compound not only supports cognitive longevity but may also help people recover and manage symptoms from traumatic brain injuries (TBIs).

While the research is still emerging, here's what we know so far about creatine and brain injuries (and why your daily creatine supplement is also protecting your brain).

The overlap in creatine and TBI biology

There are a lot of similarities in how a TBI affects the brain 1 and in how creatine works in the cells that could make this compound particularly effective as part of a treatment (and even a prevention) plan:

TBIs create an energy crisis in the brain leading to significant deficits. Creatine helps to rapidly regenerate cellular energy2 (in the form of ATP).
TBIs lead to oxidative stress and inflammation from an increase in free radicals, and creatine has been shown to have antioxidant properties.
TBIs can restrict blood flow to the brain, and creatine has notable neuroprotective effects3 including limiting the damage from these ischemic (aka reduced blood flow) events.
TBIs lead to a calcium influx in the brain that impairs mitochondria, and creatine plays a role in calcium balance—helping to prevent or limit a calcium influx.

These comparisons are drawn from what is known about TBI physiology and creatine's mechanism of action individually.

How might creatine help brain injury recovery?

Now, we'll come right out and say that human studies on creatine supplementation 3 and TBIs (including mild TBIs like concussions) are limited. Most clinical studies are still done with animals—which still provides valuable information like:

Creatine supplementation may reduce cortical damage in rats by 36-50%4 by protecting brain cells' mitochondria
Rats fed a diet with 2% creatine experienced less loss of gray matter 5.
Supplementation in rats seemed to be most beneficial when started before the injury.

Of course, we never know how animal studies will translate into humans.

There's currently a study underway that is investigating how a daily 5-gram dose of creatine monohydrate affects symptoms of mild traumatic brain injury after seven weeks 6, and it'll be the first of its kind.

Researchers hypothesize that creatine supplementation will help reduce the number and severity of post-concussion symptoms (like headaches, dizziness, fatigue, memory problems, difficulty concentrating, mood changes, and depression).

They are optimistic about these results because there is clinical human data that creatine can support these outcomes in other populations.

This is what the cognitive research on creatine currently shows:

Creatine may increase creatine concentrations in the brain by 15%, which then improves the brain's metabolic processes.
It can improve measures of memory 7 in generally healthy older adults.
Creatine may have antidepressant effects (even when used with other therapies 8).
It may improve mental fatigue 9.
Five grams a day is a clinically backed dose of creatine for both muscle health and cognitive health (and a loading phase isn't required).

The takeaway

While research on creatine and TBIs is very much in the early stages, creatine for general cognitive support is not. And it's frankly an underrated way to support mental energy, memory, and mood.

For those who want to build and tone their muscles and strengthen their brain health, creatine should be a daily essential.